"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.
That passage really stood out to me also. It was the moment where Sylvia had chosen nature over community. She decided to keep the heron safe from the hunter that wanted to stuff it. If i was in this young girls shoes i would hope that i would choose the nature also.
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose this one passage in particular because it was a major part of the story. Nature is definitely a big part of sylvia's life like you said and therefore she respects that more than the money after discovering the white heron. I liked your view and take on the story, but also the passage that you chose in the beginning of your blog. good job!
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post. I think the quote you close to write about was a good one because it was very significant to the story. I liked that you talked about nature and how it was a significant part of the story.
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