A White Heron
Sarah Jewett’s A White
Heron is about a girl name Sylvia who is a passionate animal lover and
enjoys being in nature. The plot takes a turn when Sylvia meets a stranger in
the woods who is hunting for a white heron. The complexity of Sylvia’s character
makes it hard for her to communicate with people. Sylvia finds a connection
with the stranger due to the fact that she likes birds too and they both in a
way appreciate Mother Nature. Sylvia may seem like she likes the hunter but she
does not appreciate the fact that the hunter is set out to kill birds. This
story’s point is that even though you may have emotional feelings for someone,
you should not let go of your morals that you stand for.
Sylvia is a complex character due to the fact that she is
not around a lot of people, which may give her a “lonely” personality. In the
story the stranger is first introduced as an “enemy” and then later “the
handsome stranger”. She does whatever she can by communicating with nature and
animals to make up for the lack of people she has in her life. When the hunter
says, “So Sylvia knows all about birds, does she?” (117). This means that the
hunter likes Sylvia due to the fact that he has found a girl that is
knowledgeable in the same area as him.
Another important point in the story is that Sylvia does not
let love get in her way of life. For example, Sylvia is already content with
the joy and happiness she finds through nature. She is not going to let one
handsome stranger harm the one thing she loves, which is nature. “He was sure
from the way the shy little girl looked once or twice yesterday that she had at
least seen the white heron, and now she really must really be persuaded to
tell” (120). Even though she does not want to upset the hunter she decides to
save the bird instead. Jewett is trying to bring the point across that Sylvia
made the right decision to save the bird. Sylvia had a hard decision because
she also believes that she could fall in love with the stranger and love him,
but her strong spirit of nature did not allow her.
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