The short story, “The White Heron”, written by Sarah Jewett, gave me a moral that many people need to remember for their entire lives. The moral that I personally received from the story was that life isn’t just about money. It’s so much more than just what life can buy. The main character, a young girl, Sylvia, taught us this lesson by sacrificing plenty of money, enough to support her and her grandmother, to instead assist a creature of the world. Personally, I liked this story because it sounds like something I might do. I would definitely give up any reward somebody offered to save a creature that deserved its life. I don’t need the money badly enough to allow another creature be killed for me to receive what I really wouldn’t deserve. …show more content…
Sylvia is a young girl that is very lonely, with few friends to keep her company. She is proud to say that her best friend is her lone cow. Another character is her grandmother, who is her guardian, since her parents are both deceased. Her grandmother is very hospitable and friendly towards travelers. Considering we are never informed as to if there are neighbors nearby, we can assume that the grandmother may possibly be the first person to be seen by the travelers for a while. The final character is the hunter. He’s searching for one particular bird, the white heron. Eventually, Sylvia lies to him to save the heron’s life. This causes him to go on a rampage of anger and start shooting at random birds he finds in the woods. The setting makes this make a bit more sense for a lonely girl living in the country with no friends. In present day, she would probably have Internet or something to entertain herself. Since the setting is in the early 1900’s, you can assume she has almost nothing to do, except read books over and over again. Which, personally, doesn’t sound like such a bad …show more content…
One of my favorite quotes is when she is informing us about the swaying trees that Sylvia is climbing. “The tree seemed to lengthen itself out as she went up, and to reach farther and farther upward.” Another time, the author is describing Sylvia and how lonely she is and says, “…as if she had never been alive before coming to the farm…” Also, when she described the hunter. “She didn’t dare look too boldly at the tall young man, who carried a gun over his shoulder…” Some of the dialogue is interesting as well. Such as when Sylvia is calling for the cow, she says: “Co’
Have you ever wanted to know what it was like to live on the wrong side of the law is like? Well, Ruben Hart does. In the Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle, Ruben and his family live in a small town in Rhode Island in the 1930’s but the town has big business in Rum running. Now Ruben and his friend Jeddy are faced with a choice to join the rum running or rat them out. Jeddy’s main trait is his truthfulness to his father .
Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee that depicts the infamous Scopes Trial. The real names of the persons involved in the case were changed, however, the play recounts the same story. One journalist in the story, E.K. Hornbeck, who is closed-minded, a hypocrite, and very cynical proves that the religious community of Hillsboro is not the only one to be intolerant.
Starting of with “A White Heron”, the story starts with a mellow, quiet mood. Sylvia is walking in the woods with her companion, her cow. Jewett includes words and phrases such as “childish patience” and “the little girl” that makes the reader grasp the idea of Sylvia being a child. The fact that Sylvia hears the whistle of the stranger and hides also show the idea of her being a young child. The first day meeting the stranger, Sylvia seems reserved and not paying much attention to him talking about the white heron, even when he confesses to pay ten dollar for anyone who helps him find it. Soon enough, Sylvia develops a crush on the hunter. She does go in the woods with him for his needs to find the white heron but she does not disclose where the bird could be, it seemed as if she just wanted to enjoy his company. When Sylvia goes on her
In the novel In the Time of the Butterflies, written by Julia Alvarez, one of the main characters, Minerva, shows many different types of courage throughout the whole story. The novel is about the true story of how a family is dominated by their countries dictator and the daughters attempt to free themselves and their family.
“I just really don’t like being the center of attention that much. It’s kind of ironic.” Whether it means giving a speech in front of an audience or dancing on a stage, no one likes it. However, in the novel, The Flamingo Rising, Larry Baker introduces Louise, a different type of person that will do anything to be the center of attention. In Larry Baker’s novel, Louise and her brother, Abraham Isaac, start their first day at school at the age of twelve. Louise’s limp becomes obvious because she is nervous. As the class stares at her, she overcomes this nervousness and takes control of the situation. In the novel, The Flamingo Rising, Larry Baker clearly shows that Louise’s identity is created more by the environment than
In Cold Mountain and "A Poem for the Blue Heron", tone is established in a multitude of ways. These two pieces of literature describe the characteristics and actions of a blue heron, both aiming for the same goal. However, Charles Frazier and Mary Oliver approach their slightly differing tones employing organization, metaphoric language, and diction.
