ipl-logo

Tree Symbolism In The White Heron By Sarah Orne Jewett

687 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Why its important to talk about nature in literature

The White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett is about the journey of a girl, Sylvia, as she begins to develop. Throughout the story she beings to discover who she really is and connects with nature to decide where she finally fits in. There are many symbols within the White Heron, however, the tree illustrates qualities Sylvia learns about herself while also making her choose between her love of nature and the white heron or an admiration of a hunter and a monetary value. When Sylvia first decides that she is going to climb the tree to find the heron’s nest it serves as an earthly pursuit. She wonders “over and over again what the stranger will say to her, and what he will think when she tells him how to find his way straight to the herons nest” …show more content…

The fact that she chose to make this journey without the permission of her grandmother, and without the knowledge of the hunter, illustrates her evolution into an independent adult. First of all, even though she had “often laid her hand on the great rough trunk and looked up wistfully at those dark boughs” she had never once tried to climb the tree, but out of nowhere the hunter comes along looking for the white heron and she gets the gumption to do so (Jewett, pg. 135) Each branch she climbed past was another understanding that she developed. (Explain in more …show more content…

At this point, she regains her love for nature and identifies with the birds and their “gray feathers were as soft as moths…and Sylvia felt as though she too could go flying away among the clouds” (Jewett, pg. 136). This turning point for Sylvia, which allows her to finally see where the white heron perches and calls to its mate while he “plums his feathers for the new day,” is where she unconsciously decides she will never be able to tell the herons secret because, she too, feels as free as bird up in the tree looking over the “vast and awesome world” that has truly shown her who she is (Jewett, pg.

Show More
Related
263 Words | 2 Pages

In the book Tangerine by Edward Bloor This moment represents is, paul finley seeing dad actually doing something with him and for him instead of mom. The way I found that is when mom said “paul we’ve been talking about it and we’ve decided that your father will take you to St. Anthony’s today. ”. The deeper meaning behind the “It looked healthy enough, strong enough. But it was bound in a criss cross of metal stakes.

Read More
659 Words | 3 Pages

Nature is a place filled with livelihood, imagination, and diversity. It is praised for its beauty and mystifying inhabitants. In “Owls”, Mary Oliver is fascinated by the alluring aspects of the landscapes surrounding her; yet, she also seems to be frightened due to nature’s predators and dangers. These perplexing emotions are evident throughout the passage as Oliver describes her encounters with owls and flowerbeds. Through a variety of syntax and amusing paradoxes, Oliver is able to successfully convey her puzzling feelings towards nature.

Read More
1321 Words | 6 Pages

Being lost psychologically is one of the most overwhelming challenges to overcome in one’s life. In both “Blue Against White” by Jeannette C. Armstrong and “The Shivering Tree” by John Mcleod, the trickster are shown as two extremely different characters, but both demonstrating a despairing side of human nature. In “Blue Against White,” the protagonist Lena prescribed the trickster as a coyote that is lost within a building after entering an elevator, a symbolism for indigenous people that are lost within the colonised dominant society. Whilst John Mcleod describes the trickster as one that is lost within one’s arrogance, overwhelmed by a sense of pride and confidence that it was unable to see the obvious lie from the protagonist, Nanabush.

Read More
1181 Words | 5 Pages

He tapped the pane 3 times with his claw… The bird spread his wings and flew up into the maple tree. She grabbed the broom…went outside and shook the branches of the tree… ‘Go,’ she shouted…the bird…flew off into the night”(Otsuka 19-20). The bird is the strongest representation of the theme in the novel. It was taken into captivity by the family and put in a cage

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman, Catherine does not enjoy her life because she can’t do what she wants or things that make her happy. She wants to be free; she feels like a wild animal locked in a cage. She does not want to be a lady, but instead to be wild and carefree like most of the boys are. Due to her courage and determination to resist all of the negative things that are forced on her, Catherine is able to overcome each obstacle that is placed in her way.

