"The White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett: Nature

974 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: essay on a white heron by saarah orne jewett

When people really take their time to look at the beautiful world around them, and take it in, it is hard not to be amazed. “A White Heron,” a classic short story written by Sarah Orne Jewett, uses nature as an essential key element to the theme. Sylvia, the main character, is very relatable. In fact, the story is written in such a way that the reader would likely share similar thoughts with Sylvia. For instance, the reader and Sylvia both love nature and think of it as their companion. However, while both Sylvia and the reader have a love for humans, it is to a lesser extent. The author, who was born on September 3, 1849 and died June 24, 1909, grew up around Berwick, Maine. This is the setting of many of her short stories along with the New England wilderness. In "A White Heron," the main character is a girl named Sylvia. She is also the protagonist of the story. There is also another character that is very important. He is the hunter, who is the antagonist of the story. Throughout the entire story, Sylvia is battling to keep the hunter from finding and killing the white heron for his bird collection. Throughout this short story, there is the very important theme of mortal versus nature. In “A White Heron,” Sylvia’s previous experience with the white heron leads to her decision flesh versus spirit. Before the short story begins, the reader can imply that Sylvia created a connection with the white heron. Therefore, in the novel, Sylvia made the decision of stopping the hunter from finding and killing the white heron. Sarah Orne Jewett develops her theme of mortal versus nature in her short story through the use of characterization imagery, and symbolism.
One of the ways Jewett exhibits the theme of mortal versus nature is...

... middle of paper ...

...ted nature back. One of the biggest ways she did this was from saving the white heron from being killed. The way Sylvia respects nature is the way all people should respect the natural world. It is tremendously important to not burn bridges and ruin relationships. Overall, always help those who help you.

Works Cited

Gardner, Judy. "Literature." Library Journal 15 May 1982: 997. EBSCOhost. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
Jewett, Sarah Orne. "A White Heron." Jewett Texts. N.p., 1997. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
"Jewett, Sarah Orne." Britannica Biographies. N.p.: Encylopedia Britannica, 2012. N. pag. EBSCOhost. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
"Themes and Construction: 'A White Heron.'" Exploring Short Stories. N.p.: n.p., 2003. N. pag. Gale Biography in Context. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Fire: Similarities Between White Heron And Fire

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    Furthermore, they all have an outside threat. The ornithologist might shoot the heron and make it a specimen while the man is suffered from the severe cold weather. In the stories both characters have to deal with the danger from outside world. Sylvia has to climb upon the tree to see where the heron is, the man has to avoid the snow falls from the tree.

    Read More

  • Inspired By Author, Harriet Beecher, Sarah Orne Jewett Wrote, A White Heron

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... is also clear that the white heron represents the true beauty of the region, while it is elusive and not able to be seen by even an experienced ornithologist, it is seen by Sylvia. The spotting of the white heron by Sylvia is Jewett’s way of expressing that true beauty of a region is only discoverable by those who are so familiar with the region that they can appreciate every aspect of nature’s beauty and once every foot of ground is known, only then can one appreciate the true beauty of the region and in this case that beauty is represented by the white heron. Jewett’s A White Heron is an excellent example of local color literature because it represents everything local color literature should. It contains characters and dialect specific to the region of Maine (Mrs. Tilley) as well as excellent descriptions of the topography of Maine and the beauty of the region.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried: Lt. Jim Cross

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    O’ Brien, Tim. The Seagull Reader: Stories. Joseph Kelly. 2nd Edition. “The Things They Carried”. New York. W.W.Norton. 2008. 521 pg. Print.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices in Updike's “The Great Scarf of Birds”

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    In John Updike’s poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, he uses diction and figurative speech to depict the beautiful autumn season to show how inspiring and uplifting nature is to man. Updike chooses autumn as the season to set his story in because generally, it is the season that has the most vivid vibrant colors in nature such as the ripe apples which are described as “red fish in the nets (limbs)”. (Line 3) Updike paints the picture of the beauty of nature with the simile about the apples to show the reader what a powerful effect nature has on man. Updike goes on to discuss the elm trees that were “swaying in the sky” (Line 7) and the “dramatic straggling v’s” of geese. Updike uses these descriptive portrayals of na...

