Critical Analysis of the White Heron The White Heron is a spiritual story that depicts great sophistication and concerns for the higher things in life. A 9-year-old girl, once isolated in the city, found fulfillment on a farm surrounded by nature. Even those less unfortunate, the allure of money and other attractions can be intoxicating; Sylvia didn't bite. She could have improved her situation and found her way to wealth, but she ultimately realized that it wouldn't help her be the person she wanted to be. This article will outline a critical analysis of the White Heron story and focus on the relationship between the story's literary elements, plot, characterization, style, symbolism, and women's concerns specific to this period. Plot Sylvia was a 9-year-old “Nature Girl” who met a charming ornithologist hunter on a mission to find the allusive white heron. Sylvia was about 8 years old when she moved with her grandmother from the city to a farm, “a good change for a little waitress who had tried to grow up for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as far as Sylvia herself was concerned, it seemed as if she had never been alive before coming to live on the farm. (Jewett, 1884, 1914, cited in McQuade, et al., 1999, p. 1641). Sylvia finds the secret, the white heron. Instead of telling the young hunter, he keeps the secret, because in his mind nature is more powerful than his feelings for “the enemy.” Sylvia, not yet a woman, is on the threshold of feminine change. As a child she doesn't yet "need" a man. She has been taken out of town into the forest where she has no need for social norms and is still developing (in every sense,... middle of paper... what she cares about). she, nature, the world from the top of the pine tree, "the sea with the rising sun illuminating it with gold... two hawks with slow wings" flying towards the east (Jewett, 1884, 1914, cit. in McQuade, et.al., 1999, p. Sylvia was speechless by the beauty of the world, “she felt as if she too could fly away into the clouds…” (Jewett, 1884, 1914, qtd in McQuade, et.al. , 1999, p. 1645). She came down but her soul still remained on top of the world and she remained true to herself and what she loved. References McQuade, D., Atwan, R., Banta, M., Kaplan, J., Minter, D., Stepto, R., Tichi, C., Vendler, H. (1999 The Harper Single Volume: American Literature, (3rd edition) (Jewett, 1884, 1914, qtd in McQuade, et al., 1999, p. 1645).