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

“Even death did not mar its grace, for it lay on the earth like a broken vase of red flowers, and we stood around it, awed by its exotic beauty”(Hurst). The author mentions how the bird was lying on the ground to show how still and lifeless the bird was. The broken vase of red flowers gave a sense of a calm death and the breaking of life and love in the bird. When Hurst mentions the standing around the bird and awing its exotic beauty it puts a symbol of how beautiful the bird was before it let go and gave its life

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

In the historical fiction novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie grows up in the tenements of Brooklyn. She lives in a time where she can go to school, choose her own job, and electricity is now becoming standard in everyday life. In contrast, her family’s financial situation makes luxuries like owning land and spending extra on items other than basic survival out of reach. Katie, Francie’s mother, however, has a couple of possessions that Francie can waste as she wants. Despite being very poor, living in harsh conditions, and lacking the privilege of extras, Katie still believes they have some sort of wealth.

Read More
394 Words | 2 Pages

Flannery O’Connor’s The King of the Birds is a narrative explaining the narrator’s obsession with different kinds of fowl over time. The reader follows the narrator from her first experience with a chicken, which caught the attention of reporters due to its ability to walk both backward and forward, to her collection of peahens and peacocks. At the mere age of five, the narrator’s chicken was featured in the news and from that moment she began to build her family of fowl. The expansive collection began with chickens, but soon the narrator found a breed of bird that was even more intriguing; peacocks.

Read More
235 Words | 1 Pages

The tree signifies the decisions and changes Janie makes throughout her life. Things that are done are her marriages. She cannot undo many things including herself experiencing passionate feelings for the wrong people and Nanny's perspectives on marriage which constrains Janie to marry Logan. She suffers in her marriages with Logan and Joe on the grounds that they both makes it harder for her to discover her freedom. However she enjoys her marriage with Tea Cake and surprisingly encounters a genuine love, the easy ecstasy of being with somebody.

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

By using an excessive amount of comas, she is able to capture the rush. An example of this is when Sylvia takes her “daring step across into the old pine-tree” (35) and finds out the task at hand is harder than believed. The run on sentence describing the difference of the oak tree to the pine tree allows the reader to infer the danger present and allows Sylvia to be portrayed even more as a heroine. Jewett utilizes narrative pace is again when youthful Sylvia is almost to the summit, describing how she is becoming part of the tree by successfully defeating its obstacle like “all the hawks, and bats, and moths” (50) and the animals, who for centuries have been known to use this tree.

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

This passage from “A white Heron”, by Sarah Orne Jewett, details a short yet epic journey of a young girl, and it is done in an entertaining way. Jewett immediately familiarizes us with our protagonist, Sylvia, in the first paragraph, and our antagonist: the tree. However, this is a bit more creative, as the tree stands not only as an opponent, but as a surmountable object that can strengthen and inspire Sylvia as she climbs it. This “old pine” is described as massive, to the point where it, “towered above them all and made a landmark for sea and shore miles and miles away.” (Line 8).

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

“A bird in the house . . . had swung itself up to the secret sanctuaries” and looked upon the garden silently. Margaret Laurence introduces this bird as an intruder, disrupting the “secret sanctuaries.” of the family. A bird in the house is a message of death to come, and here it sits upon the roof of their house, out of reach for the spruce’s giant wings.

Read More
1276 Words | 6 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.

Read More
933 Words | 4 Pages

Into The Woods The musical “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine is a metaphor for life in many ways, but the most prominent one is the woods symbolizing life itself. The prologue song “Into The Woods” is about each of the character’s dreams and wishes. Cinderella wishes to go to the festival, Little Red Riding Hood wants to deliver bread to Granny, and the Baker and his wife want to have a child, even though the witch cursed their lineage.

Read More
630 Words | 3 Pages

First, Jewett proficiently uses local color in creating the setting of the story. She provides a rich portrayal of the natural environment in which the story unfolds. Using numerous phrases, such as "shady wood-road," "great twilight moths struck softly against her," "the air was soft and sweet," and "the stirring in the great boughs," she creates in the minds of her readers a picturesque image of the path Sylvia strolls down, as she leads her cow home (page). Later, Jewett describes the place where Sylvia first saw the white heron as being, "an open place where the sunshine always seemed strangely yellow and hot, where tall, nodding rushes grew" (page). The settings in local color stories are often quaint and set in natural environments.

Read More

More about Tree Symbolism In The White Heron By Sarah Orne Jewett

Related Topics

Open Document