The Third Wish

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

One’s view on something often changes when you look at it from more than one point of view. Morality plays a significant role in any decision making process. It is hard to justify any decision that is not moral. Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron” has many elements of nature, and of the preservation of what Sylvia holds dearly. The thought provoking short story evokes emotions of caring, loving, and fear. All of these emotions are shown by different settings and characters in the story.

In the story the father didn’t understand his daughter which made their relationship rocky. In the text it says ‘‘...watching him get out of the truck and walk toward me, noticing that there was no smile on his face but still feeling my body move toward him, my arms opening for an embrace, something rising in my throat. My father stopped and held out his right hand.’’ This quote shows that the father had a hard time showing his emotions to his daughter. In the end of the story they bonded over a bird and the father began to understand his daughter.

From ending up dead to killing your own son, wishes can have some extreme consequences. After reading “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” it is clear that they are similar and different in many ways. Both Characters learn lessons that are very important to their current situation. However, the two characters get their wishes in two different ways. Although they are two different stories, we can still easily compare and contrast them.

Although Birdie’s sad story seems to be very tragic, it is not identical to the normal literary tragedies that we normally see. Usually, a tragedy is written with a heroic character and features characters acting out the roles of the story. Instead, Waxen Wings displays a girl who loves flying, but is caught up in a series of unfortunate events Unless the reader is also a lover or flying, it is

A White Heron speaks about little girl Sylvia who lives with her grandmother in a lonely house deep in the woods. The old woman took her granddaughter from the city, where the child lived with her siblings in mother’s house. It looked like Sylvia had problems with

Some people think that if they could only change one aspect of their lives, it would be perfect. They do not realize that anything that is changed could come with unintended consequences. “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken both illustrate this theme. They demonstrate this by granting the main character three wishes, but with each wish that is granted, brings undesirable consequences. The main idea of this essay is to compare and contrast “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish.” Although the “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Third Wish” are both fantasies and have similar themes, they have different main characters, wishes, and resolutions.

Joan Aiken’s short story, “The Third Wish,” tells a story of a man named Mr. Peters who one day comes across a swan tangled in thorns and struggling to be free. After freeing the bird he is greeted by a king who grants the man three wishes and gives the man three leaves to make the wishes with. His first wish is a wife, and the kings gives him a wife. Later on, the wife becomes depressed and tells the man that she was a swan before and wanted to be back with her sister. He uses his second wish to turn his wife back into a swan, and releases her back into the pond. He does not use his third wish after that for a while. Joan Aikens uses several craft elements frequently throughout his piece. Three main elements that stood out to me were imagery, descriptive details, and poetic devices.

What if a person was forced to change their identity and escape from who they truly are inside? In the novel, Caucasia by Danzy Senna a girl named Birdie goes through an identity crisis not knowing where she belongs. Her mother is white and her father is black making her a tan skinned girl while her sister is more similar to her father’s looks. Confused with her race, she is overlooked and not noticed by others, this causes her to become depressed and develops an invisible quality about her. Throughout the book, Birdie feels pressure multiple times to pass as either white or black. Caucasia explores controversial topics of racial passing, invisibility, and identity crisis within the text through the confused and lonely character of Birdie.

The imagery that is used when describing the setting allows the audience to not only picture clearly where the characters are but also to give an explanation for why Sedna would rather marry a seagull she just met than a young man who she has probably known for some time. Sedna wants the best for herself and does not wish to be with a man who cannot offer her anything that her father cannot offer her himself in terms of a shelter and food. Sedna’s pride is her tragic flaw, and by not accepting what was given/offered to her, she ended up being worse off than she was before. Another flaw for Sedna and her father is that they are vengeful. Sedna’s father gets revenge on the seagull, which almost results in him murdering his daughter, and it is Sedna’s revenge on her father and their hatred that caused the earth to swallow them. From these, it can be understood that peacefulness, humility, whales and seals, and being weary of strangers are all ideas, or animals, that this culture thinks is important. These are a few of the ideas that can be taken away from this myth, but if they are looked at from another

In the story, “The Third Wish” a man named Mr. Peters gets three wishes, but the wishes don’t turn out the way he wanted. He has many likeable character traits that influence his wish choices. One character trait that Mr. Peters possesses is compassionate. He helped the king of the forest when he was trapped in a thorn bush near Savernake lake. This is a form of compassion by showing that he is willing to help others in need.

The tale of “The Ugly Duckling” has been told for many generations. It is the story of a little swan that is mistakenly hatched in a duck’s nest and because of his strange and different appearance he is teased and ridiculed. Even his mother can’t understand how this “ugly duckling” could be one of her own. The ugly duckling goes through many hardships and a long, lonely winter. Then upon seeing his reflection in the pond he realizes that he has become a beautiful swan and happily swims off, joining a group of nearby swans.

I have really high expectations for myself and what I am capable of this fall at Mount Olive College. I have very high goals for myself and have revised what I believe to be a well guided plan to achieve them. I feel eager and excited to unleash my mind, thoughts and the power of my determination. I know that it’s going to be a lot of hard work and its going to take a lot of time. Also, with that comes the bittersweet of sacrifice, of parts of my life that I am going to have to change in order to succeed. But my grandfather has always told me “anything worth having is worth working hard for.” I am my biggest critic and supporter all in one. I know that the only person that can stop me from doing what I came to do is me. No one else has the

The birds flew, flapping "their useless wings" as they hit the ground, dead. Wild beasts are becoming timid, from fright, and poisonous snakes were becoming "stingless". These animals are becoming food for the men, who are now, desperately, becoming savage scavengers. However, the animal food supply doesn't last long, and the men start turning on themselves. Humans were now capable of cannibalism, as survival becomes the only consistent goal: "men dies"…"their bones were tombless as their flesh". This is exaggerated even more as once faithful dogs have turned on their masters, devouring their flesh and sparing nothing. All except one dog, who "kept the birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay" from his master's corpse, not letting any scavengers touch them, until the dog succumbs to starvation and dies. This symbolises the demise of any last moral emotion that the world had left.

“The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs and “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken are similar stories because of their characters, and contrasting stories because of the wishes. The characters both receive wishes in a similar way, but the main characters use their wishes in different ways.