For the Love of a Bird

           In Sarah Orne Jewett's "A White Heron," the point of the story is that being loyal is more important than selling out the person or thing you love for a personal gain. Sylvia lives with her grandmother on a farm herding and raising cows. Sylvia’s job is to bring the wandering cows back to the farm so they can be milked or fed. While bringing back a cow, Sylvia runs into a hunter searching for unique birds to kill. Through Sylvia’s time on the farm, she has come to know everything about the birds that are around her and learns to love them. The hunter wants to pay Sylvia and her grandmother in order for Sylvia to tell him where he can find a white heron’s nest. Even though Sylvia is persuaded by her grandmother for the money, she does not tell the hunter where the nest is located because she will not sell out the bird and take its life. Humans may not be as reliable and dependable the way nature can be for people who take the time to love and appreciate what is so special around them.  

Sylvia symbolizes those that appreciate nature and the beauty of it. Sylvia’s name literally means “inhabited woods.” She was bound to be a nature lover and nature protector. Jewett writes, “she grieved because the longed-for white heron was elusive” to show that Sylvia knew the heron was special and something that could not be taken away. She felt she knew the heron’s secret of life, and it was up to her to keep that secret alive. Sylvia is loyal to her passion of birds and will not sell out the bird to gain money. Even in a poor household, money does not over power the love she shares for the special bird.

One cannot always depend on a person or hold them accountable for what they say is going to happen. Sylvia does not even know if the hunter would have paid her and her grandmother the money if she showed him where the heron’s nest was. Sylvia is not sure to whom she could trust.  “Were the birds better friends than the hunter might have been-who can tell?” She is unsure of this answer, but because she loved the birds so much, she would not risk taking the life of a creature so true to nature and one she felt so passionately about. Loyalty does not come around very often, and it is a trait that Sylvia admires and upholds. She goes with her heart and instinct to protect the nature she loves so dearly.