Childhood is arguably the most exciting time of a person’s life. One has few responsibilities or cares, and the smallest events can seem monumentally thrilling. Often, people reflect on the memories of their youth with fondness and appreciation for the lessons they learned. Sarah Orne Jewett captures this essence perfectly in the excerpt from “A White Heron.” Jewett uses many literary devices, including diction, imagery, narrative pace, and point of view to immerse the reader in familiar feelings of nostalgia and wonder, and dramatize the plot.
?Sylvia still watched the young man with loving admiration. She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful, the woman?s heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love.? As the symbol of masculinity, the hunter is an aggressor although he is described to be kind, handsome, friendly and sympathetic. When first met Sylvia in the woods, he ?called out in a very cheerful and persuasive tone? and spoke to her in a courteous way. In fact, he takes advantages of Sylvia because he is in need of home and food. When he needs Sylvia?s help, he proves he cares for her so much, ?He listened eagerly to the old woman?s quaint talk, he watched Sylvia?s pale face and shining gray eyes with ever growing enthusiasm.? ?He told her many things about the birds and what they knew and where they lived and what they did with themselves. And he gave her a jack-knife, which she thought as great a treasure as if she were a desert-islander.? However, he is cruel and merciless to nature, his gun is a convention which is to destroy the nature. ?I have been hunting for some birds?. At the end, he goes away and does not help her family when she refuses to tell him about the heron?s nest.
Cold Little Bird, a short story by Ben Marcus, is about an intelligent young boy whose parents struggle coping with his emotional detachment. Throughout the story, the boy’s father, Martin, has the reader questioning whether or not there actually is a problem with Jonah or whether he is over-reacting. Through various scenes in the story one may conclude that it is combination of both.
A White Heron written in 1886 is about a girl who comes to her grandmother's house in the country side she falls in love with the nature and after some time adjusts in the new surroundings. Being familiarized with the surroundings, a hunter offers her a considerable reward for finding a Heron for his personal collection. Being human she agrees to find the bird and accompanies the hunter but fails to find the heron. Later on she goes alone and finds the bird's nest by climbing on the tallest tree, this in turn reignites her love and passion for the nature and the thought of helping the hunter and killing of the Heron becomes cynical. She keeps it a secret and Hunter goes back without his prize. (Jewett, 2009)
One’s view on something often changes when you look at it from more than one point of view. Morality plays a significant role in any decision making process. It is hard to justify any decision that is not moral. Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron” has many elements of nature, and of the preservation of what Sylvia holds dearly. The thought provoking short story evokes emotions of caring, loving, and fear. All of these emotions are shown by different settings and characters in the story.
The White Heron is a spiritual story portraying great refinement and concerns with higher things in life. A 9 year old girl once isolated in the city found fulfillment in a farm surrounded by nature. Too those less unfortunate, money charm and other attractions can be intoxicated; Sylvia did not bite. She could have helped her situation and found a way to wealth but in the end she realized that it wouldn’t help her to be the person she wanted to be. This paper will illustrate a critical analysis of the story of White Heron and focus on the relationship between the literary elements of the story, plot, characterization, style, symbolism and women’s concerns that are specific to this period.
Understanding human behaviors is a complicated job because it requires many studies on various people in a long period of time. Sarah Orne Jewett introduces an image of a nine-year-old girl, Sylvia, innocence mind with a mature decision into her story, “A White Heron.” Sylvia does not want to betray the love for nature from an offer of an attractive hunter. She discovers what is most important to her after overcoming many internal thoughts about what she will do with the money from the hunter’s offer, or fulfills her passion with a natural world. The story is contained both situational and dramatic irony, which provides a different point of view of Sylvia in the society. Not everyone is motivated by money. The setting and keeping of economic power is central to Sylvia’s existence and activities.
Female roles in society have often been minute. In Jewett’s “A White Heron” and Freeman’s “The Revolt of Mother”, Sylvia and Mother demonstrate feminine empowerment. These two prominent female protagonists overcome the male influence in their life and society. Both defy social expectations of women and the obstacles that come with it. The authors express this through their similar use of symbolism and alienation. Jewett and Freeman use different examples of poverty, the motivation of society, and speech in their stories.
In the film, Black Swan, the plot centers on Nina Sayers, a ballerina whose only goal is to play the role of the Black and White Swan in her company’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet. While she easily embodies into the innocence and grace of the White Swan, her shy and fragile personality does not fit the seductiveness and mysteriousness of the Black Swan. As a result, she struggles to become the opposite of who she is, worsening her issues with depression and anorexia.