A White Heron Literary Analysis

Starting of with “A White Heron”, the story starts with a mellow, quiet mood. Sylvia is walking in the woods with her companion, her cow. Jewett includes words and phrases such as “childish patience” and “the little girl” that makes the reader grasp the idea of Sylvia being a child. The fact that Sylvia hears the whistle of the stranger and hides also show the idea of her being a young child. The first day meeting the stranger, Sylvia seems reserved and not paying much attention to him talking about the white heron, even when he confesses to pay ten dollar for anyone who helps him find it. Soon enough, Sylvia develops a crush on the hunter. She does go in the woods with him for his needs to find the white heron but she does not disclose where the bird could be, it seemed as if she just wanted to enjoy his company. When Sylvia goes on her

Childhood is arguably the most exciting time of a person’s life. One has few responsibilities or cares, and the smallest events can seem monumentally thrilling. Often, people reflect on the memories of their youth with fondness and appreciation for the lessons they learned. Sarah Orne Jewett captures this essence perfectly in the excerpt from “A White Heron.” Jewett uses many literary devices, including diction, imagery, narrative pace, and point of view to immerse the reader in familiar feelings of nostalgia and wonder, and dramatize the plot.

Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Cat Woman; when you hear the word hero or heroine that is who you think of. The most famous heroes of all time, as well as the not so famous heroes such as Hazel, fit the archetype of a hero; they are all courageous, resourceful, and strong-willed. Most people don’t notice that almost all action/adventure movies and novels are the same. All of their stories fit the archetypal pattern of a heroic quest. A heroic quest consists of twelve steps that the hero completes throughout his or her journey. In this essay, I will be explaining the parallels between Watership Down by Richard Adams and the archetypal pattern of a heroic quest; as well as the parallels between

Female roles in society have often been minute. In Jewett’s “A White Heron” and Freeman’s “The Revolt of Mother”, Sylvia and Mother demonstrate feminine empowerment. These two prominent female protagonists overcome the male influence in their life and society. Both defy social expectations of women and the obstacles that come with it. The authors express this through their similar use of symbolism and alienation. Jewett and Freeman use different examples of poverty, the motivation of society, and speech in their stories.

In the story The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, the author shows many similarities between the narrator's little brother Doodle and an exotic bird. While reading through the story the young boy is not thought very highly of. No one including, the doctors, ever thought Doodle would live past a couple days. But Doodle did just that, he lived for 6 whole years. His parents even named him William Armstrong, because they thought it would look good on a tombstone. His brother later renamed him Doodle because with that kind of name no one would expect much from him. Doodle had many obstacles growing up and didn’t really fit it. While going through life Doodle was constantly trying to prove that there was a reason for his life. Doodle’s brother tried very to have a normal little brother, so he pushed him in many ways to enable him to do normal things. Doodle could not stand up or crawl and when he did he crawled backwards, earning him the name Doodle. The brothers says to Doodle, “Aw, come on, Doodle,” I urged. “You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?”

In Cold Mountain and "A Poem for the Blue Heron", tone is established in a multitude of ways. These two pieces of literature describe the characteristics and actions of a blue heron, both aiming for the same goal. However, Charles Frazier and Mary Oliver approach their slightly differing tones employing organization, metaphoric language, and diction.

Archetypes are defined as “a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature.” (“Archetype”) The short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien is about the internal struggle and the journey he faces after he is drafted to serve the army. The classical hero’s journey archetype is similar to Tim O’Brien’s journey in his short story, “On the Rainy River,” with the exception of the arc length and depth of transformation.

Homer’s The Odyssey tells the story of young Telemachus with the task of finding his father, Odysseus while also finding himself. As the hero of this journey, Telemachus develops into a noble, brave, and strong man, through complications inflicted by others’ mental endurance. By overcoming these obstacles Telemachus develops into the universally known stereotypical hero. However, the same cannot be said for the heroes of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland. At the end of their journeys, Jewel and Alice become different kinds of heroes; instead of becoming a stereotypical plucky adventurer, they each develop different traits to benefit themselves along their journey.

