The Meaning of A White Heron
Through life experiences we learn that some things in life are more important than money. By using the "Archetypal Cycle of Human experience" I will be able to explain the importance of each stage in the story " A white Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett.
The story " A white Heron" is about a nine-year-old girl named Sylvia. The author starts the cycle/framework by implying through the character's age that Sylvia has a certain innocence that only a young child early in life can possess. This is the first stage in the cycle of human experiences, the innocence stage. Sylvia had moved from the city to the country in order to live with her grandmother when she was eight years old. Sylvia used to live in a crowded and noisy manufacturing town with her parents. After Sylvia moved to the country, she seemed to come alive, like being born again. The fact that the author has Sylvia move from the city to the country shows that Sylvia has entered the second stage in the cycle. The second stage for Sylvia is about her going on a quest in a since where she will figure out who she will become through life experiences, the other stages in the cycle.
Sylvia was out one night bringing the cow home from pasture when she heard a whistle. The whistle was from a man in the woods. Sylvia viewed the man as the enemy at first. The man was lost and asked Sylvia how far it was to the road, Sylvia consumed with fear could hardly speak to answer. The man was out hunting for some birds. The man asked if he could stay the night, and Sylvia said that she would have to ask her grandmother. The man was allowed to stay the night, and he also received dinner. After the dinner, the three of then sat out in front of the door and tal...
... middle of paper ...
...y and the man. This passage demonstrates the seventh stage return. It did not matter to her that the man and society would reject her for her decision, she still stuck with what she believed, and that is why she is now a true individual. Sylvia had found out that money was not the only thing life had to offer but she found out that if you keep your eyes open along with your heart you can find the greatest treasures that life has to offer.
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Jewett, Sarah, " A White Heron." Handout. English 112-04A. J.Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Parham Campus, Richmond, Va. Fall Semester 2001. Professor Phyllis Davis.
"The Archetypal Cycle of Human Experience in Literature." Handout. English 112-04A. J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Parham Campus, Richmond, Va. Fall Semester 2001.Professor Phyllis Davis.
Yet after climbing the tree and realizes the importance of the white heron. The choice she has over the heron’s life is that same she has over her own. She can sacrifice her own wants for the hunters, or choose to live the life that is most authentically her. It is at this moment when Sylvia is confronted with the concept of sexuality and though she understands what it is, she wants no part of it. This is asexuality.
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
Billy is coming home from work one day when suddenly he hears some dogs up the street fighting. He goes to check it out and finds them picking on a redbone hound. He saves the dog and cares for it through the night. It reminds him of his childhood. When Billy was ten years old he lived on a farm in the Ozark Mountains of northeastern Oklahoma. He wanted two good coonhounds very badly, he called it “puppy love”, but his papa could not afford to buy him the dogs. For many months, Billy tries to content himself with some rodent traps his papa gives him, but he still wants a dog. Then one day he finds a sportsman’s catalog in an abandoned campsite. In it he sees an ad for good hounds, at $25 each. He decides he wants to save $50 and order himself two hounds. Billy works hard, selling fruit and bait to fishermen, and gathering fruit that he sells to his grandfather at his store. Finally, he saves enough money and gives it to his grandfather to order the dogs for him and asks him to keep it s secret. When a notice comes that they have arrived at the mail depot in the nearby town of Tahlequah, they decide to go into town the next week. That night Billy decides he can not wait any longer. He packs himself a little food, and heads of for town following the river through the woods. He walks all night, and finally reaches town in the morning. The people in town laugh and stare at the young hillbilly, but it does not bother Billy he is there on a mission to get his dogs. He finally collects his dogs and walks back out of town with their small heads sticking out of his bag. Some schoolchildren mob around him and knock him down, but the town sheriff rescues him. The sheriff is impressed with Billy’s determination, and says he has grit. That, night Billy camped in a cave with his two puppies. They wake up in the middle of the night to hear the call of a mountain lion. Billy builds a fire to keep them safe, while the bigger of the two dogs, the male, barks into the night air.
About thirty years ago there was a young girl in love with her boyfriend. One day, he convinced her to take their relationship to the next level, telling her how deeply he cared. A couple weeks later, she found out that she had become pregnant, and decided it was best to hide it from him. They kept in close contact over the next few months, and he told her that they would be together forever. When her father realized that she was having a baby without marriage, he made her leave the house until she came back with a husband. When the baby girl was born, she decided to tell the boyfriend about the child, by bringing her to his house. He lived on a small farm right outside town and you had to pass over a small river on a bridge to get back to his house. As she opened the door, she walked in on him with another girl. Filled with anger, (pause) she gets in her car and speeds off. Now she could not return home unmarried and had lost her only love because of this one child. As she looked over at the baby, she is only reminded of her boyfriend and the image of him with the other girl. (tone increases) Finally, she reached the bridge, then slammed on the breaks. She got out and in a moment of rage threw the baby over the bridge to rid her of the baby girl’s troubles. Later that night, the police were tipped off about a murder at the bridge and came to find the girl hanging from the bridge.
We all experience a rite of passage in our lives, whether it be the time we learned to swim or perhaps the day we received our driver’s license. A rite of passage marks an important stage in someone’s life, and one often times comes with a lesson learned. Three selections that provide fine examples of rites of passage that individuals confront include “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” by W.D. Wetherell, “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins” and “First Lesson” by Philip Booth.
