A White HeronSarah Orne Jewett (1886)

Instructor: Nguyen Duy Mong Ha, M.A. & M.Sc.USSH-VNU-HCMCEmail: ndmongha@yahoo.deMobile phone: 0919694811Office hours: Monday, Friday (4-6 p.m)

Reference

http://www.public.coe.edu/~theller/soj/awh/heron.htm

http://www.brighthubeducation.com/high-school-english-lessons/65962-a-white-heron-summary-and-analysis/

http://www.enotes.com/white-heron/characters

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)

Born in South Berwick, Maine one of three daughters of an old and prosperous

New England family began to write regionalist fiction about coastal Maine Her most famous work: The Country of the Pointed

Firs (1896), a collected of interconnected sketches about coastal Maine

Relationships between mothers/daughters and among women figure prominently in her fiction

A White Heron- Introduction

appeared in 1886 in her collection A White Heron and Other Stories

a young forest-dwelling girl who must choose whether or not to tell a handsome young hunter the secret of where the rare white heron has its nest

the most admired and most widely anthologized of Jewett’s nearly 150 short stories

Setting: Place & time

Place: in the woods, near the Maine coast Time:

- June evening, summer time (longer days & shorter nights), sunset

- dinner time

- climbing the tree top early in the morning (dawn, sunrise)

- the sea view

PLOT As the sun sets, nine-year-old Sylvia drives home a

cow, her ‘‘valued companion’’, her playmates, Mistress Moolly (hide-and-seek)

Sudden encounter with the young man (whistle) Accompanying home and grandmother offering

dinner & lodging Telling stories of her son’s hunting for birds Offering 10 $ for showing the white heron‘s nest Great discovery by climbing to tree top early morning Internal struggling: speaking or not speaking Deciding to keep silent (so affected by her tree-top

observation of the heron and other wildlife)

Characters: Sylvia (part I) content with her move to the farm with her

grandmother away from the busy town life returning home with her cow, dawdling and

enjoying the natural environment when a whistle disturbs her peace

surprised, frightened, when a stranger approaches and asks if Sylvia knows where he can get food and shelter

takes the stranger to her grandmother, who welcomes him and makes him comfortable

Characters: Sylvia(Latin sylva=forest)

Character traits Tired of city life Nature-loving: loves wandering

in the woods, prefers the farm and its solitude, birds and animals

Quiet, shy, reserved, thoughtful Animal-loving, friendly to

animals/birds Adventurous, brave, determined Introverted, emotional, sensitive Curious, independent

Evidence from the story “crowded manufacturing town”,

“it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm”

“Afraid of folks”, demure knows the land, the birds, the

squirrels,…tames and feeds them

Journey to look for the white heron

Not to tell the heron‘s secret („keep silence“)

Character: The young man, hunterCharacter traits

Sportsman (nature as sport) loves hunting birds, hunting

some rare birds for 5 yrs—including white heron

An “ornithologist”: kills, stuffs, and preserves birds (collection & classification)

Loud, delighted, friendly Gallant, well-mannered,

charming, kind, sympathetic offers $10 for showing him

white heron (straightforward) Violent, aggresive, smart/clever

Evidence from the story

“they’re stuffed & preserved” “queer tall white bird with soft

feathers long thin legs” “a boy’s whistle, determined,

somewhat aggressive” …would have terrified her”

“Speak up and tell me what your name is…. Don‘t be afraid“...he added gallantly...

wd hv liked him better without his gun; not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like much”

Character: The young man, hunterCharacter traits

proud of his collection of birds,

friendly and kind (Sylvia is both attracted to and somewhat afraid of him)

He is so eager to collect a white heron that he offers Sylvia ten dollars

Practical-minded, realistic >< romantic

Evidence from the story

“they’re stuffed & preserved, dozens of them”

Rising actions Climbing trees Dangers & full of hardships, difficulties Success & triumph: learn from experience Encounter with grandmother and the hunter

when returning home TOP

UP DOWN

Journey of discovery

Climbing up the tree At the pine tree top Climbing down

-Began with utmost bravery- bare feet and fingers- mount the white oak tree next to the pine tree

-Stood trembling & tired-Wholly triumphant-The sea in the dawning sun: golden dazzle- among the clouds- woodlands, church steeples, white villages, ships

-Make her perilous (dangerous) way down again- not daring to look far below- fingers ache- lame feet slip

-Making the dangerous pass from 1 tree to another-Scratched by throny boughs-Frightening animals (hawks, bats, moths,...)

