Sarah Orne Jewett's Short Story 'A White Heron'

Adventure and desire are common qualities in humans and Sarah Orne Jewett’s excerpt from “A White Heron” is no different. The heroine, Sylvia, a “small and silly” girl, is determined to do whatever it takes to know what can be seen from the highest point near her home. Jewett uses literary elements such as diction, imagery, and narrative pace to dramatize this “gray-eyed child” on her remarkable adventure. Word choice and imagery are necessary elements to put the reader in the mind of Sylvia as she embarks on her treacherous climb to the top of the world. Jewett is picturesque when describing Sylvia’s journey to the tip of one unconquered pine tree.

Katherine Anne Porter was born on May 15, 1890 and died September 18, 1980. Porter was known to be an amazing writer and author in the mid to late 1900s. Known for her smart and clever insight, many of her short stories deal with dark themes such as betrayal, and death. Born and raised in Indian Creek, Texas, she had a short marriage to her first husband, John, and left him to pursue an acting career. “First she moved to Chicago, where she was a journalist and movie extra; then Denver, Colorado, where she worked as a drama critic for the Rocky Mountain News; and then New York City” (LitFinder par. 2).

What Does Little Sylvie Believe In? In “The White Heron” a nine years old girl named Sylvie lives a lonely life with her grandmother in a village. During her everyday duties, such as taking care of the cow, she enjoys the beauty of the surrounding nature by watching wild animals, walking in the forest, and dreaming about flying like a bird. One day a young hunter came to the village.

“The Gray Man” was a short story written by Sarah Orne Jewett who was a famous colorist that lived in New England and wrote short stories on local color. The story deals with the theme of death and with the character of Death himself. Sarah Orne Jewett became famous for using beautiful and descriptive language to describe her setting in the story. She was even known for her use of personification on her work where she gives life inanimate objects and abstract notions to make everything in the story seem to drip with richness and reality. The story starts with a negative foreboding tone enhanced by the adjectives selected – “ungathered”, “unassailed” and “untended”.

“‘Billie Wind.’ The medicine man was speaking.’ May I have your attention?’’’(1). The Seminole council asked Billie Wind what she thought her punishment should be for not believing in the Seminole legends.

In the short story “ The Birds “ by Daphne du Maurier, the main character Nat Hocker repeatedly lied to his family because the children were too young to understand, the children needed to remain calm, and the birds were taking over London. Nat had to try and protect his family , so he told them lies . In this next paragraph you will learn about how the children were too young to understand . Nat Hocker repeatedly told lies to his family, because his children were too young to understand what was going on . Nat tried everything to protect his family from the different types of birds .

Catherine, Called Birdy is written around the times of 1290 and 1291 in Lincolnshire, the historical county in the east of England. Catherine, the protagonist, wishes she had been born a different person. She questions that if she was born a woman, why not a wealthy woman? This question pops up quite often considering her life is not a life someone would expect a 14 year old girl to be living. Catherine expresses her disappointment in the following quote from the story, “Instead I am the daughter of a country knight with but ten servants, seventy villagers, no minstrel, and acres of unhemmed linen.

Butterflies and moths can be interpreted as a lot more than beautiful, flying insects. In O Pioneers these insects are mostly shown as being white in color, this color can be understood in many different ways. Willa Cather uses moths and butterflies many times throughout her novel. There are several legends and beliefs that show how the butterfly is a spiritual being, that represents humans. She uses them as a way to compare the characters to the insects.

Everyone has a fright for something, but not everyone tries to overcome the fear of whatever it must be. In 2011 S.J Butler thematised what it would say to be frightened, and not just evade the fact of fear, through her short story, The Swimmer. Many people have a way of letting everything go to one’s head, and not liberate themselves. That is simply the message and symbol the reader has to look for, while they are reading The Swimmer. As early as the first sentence the reader is introduced to the environment, and what environment you can expect at this time of the year: “The alders at the river’s edge stand motionless in the midsummer heat”

Shah 1 Neil Shah Prof. Paden ENG 232 Section 4202 28 March 2017 An Analysis of Symbolism in “A White Heron” Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron” follows the life of a young girl, Sylvia, through her childhood in the Maine countryside. Before encountering an ornithologist who seeks to add a unique bird, the white heron, to his collection, Sylvia lives a simple life in the country with her grandmother Mrs. Tilley after moving from a manufacturing town at the age of eight. “A White Heron” does indeed embody Regionalism and local color at heart, but it also touches on a number of other areas, including the innocence of nature, corruption of civilization, gender roles, and environmentalism.

Nat Hawkins ended up protecting his family and fighting for his life as well as theirs in the tragic story “The Birds”. In the story Nat and his family have a little pre-war cottage they reside in. Everything suddenly takes a turn for the worst when birds start attacking them during the night. Nat proceeds to board up all the windows and doors before the next nightfall. Nat lied to his children for the following reasons: they had to stay calm,they were too young to understand, their job as parents to protect them.