Sylvia is?a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town?, but she is innocent and pure. ? The little woods-girl is horror-stricken to hear a clear whistle not very far away.? Sylvia was more alarmed than before. when the hunter appears and talks to her. She easily agrees to help the hunter by providing food and a place to sleep, although she initially stayed alert with the hunter....
...hrough." Sylvia is very used to being the leader of the group, the toughest girl, and being able to constantly defend herself, compared to inferior, embarrassed, and unprotected by her often strong words. Although Sylvia realizes Miss Moore’s lesson, I believe that her quick judgment, stubbornness, and anger shown throughout the story will hold her back from using Miss Moore’s lesson to her advantage. Then again, her anger especially, may provoke her to want to overcome her setbacks. I think the ending is vague and left wide open for one to speculate exactly what choice Sylvia will make. According to my observations, Sylvia’s negative attitude outweighs her chance for success.
The story is about a friendly hunter who comes to a budding girl named Sylvia for help to find a bird for his collection. He offers her ten dollars. At first, she agrees because of the impression the hunter makes on her. Later, she has a revelation through her love for the forest and neglects to tell him where the bird is. Sylvia represents the purity of innocence and has a bond with the natural world. Many of Sylvia’s thoughts are associated with the ability to be free. This exemplifies the women’s rights activism that was happening in the 19th century. Sarah Orne Jewett develops her theme of the change from innocence to experience in her short story “The White Heron” through the use of imagery, characterization, and symbolism.
Through the use of narrative and metaphor, Terry Tempest Williams beautifully depicts her life story in a poetic memoir. She describes the daily struggles she faced with change in her family, while her mother battled with cancer that eventually led to her death. She also describes the fluctuating lake levels, and how they affected the birds that migrate in the area. Through her experiences with the birds she learns how to cope and accept her mother’s death. Eventually, she moves on with the birds and learns how to love and not be afraid of death.
...as stubborn and as irritated Sylvia was with Miss Moore, she actually gained something from the trip. Sylvia learn the value of money; as an illustration, "We could go to Hascombs and get half a chocolate layer and then go to the Sunset and still have plenty money for potato chips and ice cream sodas." Also, Sylvia gradually comes to grips to the social and economic injustice around her. And she begins to realize that they are no different than the “White folks” on the other side of town. For example, “We start down the block and she gets ahead which is O.K by me I’m going to the West End and then over to the Drive to think this day through. She can run if she want to and even run faster. But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” With this being said from this point on Sylvia knows she can do or become anything she wants and nobody can prevent her from doing so.
Erikson modeled his life cycle schema after the Shakespearean play “As You Like It”. The play identifies the seven ages that men experience starting with infancy and continuing in to old age.In the play the first age is infancy which lasts until a child is old enough to go to school. The third age is when a man falls in love. Next the man becomes strong and mature like a soldier and then becomes just and wise like a judge. The sixth age is when a man reaches old age and incompetency followed by age seven which is death. Erikson believed that Shakespeare had neglected to include the play stage in his seven ages presented in the play “As You Like It”. “In the late 1940s Eriksons received an invitation to present a paper on the developmental stages of life at the midcentury White House conference on children and youth. The paper they were to contribute for the conference was on growth and crisis of the healthy personality.” (Capps, 2004) It was on the way to this conference that the Eriksons realized that if Shakespeare had left out a stage then they too may have forgotten a stage. Erik Erikson realized that his life cycle model went from intimacy, signifying young adulthood in stage six to old age in stage seven. After this realization the Eriksons added “Generativity Versus Stagnation” as the new seventh
Once upon a time there was a brother and sister living on their own. They lived in a small cottage house middle of nowhere. No one visited their house. Sacagawea and Lingo worked hard everyday. Sacagawea was sewing clothes inside the house while Lingo was cutting woods for the fireplace outside. Sacagawea the youngest sister told her older brother, Lingo “we need more leather.” So Lingo went to the other side to go find squirrels and deers. He got distracted and he was swimmed in the waterfall and had fun. After Lingo got done swimming and having fun he went to dry up at the top hill where you can see everywhere around you. As he was drying up, he saw a house made of candy. Lingo couldn't believe what he saw, so he went closer and closer. Lingo approached to the house and he
Erik Erikson developed eight psychosocial stages that occur through life. These stages help parents of younger children understand what the child is thinking and why they are acting the way that they do. For a person to become a well-rounded adult they need to succeed in each level. This essay will discuss the first six stages into young adulthood.
Acceptance of who we are plays a large part in the overall theme of “rite of passage” in the story. The young girl is opposed to the thought of working for her mother at the beginning, but eventually comes to a realization that it is her pre-determined fate to fit the mould of the gender stereotype. Through the girl’s hardships, she accepts the fact that her younger brother, Laird, is now the man that his father needs for help, and she takes her place in womanhood. The story embodies gender identity and stereotypes, as a young child moves into adulthood. The fact that our rite of passage is unavoidable proves that we must all go through our own journeys to find our own true identity.
Cindy was in the kitchen making dinner, when the door bell rang ?Cindy go get the door!? shouted her aunt. Cindy took her apron off, and rushed to answer the door. Standing at the door was a servant from the palace with a paper in his hands, ?good day ms, the king ordered me to deliver an invitation to the ball? ?thanks? Cindy said taking the invitation and went to show her aunt. Her aunt and cousins were excited about the news, they went shopping the next day leaving Cindy alone in the house to do all the work, while they spent all her parents? money.