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A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett

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Temptation is a tricky thing. It is often difficult for one to make the ‘right choice’ because both options commonly appear as being equally good or bad. In Sarah Orne Jewett’s short story, A White Heron, a young, naive Sylvia faces temptation in it’s truest form. She is forced to make a tough choice, where her decision would either benefit her or save an innocent creature. This story depicts an age-old strife that still plagues society today which exists as the internal struggle between greedily disclosing or taking something for personal benefit, or selflessly giving something up so others can have the opportunity to flourish. In the beginning, innocent Sylvia is searching for her run-away cow when she comes across a hunter. Initially, she is wary of the strange man, but eventually she warms up to him. Over the course of the story, her fondness towards the man grows into strange feelings, which her naive mind deciphered as her first ‘crush’. “Sylvia would have liked him vastly better without his gun; she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much. But as the day waned, 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” (Par. 26). Living in the secluded forest with her Grandmother, she was curious about these feelings since they did not often get too many visitors. The hunter began to tell stories

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