The White Heron depicts a story of a little girl who leads a life of respect and love of nature rather than that of fortune. Early on in the story, she meets a boy who is a self-proclaimed ornithologist, a scientist that studies birds. He is willing to pay ten dollars to whomever can show him the White Heron he had once seen. It is now up to Sylvia, the young girl, to make a decision either in favor of the ornithologist or the white heron. Ultimately, she will be making a decision to acquiesce to male dominance or not.
The pine tree in which Sylvia climbs in order to see the white heron up close can be represented as a symbol of life. "Now she thought of the tree with a new excitement, for why, if one climbed it at break of day, could not one see all the world, and easily discover whence the white heron flew
" (Jewett 466). The tree actually takes on the characteristics of an animal, when Sylvia is climbing the tree and the twigs scratch her with "angry like talons"......
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Approximate Word Count: 1468
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |