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Feminism In A White Heron

1276 Words6 Pages

Most of the children read about many fairy tales, especially Snow Whites, Sleeping beauty, and Cinderella when they grew up. It is a surprising fact that to discover a hidden, unexpected political intention in the simple plot of fairy tales. That is a feminization of woman. The fairy tale world suggests a male-centered patriarchy as an ideal basic society and impliedly imply that man and woman need to have a proper attitude toward this opinion. However, Jewett’s A White Heron describes a new perspective of fairy tale’s plot. A White Heron is regarded as a local feminism work from Jewett. I would compare A White Heron to traditional fairy tales and focus on how Jewett setting in this work and how Jewett create a new type of fairy tale scenario. Jewett uses a fairy tale’s structure which is used …show more content…

He speaks as if he represents a universal man, but he is merely a handsome young man without a mention of his own personal history. The attitude to nature is also different from Slyvia and the hunter. While the hunter sees nature and woman as a type of totally different thing, the woman, Sylvia, identified with nature from the beginning. The most obvious aspect of how Sylvia and the hunter relate to the relationship with nature is the difference in attitude toward birds. Sylvia is also interested in birds as the hunter. However, unlike men who readily kill birds for abstract knowledge, Sylvia loves birds as living friends and literally shares her own food and saves the lives of birds. In the typical fairy tale woman growth structure, the princess of the forest, in love, accepts the prince’s views of nature and women without any conflict, leaving nature then goes to the (patriarchal) society as a passive partner. Therefore, after the emergence of a young man who wakes up ‘women’s heart’, it becomes a key issue for Sylvia’s growing attitude towards and how she treats herself as a

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