    Read More

  • A White Heron

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nine-year-old Sylvia is a child who lives in the wood. Her name, ‘‘Sylvia,’’ and her nickname, ‘‘Sylvy,’’ come from the Latin silva meaning ‘‘wood’’ or ‘‘forest.’’ Sylvia lives in the middle of the woods with grandma Tilley and hardly sees anyone else. She remembers when she lived in the city but never wants to return there. However, when she comes across a hunter who is an older man, she enjoys being around another human being and is not sure what to do with the conflicting emotions she starts to feel. He offers to give her money in exchange for giving up the nesting spot of the white heron. She is the only person who can give him what he needs. What she has to think about though is the betrayal of her relationship with nature and whether or not it is worth it. In the end, she does not reveal the heron’s nesting place.

    Read More

  • Feminism In The White Heron

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mrs. Tilly clearly explains this by saying “There ain’t a foot o’ ground she don’t know er way over, and the wild creaturs counts her one o’ themselves” (Jewett 75). Her oneness with nature allowed those around her to take comfort in her as if she was one of the creatures that resided within the trunks or swamp around her. Mrs. Tilly and the ornithologist seem to recognize that there is hardly no distinction between Sylvia and the natural world. Sylvia is seen as innocent, childlike and easily swayed in the eyes of Mrs. Tilly and the young man; however, she is brave in the presence of nature. “There was the huge tree asleep yet in the paling moonlight, and small and silly Sylvia began with utmost bravery to mount to the top of it…” (Jewett 77). Her natural inclination for the innocence of nature allows her to defy the fear or perhaps control that man seems to have towards nature. Instead Sylvia does not see herself as controlling those around her but to become a part of a group as she did not belong to the growing industrial world. Elizabeth Ammons perfectly describes Jewett’s story in the following excerpt from her article:

    Read More

  • Innocence: The White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    A White Heron and Other Stories. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Jewett Texts. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Dorianne Laux’s “Bird”

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.

    Read More

  • White Heron Character Analysis: A White Heron

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, Sylvia’s decision was arduous. She experienced many different emotions while figuring out which choice to choose. At first she was excited because she could get a reward that would help her family. Then she felt sad as nature was one of the very few things she enjoyed and a small piece of it would be destroyed if she chose to collect the reward. In the end, she chose to preserve the small piece she could. As she grew older, she began to wonder if she made the right decision. She also begins to wonder if the friendship with the hunter was worth discarding for the greater good of the bird. At the end of the short story, Sylvia asks herself “Were the birds better friends than their hunter might have been, who can tell?” (45) These feelings and motivations lead Sylvia to choose to free the white heron instead of using it for personal self-gain.

    Read More

  • A White Heron Analytical Essay

    489 Words  | 1 Pages

    In this transitional moment, she must fight for her right to continue the journey up the tree. Jewett further highlights Sylvia’s frailty and “thin little fingers” against the tree’s “great stem.” Like any hero or heroin, Sylvia has to experience some kind of change in order to arrive at her destination. Among the “sharp dry twigs” that “caught and held...and scratched her” Sylvia becomes like a bird and is accepted by the pine

    Read More

  • America, by Claude McKay

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kelly, Joseph. The Seagull Reader Poems Second Edition. New York: W.W Norton and Company, 2001.

    Read More

  • A White Heron Literary Analysis

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett, the main character, Sylvia, must decide between the human, material world and the natural, organic world in an ultimatum centered around the life of an elusive and enchanting White Heron. This journey Sylvia takes is developed through the author's use of colors and metaphorical applications of animals to highlight the main character and her central conflict of choosing between man and nature.

    Read More

  • Theme Analysis of Killings by Andre Dubus

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.

    Read More

  • whip poor will

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem, “Whip-poor-will” by Donald Hall is written beautifully with a sense of nature and family. Throughout this poem, Hall illustrates these natural occurrences, such as the “sandy ground”, “the last light of June”, and “a brown bird in the near—night, soaring over shed and woodshed to far dark fields”. The bird in this instance is a whippoorwill, defined as a nocturnal nightjar of Eastern North America that uses loud, repetitive calls suggestive of its name. The whippoorwill is an imaginary representation of the poets long lost grandfather.

    Read More

  • A Bird Came down the Walk by Emily Dickinson

    1783 Words  | 4 Pages

    “A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...

    Read More

More about "The White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett: Nature

Open Document