Vast & awesome world: great delight, glory-Birds singing-The white heron‘s nest in the sea of green branches (hemlock)-REWARD: beautiful view + heron’s secret

-Wondering what the stranger would say-Internal struggle: tell him or not tell him?

Symbolism: the pine tree

Survivor: “the last of its generation. . . . the woodchoppers who had felled its mates were dead and gone long ago ”

Beacon: “landmark for sea and shore miles and miles away”

Prospect: “see the ocean” Mystery: “dark boughs that the wind

always stirred” Practical Tool: Locate the white heron

Climbing the Tree: Journey - triumph

Struggle associated with birds: “her bare feet and fingers, that pinched and held like bird's claws to the monstrous ladder reaching up”

“the sharp dry twigs caught and held her and scratched her like angry talons”

Transition: 1) white oak; 2) pine tree: “dangerous pass from one tree to the other”

World vision: “like the great main-mast of the voyaging earth”, “vast and awesome world”

Identification: “spark of human spirit. . . . old pine must have loved his new dependent. . . .

Discovery of Heron

Male heron rises from marsh, perches on pine tree, calls back to mate in nest, in dead hemlock tree

Disturbed by cat-birds, the heron returns to his nest

“She knows his secret now” and descends

Conflicts Internal Conflict - reveal or not reveal the

location of the white heron. External Conflict - rural setting >< urban

setting Romanticism and Realism - shares

Romantic ideals, the importance of nature and the individual, yet its style, use of details, realistic settings, and realistic people exemplifies Realism.

Climax Conflicts: To speak or not to speak? decide whether to please her new friend by

showing him the nesting place of the heron he wishes to kill for his collection, or remain loyal to her animal companions

the choice between flesh and spirit—between earthly human pleasures and the natural world

“No, she must keep silence! . . . Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron’s secret and give its life away”

Resolution: Sylvia’s Choice

Silence, rather than speaking Poverty, rather than money Loneliness, rather than love Loyalty to nature rather than to a man Peace, rather than violence Nature, rather than the “great world” LOVE FOR NATURE AND BIRDS AND LIFE

WAS BIGGER & STRONGER THAN LOVE FOR MONEY & FRIENDSHIP

Theme 1: Maturity (A choice from experience & thoughtful consideration)

Sylvia is a child of the town but has loyalty to nature through experience and suffering

Learning from hard struggle The young man with cultural loyalty to science:

back to nature? Mature to learn that nature and humanity

complement one another FROM INNOCENCE, INEXPERIENCE,

IMMATURITY TO EXPERIENCE, MATURITY

choice between revealing or not revealing the location of the heron in various ways:

- expressing the conflict between urban/rural life, between child/adult perceptions of the world, or between male/female modes of artistic creation

female declines to be rescued by a princely man, an ornithologist whose goal is symbolically to hunt and conquer women and display them in his home.

Theme 2: Co-existence of nature versus civilization

good versus evil, flesh versus spirit, nature versus civilization, feminine versus masculine world view, and innocence versus experience

a conflict between nature and civilization through the relationship between Sylvia and the young man: nature and civilization are ambiguous, mutually interdependent

More about themes Emanciptation from materialism and industrialism Recollection of the individual human being as the

important actor in society Return to nature (Starting point of ecological,

nature-ethical literature in the US) Starting point of questioning the undoubted

positive development of the US (lost paradises) Prominent example of the New England feminist

literature. Freedom to nature

More about symbolism

Environmentalism - embraces environmentalist ideas and embodies Romantic ideals of nature and individualism.

Gender Issues - Sylvia, the grandmother, and the cow are all females living a peaceful rural life when interrupted by the male hunter

"A White Heron" Symbolism The color white--the color of the heron--represents the purity of rural life.

The tall tree in the forest that Sylvia climbs clarity of thought (realizes the heron's life is more valuable than $10)

The geranium symbolizes Sylvia, who belongs in nature, suffocating nature of the city in comparison to the farm

The hunter symbolizes the intrusion of civilization and technology