Sarah Orne Jewett beautifully incorporates Romantic
ideals as well as a coming of age experience within her short story, "A
White Heron." The story introduces Sylvia, a nine year old girl who has
relocated from a bustling city to the quiet woods of Maine with her
grandmother, Mrs. Tilley. Sylvia feels at home in her new environment, despite
coming from the city, and ultimately feels one with the nature. She spends the
majority of her time in the forest and finds a spot at a tree's top where she feels
she can be a heron and can "fly." Eventually, though, Sylvia is
greeted by a young hunter in search of the elusive white heron for his
collection. Sylvia is faced with a dilemma: she either shows the nest to the
hunter or gains his affection and ten dollars, or she protects her way of
living by preserving the peace of nature. Despite this dilemma and despite what
the ten dollars could have done to change Sylvia and her grandmother's life,
Sylvia decides to protect the spirituality and wonder of the woodlands and does
not disclose the heron's location to the hunter. Sylvia justifies this by
remembering that no amount of money can distract her from the elegance of
nature. Jewett glorifies the emotions Sylvia feels when she is in the forest,
and introduces the young and attractive hunter as a way of challenging her core
values and morals. This brilliant blend of Romanticism and internal and
external challenges makes for an exceptional coming of age story.
-Michael D. Nguyen
-Michael D. Nguyen
I like how the author ties in Sylvia's dilemma with her grandmother and her spirituality.
ReplyDeleteGreat job. This paragraph was very well written, although I feel it was more of a summary of the story than anything.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Elder
This post had very good organization,details, and fluency throughout the whole post.-Trent
ReplyDeleteThis post was really good and showed how the character progressed through a problem and i really liked how they did their post
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. It had good organization but could use a conclusion
ReplyDelete-Austin Valdez
It was a nice comparison of romanticism, because it is often tied in with coming of age stories.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great summary of the story as well as explaining the theme and incorporated details and sentence fluency into the post.
ReplyDeletevery nice job here. it shows the conflict that has been introduced. The dilemma of gaining the hunters affection was very interesting... good job
ReplyDeleteThis post was beautifully written and provides a great explanation of the story.
ReplyDeleteWell descriptive and written. All the details helped me understand the story better. Great work! -Michelle
ReplyDeleteThe blog is very well written. Explanation of the sylvia and her dilemma is clearly stated
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, great job on the summary and the organization.
ReplyDelete