White Heron Sarah One Jewett's Essay

Sylvia develops a fondness for "The Stranger" as she spends more time with him, traveling through the bushes trying to find the elusive bird. "The Stranger" has offered $10 to Sylvia if she could give him any information regarding the whereabouts of the White Heron. Sylvia develops a great desire to please this new friend of hers, and concocts a secret plan, involving a tall pine tree, to locate the nest of the White Heron.

Before dawn, Sylvia sneaks out and heads for the tall pine tree and climbs to the very top of it, incurring scratches and bruises on the way. When she reaches the top, sunlight begins to appear, and "Sylvia's face was like a pale star" a top the tall tree. At this point in the story, there is a shift in imagery and tone, as the author uses words like "golden," bewildering light," "white sails of ships" to describe the "vast and awesome world" Sylvia experiences from this height. Rich imager is used to describe how the White Heron ascends from the dark hemlocks below and rises past Sylvia to a perch on a tall pine close by. This presents a parallel between Sylvia and the White Heron, as they both rose from the dark foliage below to great heights at the top of the pine trees, and Sylvia at this "knows his secret now," which is where his nest is, and she has information that would provide her poor family with $10.

However, Sylvia chose to remain loyal to the White Heron.She recalled the moment they shared watching the morning together and did not tell the hunter of the nest. She could not give the heron's life away. She knew she had to sacrifice promises of money and potential of impressing the hunter in order to keep the White Heron's secret. The world had for the first time offered her beauty and light, a glimpse into how amazing the power of silence can be.

Reference

Jewett, Sarah Orne (1886). A White Heron. Retrieved 6/18/2007 at http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/awh/heron.htm......