"No, she must keep silence! What is it that suddenly forbids her and makes her dumb? Has she been nine years growing and now, when the great world for the first time puts out a hand to her, must she thrust it aside for a bird's sake? The murmur of the pine's green branches is in her ears, she remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away."
Sarah Orne Jewett's short story "A White Heron" portrayed a nine year old girl named Sylvia and her love for nature, animals and the wilderness. Her and her grandmother are poor and were offered an amount of money that would significantly boost their life style. Sylvia was questioned to reveal the location of the majestic white heron in the forest that a hunter has been attempting to seek out and kill. Climbing the tallest tree in the forest, Sylvia spots the beautiful bird and came to a superior moral viewpoint. She saw "the gaze" in this white heron and realized the life and the freedom of nature and its creatures was worth saving, rather than receiving money to better off her and her grandmother.
Throughout the whole story, the passage above stood out the most because it is the moment that Sylvia comes to realization that nature's freedom holds a greater significance to her than receiving money to improve her well being. The theme freedom of nature holds a strong hold throughout Jewett's story. Nature is a majority of Sylvia's life and what brings her happiness besides her grandmother. She is happy being out in the woods with the animals and climbing trees. Climbing the tallest pine tree brought her to appreciate and visualize the beauty of the white Heron and its life. In the passage, Jewett says, "...the watched the sea and morning together... she cannot tell the heron's secret..." reveals the continuous idea that Sylvia relates to these animals as her friends and how strongly nature plays a role in her life away from the city. Correlating to that example, Jewett's passage above also states, "...the murmur of the pines green branches is in her ear..." almost as if the tree tells her secrets and helps her make the decision of keeping the heron's location a secret from life outside of the woods.
The beauty, appearance and the "gaze" of the heron at the end of the story in the passage chosen above was most significant in bringing the entire story together. Sylvia wasn't familiar with the birds true appearance, beauty and uniqueness until she climbed the tree and became one with the bird's atmosphere. Money could not by her happiness because what brought Sylvia true joy was concealing the bird's location from the hunter and letting him continue to search in confusion. Sylvia, the heroin of this story, protected and save the heron's beauty and life all through a simple gaze up on the tops of the tallest pine tree of them all.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
The Life of a James
Henry James, the author of "The Real Thing" was an American-born writer who was known as a key figure of the 19th century literary realism. In his short story "The Real Thing," he exposes the significant theme of illusion vs. reality.
In James's story, "The Real Thing," he exposes the struggle a middle class artist has with four different types of people to create artwork around. Mr. and Mrs. Monarch were from a wealthy socioeconomic status but lost their money and now are secretly begging to be the artist's models for his paintings. Mr. and Mrs. Monarch are clung to their used-to-be high social status, making it difficult for them to transform through his artwork for a specific job. Miss Chum and Oronte are two characters of a lower socioeconomic class, openly looking for a job to pay the bills. Miss Chum and Oronte also come for the modeling job and end up fitting the modeling position better than the Monarchs, leading to the artist keeping them for his paintings instead of the Monarchs. Mr. and Mrs. Monarch are illustrated as being "the real thing," but because they are too cookie-cutter; they cannot give the artist versatile poses or transform into anything beside themselves.
The theme of illusion vs. reality illuminates throughout James's short story "The Real Thing." The Monarchs continue to portray themselves as prestigious high social class citizens, asking for this middle class artist's modeling job as last result. James describes them as "the real thing" but in reality this illustration is just an illusion because they cannot mold themselves or transform in the way the artist needs for his paintings. The monarchs may be "the real thing" for country homes or classy conversations, but Oronte and Miss Chum are just as much impressive candids for professional modeling. This theme also connects to the fact that the Monarchs are so desperate for their jobs that they are willing to be servants for Oronte and Miss Chum. In reality, these two would never stoop to being someone else's servants because when they had money, they were the people who hired servants. They are hidden behind the illusion of striving for "the real thing" to model for money, but end up not being fit for the job.
James was able to reveal the underlying theme of illusion vs. reality through his unique writing techniques. James was able to expose that the "real thing" is not always found in the high socioeconomic well class citizens, but can be found in an "average Joe."
In James's story, "The Real Thing," he exposes the struggle a middle class artist has with four different types of people to create artwork around. Mr. and Mrs. Monarch were from a wealthy socioeconomic status but lost their money and now are secretly begging to be the artist's models for his paintings. Mr. and Mrs. Monarch are clung to their used-to-be high social status, making it difficult for them to transform through his artwork for a specific job. Miss Chum and Oronte are two characters of a lower socioeconomic class, openly looking for a job to pay the bills. Miss Chum and Oronte also come for the modeling job and end up fitting the modeling position better than the Monarchs, leading to the artist keeping them for his paintings instead of the Monarchs. Mr. and Mrs. Monarch are illustrated as being "the real thing," but because they are too cookie-cutter; they cannot give the artist versatile poses or transform into anything beside themselves.
The theme of illusion vs. reality illuminates throughout James's short story "The Real Thing." The Monarchs continue to portray themselves as prestigious high social class citizens, asking for this middle class artist's modeling job as last result. James describes them as "the real thing" but in reality this illustration is just an illusion because they cannot mold themselves or transform in the way the artist needs for his paintings. The monarchs may be "the real thing" for country homes or classy conversations, but Oronte and Miss Chum are just as much impressive candids for professional modeling. This theme also connects to the fact that the Monarchs are so desperate for their jobs that they are willing to be servants for Oronte and Miss Chum. In reality, these two would never stoop to being someone else's servants because when they had money, they were the people who hired servants. They are hidden behind the illusion of striving for "the real thing" to model for money, but end up not being fit for the job.
James was able to reveal the underlying theme of illusion vs. reality through his unique writing techniques. James was able to expose that the "real thing" is not always found in the high socioeconomic well class citizens, but can be found in an "average Joe."
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