A White Heron it is a work written by Sarah Orne Jewett. The work tells the story of Sylvia, a young girl who spends her first years in a city but then, at eight, she was taken from there to live with her grandmother on a farm. There, she begins to feel at home and she establishes a special connection with nature. A White Heron is considered an excellent example of local color. The story reflects romantic ideals, the importance of nature, yet it is an example of realism because of the use of details, realistic settings and its style.
One clear example of the realism in this work is how the author manages to reflect with accuracy how it is like to live in a farm, in contrast with living in the city. For example, Sylvia had plenty of time when
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The story is located near the Maine coast.
Despite the realistic features in this work, I conceive that A White Heron should be considered as an example of a romantic work rather than realistic. Sylvia represents an innocent, aspiring young girl, newly awakened to sexuality, who finds herself greatly attracted to a charming but dangerous young man who loves hunting and collecting birds.
“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”.
The feelings that Sylvia has for the young man contrasts with her love for the animals, considering that the ornithologist hunts and collects birds. When the young man promises to give Sylvia ten dollars if she tells him where the white heron is, she decides not to tell him, she chooses to protect the bird instead of making the man