The “hero’s journey”, coined by Joseph Campbell, is a pattern in the plot structure of literature, myths, and oral tradition in which the hero is consistently faced with similar obstacles and achieves many of the same goals. The first part of the hero’s journey is “The Call.” The hero is usually living a very comfortable and easy life, unaware of the journey ahead. The hero is then faced with a situation or dilemma which eventually causes them to seek change. The hero, at this point, tends to refuse the call to adventure in fear of the unknown. Once the hero has been given the strength to push past the unknown, they have entered the threshold. The hero will experience many challenges and temptations where the hero is tested, eventually reaching “The Abyss,” the most difficult challenge. The hero is then transformed by these trials and returns home to every-day life and begins to contribute to their society. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist, Janie, experiences the hero’s journey first-hand through overcoming obstacles and transforming herself. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the heroine Janie overcomes many obstacles and is therefore transformed into a self reliant woman.

Understanding human behaviors is a complicated job because it requires many studies on various people in a long period of time. Sarah Orne Jewett introduces an image of a nine-year-old girl, Sylvia, innocence mind with a mature decision into her story, “A White Heron.” Sylvia does not want to betray the love for nature from an offer of an attractive hunter. She discovers what is most important to her after overcoming many internal thoughts about what she will do with the money from the hunter’s offer, or fulfills her passion with a natural world. The story is contained both situational and dramatic irony, which provides a different point of view of Sylvia in the society. Not everyone is motivated by money. The setting and keeping of economic power is central to Sylvia’s existence and activities.

The Hero’s quest is one of literatures greatest devices. It is the foundation that our myths and legends are built upon, allowing them to soar to even greater heights of imagination. Yet, in a world where Herakles no longer labors or Arthur’s knights no longer quest for treasures, where does the hero’s quest fit into more modern settings? In the novels that we have examined, two stand out as having addressed the hero’s journey and its place within our modern times. Goodbye, Columbus by Phillip Roth, and Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum both have protagonists that traverse various stages of the hero cycle in their own unique way.

Throughout history it becomes apparent that all the great stories: The Odyssey, Great Expectations, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are all founded on a similar theme. The same plot line, a hero, most often the protagonist, faces danger and adversity to the highest extreme but always comes out on top. He is depicted as the pinnacle of human triumph and in essence, demonstrates a fundamental strength that all men should strive to achieve. These stories were, “ full of darkness and danger. And sometimes one did not want to know the end; How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? In the end, it is only a passing thing. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out even clearer. Those

?Sylvia still watched the young man with loving admiration. She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful, the woman?s heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love.? As the symbol of masculinity, the hunter is an aggressor although he is described to be kind, handsome, friendly and sympathetic. When first met Sylvia in the woods, he ?called out in a very cheerful and persuasive tone? and spoke to her in a courteous way. In fact, he takes advantages of Sylvia because he is in need of home and food. When he needs Sylvia?s help, he proves he cares for her so much, ?He listened eagerly to the old woman?s quaint talk, he watched Sylvia?s pale face and shining gray eyes with ever growing enthusiasm.? ?He told her many things about the birds and what they knew and where they lived and what they did with themselves. And he gave her a jack-knife, which she thought as great a treasure as if she were a desert-islander.? However, he is cruel and merciless to nature, his gun is a convention which is to destroy the nature. ?I have been hunting for some birds?. At the end, he goes away and does not help her family when she refuses to tell him about the heron?s nest.

Today, rap music is an ever growing genre of music that is often centered on hedonistic pursuits such as wealth, cars, drinks, and fame. About forty years ago, however, rap music focused on an entirely different subject matter. During the 1970s, African Americans sung rap songs to express the need for Black empowerment in society; though their form of singing was not called rapping back then, it was called spoken word poetry, a form of song in which verses of poetry were performed with a fixed beat before an audience. African Americans used this style of singing to express the discontent with the economics and politics during the 1970s. The black population was still economically and politically powerless

The story begins as young Sylvia is interrupted by a hunter who is looking for a new bird for his collection. As he follows her, he makes home at her grandmother’s house where he makes himself at home. As he begins to discuss the reward for the