Theme Of Purity In A White Heron

Purity means freedom from adulteration or contamination. Children are always supposed to be seen as pure, clean and filled with goodness. In the two short stories, “A White Heron” by Sarah Jewett and “A Verb to Kill” by Luisa Valenzuela purity seems to be one of the main themes within the stories. In, “A White Heron” Jewett shows the purity with in child that the world wants to believe is in children. Sylvia is a young girl living with her grandmother in a cottage living a simple and innocent life filled with animals. When a strapping young man visits their cottage to hunt down a white heron bird, Sylvia becomes tempted to give up the location of the bird in exchange for ten dollars. The decision Sylvia makes on whether or not she will give up the bird’s location

One of her temptations is the money the man offers. He states, “‘I can’t think of anything I should like so much as to find the heron’s nest… I would give ten dollars to anybody who could show it to me.’” In the second part of the shorty story Jewett states, “He can make them rich with money; he has promised it, and they are poor now.” This shows the reader that offer of ten dollars had Sylvia contemplating on if she should tell him where the bird’s nest is. The way Jewett writes “rich with money” implies that Sylvia’s life is already filled with richness and happiness, but she could have even more richness with the temptation of money. The second temptation she deals with is her attraction towards the young man. By now the reader know that Sylvia does not talk very much especially not to someone she barely knows, but she starts to warm up to the handsome stranger. Jewett states, “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