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Literary techniques
Literary elements and techniques
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The female perspective has often times been muted and ignored whether it be through writing, the arts or mainstream society. Sarah Orne Jewett was able to capture both the female and male roles through her story “The White Heron”. Her ability to demonstrate the expectations of both parties and the internal conflict that one character faces, allows the audience to sympathize with certain characters within the story. Jewett uses this piece to enlighten those around her into understanding the issue that was present during this time period, the extinction of the White Heron. This short story contains a minimal amount of characters which gave the author the freedom to expand on the surroundings, in turn allowing the audience to imagine the setting …show more content…
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: “Perhaps the most obvious meaning of "’A White Heron’" comes from the female creation, or re-creation, myth Jewett offers. The story presents a little girl whose world is entirely female. No brother, father, uncle, or grandfather lives in it; the men have feuded and left or died. Only she and her grandmother inhabit the rural paradise to which the child was removed after spending the first eight years of her life in a noisy manmade mill-town…In the country with her grandmother she is safe. Named Sylvia (Latin for "woods")” (Ammons
Sister Flowers and A View From the Bridge are two short stories with strong correspondence and likeness. In the story, Sister Flowers by Maya Angelou our narrator Marguerite, a young African American female gives the reader introspect of her life and how a scholarly educated and aristocratic woman named Mrs.Bertha Flowers has made an impact on the narrator's life. While in the story A View From the Bridge by Cherokee Paul Mcdonald a man talks about his encounter with a boy he met on a bridge. Both short stories from the choice of character comparisons with both Marguerite and the boy on the bridge , The author's theme,syntax and symbols to overall effectiveness of both narratives proves that these two stories are more the same as a sense to their overall message they are trying to communicate to the reader.
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.
By presenting the competing sets of industrial and rural values, Jewett's "A White Heron" gives us a rich and textured story that privileges nature over industry. I think the significance of this story is that it gives us an urgent and emphatic view about nature and the dangers that industrial values and society can place upon it and the people who live in it. Still, we are led to feel much like Sylvia. I think we are encouraged to protect nature, cherish our new values and freedoms, and resist the temptations of other influences that can tempt us to destroy and question the importance of the sublime gifts that living in a rural world can bestow upon us.
The story is about a friendly hunter who comes to a budding girl named Sylvia for help to find a bird for his collection. He offers her ten dollars. At first, she agrees because of the impression the hunter makes on her. Later, she has a revelation through her love for the forest and neglects to tell him where the bird is. Sylvia represents the purity of innocence and has a bond with the natural world. Many of Sylvia’s thoughts are associated with the ability to be free. This exemplifies the women’s rights activism that was happening in the 19th century. Sarah Orne Jewett develops her theme of the change from innocence to experience in her short story “The White Heron” through the use of imagery, characterization, and symbolism.
Chesnutt’s short story features only two female characters who receive little focus or development. Despite this apparent lack of women in the text, the plot of both the main and framed narratives depend upon their
... 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.
Choosing which school of criticism to use was easy for me. I knew before I even chose the text that I wanted to do a gender critique. While researching this school of criticism, the true passion for gender and sexual equality ignited within me. I have written many papers from picking out traditional and nontraditional gender roles; however, I never knew the wide range of opportunities to write about gender. After rereading “My First Goose,” it was apparent this text fit perfectly with my passion for
From the time of elementary school onward, youth all across America are inspired by an extraordinary tale of a brave expedition through the uncharted wilderness that is now our nation. They learn of two men who risked their homes and well-being for years to trek into the unknown for science and the betterment of the American people; this is the tale of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. However, many kids equally look in fascination to the mysterious native woman who guided the expedition along through the harsh landscape towards the Pacific coast. The English translation of her name is “Bird Woman,” but to millions of people throughout this great land, she is known as Sacagawea. Multitudes of studies have been conducted on the life and times
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.
...t leading him to the heron. Sylvia eventually resolves her conflict as she climbs the big pine tree with the heron’s nest it; “For her, the pine tree becomes a tree of knowledge;”(Griffith). Sylvia defies both her grandmother’s common sense and the hunter’s ignorance about nature, but she makes she makes her decision based on her own appreciation of nature.
Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.
...usting civilization upon it? (P. Miller, p.207). With all this, the author has achieved the vividness implication that aggressive masculine modernization is a danger to the gentle feminine nature. In the end of the story, Sylvia decides to keep the secret of the heron and accepts to see her beloved hunter go away. This solution reflects Jewett?s hope that the innocent nature could stay unharmed from the urbanization.
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
The young hunter offers Sylvia ten dollars for helping him find the white heron. Sylvia dreams of the things that can be done with the money and the help she can provide her grandmother. “The young man stood his gun beside the door, and dropped a lumpy game-bag beside it; then he bade Mrs. Tilley good-evening, and repeated his wayfarer's story, and asked if he could have a night's lodging.” (Jewett) We understand through the internal conversation Sylvia has, what a large sum of money the ten dollars is. The money would be a great help for her and her grandmother. The money would actually make their lives easier. The fact that the money so easily could be given away by the hunter and yet make things easier for Sylvia's family is thought provoking. The value of the dollar is also something that has drastically changed when comparing
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