The Heroine in A White Heron

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Recommended: Essay on a white heron by saarah orne jewett

A White Heron was a beautiful story of the battles within a little girl in her

formative years in life. The story has a deeper meaning though, expressed in the

involvement of much symbolic representation. The author, Sarah Orne Jewett, paints a

vivid and descriptive image of the young heroine and her surroundings in the story.

I will try to primarily focus on the symbolism and representation in the story. I will also

mention the subtle references the artist made to the biggest struggle in a young persons

life- self-identification.

Sarah Jewett seemed to start the story off to a slow monotone feel. I was given

the impression the story was meant to be basic in order to appeal to the senses and

understanding of the very young. The story quickly fell into a descriptive and

vivacious narrative of the young girls experiences or lack thereof. Jewett’s quick

changing of style (when referring to tone) is beneficial because she is able to retain

more readers attention.

The diction in the story was very colloquial. Sylvia, (the young heroine in the

story), has a grandmother who uses speech as if somewhat uneducated and farm-raised.

The grandmother uses terms like, “folks” and “cage ‘em up”, to express herself. These

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