“A White Heron”, written by Sarah Orne Jewett, depicts the struggle of a young girl trying to understand the true nature of the feelings of attraction that emerge in the adolescent years. These feelings, she soon discovers, are often at odds with the values that one holds dear, which often leads to a conflict. In “A White Heron”, Jewett applies contrasting images of light and darkness to depict Sylvia’s struggle with and eventual victory over the deception of human attraction. This struggle manifests itself in the form of a young hunter boy attempting to hunt and kill a white heron. The first point that should be established is the connection that is made in the story between darkness and Sylvia’s attraction to the boy. Throughout the story,
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It is explained early in the story that a love for nature lies at the core of Sylvia’s beliefs with the testimony of Mrs. Tilley. She said that “it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm”(228) This basically means that Sylvia was miserable before she came to live amongst nature. It becomes apparent that this loyalty is, in contrast to Sylvia’s attraction to the boy, is being associated with light. A good example of this would be after the boy asks Sylvia if she has seen any white heron in the area. She then remembers that she had seen one and had been “where it stood in some bright green swamp grass… where the sunshine always seemed strangely yellow and hot”(232) This gives the reader a perfect look at how Sylvia thought about nature. When she thought about experiences she had in nature, she remembered the light she experienced, along with positive feelings she may have had, which is this case would have been warmth. This creates a clear connection between Sylvia’s feelings for nature and the presence of light. There is another important point to note, which also comes from the point right before Sylvia meets the boy in the forest. When it is stated that “a bright sunset still glimmered faintly among the trunks of the trees”(227), not only is Sylvia walking into darkness, as was stated earlier, she is also walking away from the “bright sunset”(227). This foreshadows that that Sylvia is both literally and metaphorically walking away from her loyalty to nature and toward the dark vice that is human
It is explained early in the story that a love for nature lies at the core of Sylvia’s beliefs with the testimony of Mrs. Tilley. She said that “it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm”(228) This basically means that Sylvia was miserable before she came to live amongst nature. It becomes apparent that this loyalty is, in contrast to Sylvia’s attraction to the boy, is being associated with light. A good example of this would be after the boy asks Sylvia if she has seen any white heron in the area. She then remembers that she had seen one and had been “where it stood in some bright green swamp grass… where the sunshine always seemed strangely yellow and hot”(232) This gives the reader a perfect look at how Sylvia thought about nature. When she thought about experiences she had in nature, she remembered the light she experienced, along with positive feelings she may have had, which is this case would have been warmth. This creates a clear connection between Sylvia’s feelings for nature and the presence of light. There is another important point to note, which also comes from the point right before Sylvia meets the boy in the forest. When it is stated that “a bright sunset still glimmered faintly among the trunks of the trees”(227), not only is Sylvia walking into darkness, as was stated earlier, she is also walking away from the “bright sunset”(227). This foreshadows that that Sylvia is both literally and metaphorically walking away from her loyalty to nature and toward the dark vice that is human