Nature as a Theme of Nature in Six Works of Literature

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There are many ways in which authors represent the role or importance of nature in terms of appreciating their themes. As for the story, "A White Heron", Jewett uses many ways to represent her importance of nature in terms of appreciating her theme. The theme that Jewett uses in "A White Heron", is a theme known as flesh vs. spirit. Sylvia, a young girl who loves the nature, comes across an attractive ornithologist seeking to find the nesting place of the heron, which she can give to him. She is torn between having to remain loyal to the nature of the woods, which is basically her life, or please her new friend and show him where the heron can be found. The decision that Sylvia must make is the one between flesh and spirit, which is the choice to show her new friend where the nesting place of the heron is or, the nature of the woods. The hunter often portrays fleshy desire. You began to see it when the hunter first arrives. Sylvia is immediately attracted to his maleness, and feels as if she is failing in love with him. She had never seen a man as charming as him and states, "The women's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love." You also see it when he offers Sylvia ten dollars to betray the nature and as well as the heron. This offer was actually a great temptation for her. For him this was a small sum of money, although for her, as well as her family, it was a large sum. You don't see it until the end of the story that she decides it really isn't worth it to her, and remains to keep her secret to herself, and from her new friend, as the story ends with, "Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country child!"

Second, "To Build a Fire," you see that London uses many wa...

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...d the weather was horrible.

Furthermore, in the story "Goophered Grapevine," it creates two tensions between the character's voices. It is the difference between the poor, uneducated, and unhealthy (Julius) vs. the young, wealthy, and educated (John), although Julius seems to be the storyteller and shows his power at the beginning by saying, "Day ain' na'er a man in dis settlement w'at won' tell you ole Julius McAdoo' uz bawn en raise on dis yer same plantation." It creates a struggle between two men fighting for the vineyard in which to make profit off of, although they interact with each other cordially and respectfully. This story creates more of a masculine side more than feminine, as Julius tries to mislead John so that he can continue living on the land and surviving. At one time in the story John says, "But I thought you said all the old vines died."

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