Who Is Sarah Orne Jewett's A White Heron

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Sarah Orne Jewett’s story “A White Heron” tells of a young girl named Sylvia who lives with her grandmother in a rural area because she is “afraid of folks” (1598). She encountered a hunter one day when she was guiding her milking cow home. The hunter is an ornithologist who is seeking for a rare bird: a white heron. This gave Sylvia’s heart “a wild beat (1600)” because she knew of the rare bird. The hunter offered Sylvia and her grandmother ten dollars if they could aid him in finding the location of the bird. Forgetting about sleep, Sylvia was determined on finding this bird for the hunter and thought of a pine-tree that was the last of its generation. She believed climbing this great pine-tree will help her locate the white heron and please the hunter’s desire of finding the rare bird. Sylvia’s journey up the tree is significant in Sarah Orne Jewett’s story “A White Heron” because it shows that she is generous, one with nature, and the reader gets to understand Sylvia’s point of view. Her desire to satisfy both her grandmother and the hunter led her to climb the great pine-tree, which is a dangerous task for a girl her age. The reader is given a sense of bravery when Sylvia is climbing the tree because she had a tingling feeling with “eager blood coursing the channels of her …show more content…

Sylvia felt like a bird “that pinched and held like bird’s claws (1602)” when she was climbing the tree. When Sylvia is at the top of the tree, the audience assimilates her point of view and grasps the thoughts she is reflecting of. She remembered how she and the white heron “watched the sea and the morning together” (1603). Her observation of the white heron caused her to keep the creature’s location a secret. Her attachment towards the scene creates a supportive thought that affects the reader’s decision of accepting Sylvia’s choice of keeping the white heron’s location a

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