Topic > Nature versus Society in a White Heron

Within “A White Heron” Jewett provides his readers with a set of contrasting values ​​that can all be subsumed under the theme of country versus city. Jewett emphasizes his preference by having Sylvia choose nature over civilization, while also acknowledging the cost of making that choice. Jewett emphasizes his choice to have Sylvia choose nature over society, while acknowledging the cost of even having that option. The story begins with Sylvia, who lives in the woods of Maine with her grandmother. He meets a tall young man who is looking for a rare white heron while taking back the cow. He wants to kill him for his collection and fill him up. He offers Sylvia a lot of money only if she helps him find the creature. Sylvia is driven not only to help with the resources she can afford, but above all because she considers the young man attractive. Sylvia climbs the large pine tree to look for the white heron's secret nest, but she also perceives it as a great adventure to climb. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There may be good meaning in Sylvia's act of climbing the tree, for she has what will be characterized as transcendental enjoyment when she reaches the top. He spots the mysterious white heron's nest, but also sees the sun rising over the gold-flecked sea, the white sails of ships and falcons flying as well as timber, fields, churches and villages miles away. It almost seems like "she too will fly away into the clouds." Jewett's contrast between Sylvia and the 'wretched, dry geranium belonging to a neighboring town' is instructive, for Sylvia thrives on moving from the metropolis to the United States, just as the geranium might. When he first sees the hunter, he lowers his head "as if he had damaged the stalk." «Jewett means that Sylvia is a rose, part of nature. Not only is she embraced with the help of wild animals, but she also feels "as if she were part of the gray shadows and moving leaves." Sylvia's hyperlinks to nature are also expressed in Jewett's rationalization of her bare toes and palms, which are like "hen's claws," a simile that links her to birds and provides an explanation for her choice. The hunter who seeks the white heron comes from the city and is therefore corrupted by humanity. Indeed, like the red-faced good guy, he is a danger to Sylvia: he may not hurt her physically, but he may also control her by influencing her to "sell out" humanity by taking money in exchange for information. Jewett no longer blames the hunter for the hunt itself; Ms. Tilley recognizes that hunting creates game (partridge) that must be hunted to survive. Alternatively, hunting all varieties of birds (along with thrushes and sparrows) simply to gorge them by one's own 'choice' is Mrs Tilley's 'foreign' belief and Sylvia's incomprehensible thought: "She couldn't understand why he had killed at all the birds it looked like". I like it a lot. Indeed, her first perception of him as an "enemy" is correct. The corruption of the “convincing” young man is marked by his situation when he meets him. Like many other moral raiders in the dark forest, the hunter is “lost.” When he is guided to the hermitage and receives Mrs. Tilley's hospitality, he repays her by trying to exploit Sylvia's obvious love for him and Mrs. Tilley's peers. In many ways, "A White Heron" is a story with mythological overtones. A young woman seeking to live in solitary ethical superiority is exposed to the temptation of the global outdoors. The agent of deception exploits its growinginterest in the opposite sex to hypnotize her and push her to lie to the herbal world in which she resides. While her "woman's soul", which was "welcoming", transformed into "vaguely amazed" with the help of the young hunter, she also gained new visions of herself and the arena of nature. Her morning journey, if you will lead her through a risky swamp, and subsequent climb up a pine tree will test and teach her. As he tries to negotiate the “passage” from the world to the woods, he faces a “great task,” both daunting and rewarding. From the top of the tree he will see "the enormous and fantastic global" beyond the protection of the camp. Unfortunately for the hunter, he also sees a white heron and his friend. The battle between the two worlds and the parallel between the herons and their situation is simply obvious to the "sader but wiser" Sylvia: her happiness in helping the object of her life is simpler in destroying any other state of "domestic" things. be made infatuation, which can be extra good size. Jewett writes in a form of epilogue, "could birds have been better friends than their hunters?" At the end of "A White Heron," the unconventional protagonist, Sylvia, must choose whether to help the hunter find and kill a beautiful and unusual white heron, or whether to keep the heron covered so as not to reveal the area of ​​his nest. In this case, Sylvia's choice to protect nature (using the heron's mystery position maintenance) or benefit from its consumption (discovering the heron's nest and accepting the hunter's bribe) is also an image mirror its prospects. in the sector. Ultimately, Sylvia chooses to keep this mystery of the heron's nest, which is Jewett's way of suggesting that the right preference is to prioritize nature over industrialization. For Jewett, the conflict between nature and enterprise is tied to a dispute between the city and the United States, and Sylvia's reminiscences of moving from the industrial city where she grew up to the geographic region of residence of her aunt, Mrs. Tilley, highlight the importance of nature. Jewett points out that Sylvia “tried to develop in a crowded manufacturing town for 8 years,” but “never came alive” there. After seeing the beauty of her grandmother's farm for the first time, Sylvia said she "never wanted to go home." Far from the deadly effects of her industrialized homeland, Sylvia seems to come back alive. Instead of being afraid of the industry, he begins to evolve to discover it with enthusiasm, Jewett observes that "since it went global, there has never been the kind of kid who wanders out of the house!". He learns in detail about the landscape, tames wild creatures and is happy to reappear after his grandmother's cursed cow. For Sylvia, the nation-state is a more suitable environment, as nature makes her safe and happy, at the same time that the city makes her boring and scary. Although the transformation within Sylvia demonstrates that she may prefer nature to modern industrialism, she continues to be drawn to the hunter (whom Jewett sincerely identifies with the city and the enterprise). Featuring advanced statistics and a cutting-edge system, the Hunter embodies intrusive urban impact. He tells Sylvia several things she didn't know about birds, and gives her a switchblade and carries a gun, both of which may be unusual in Sylvia's American existence. He is also particularly identified with the industry since his cause - catching a chicken and producing it at home - mirrors what nature is consumed through industry to create domestic comfort. Although Sylvia is sad about the hunter's goal of catching the heron (and in.