Sylvia A White Heron
Sylvia “A White Heron” In “A White Heron”, there was a young girl named Sylvia, for the first eight years of her life she had lived in a city environment. Sylvia then came to live with her grandmother in a country setting. This is where Sylvia became alive and one with nature. During her travel through the country side one morning she noticed a man who was searching for a white heron that he had seen a few weeks ago. At first Sylvia was scared of this man, he carried a gun and killed white heron’s, although he really cared for this animal.
As Sylvia spent time with this man, she began to really like him. Sylvia is a lost young country girl who is torn between her love for the young man who collects birds and her love for nature and its beauty. While living in the farm house her only companion seems to be a cow. Although it may seem like Sylvia is lonely she really isn’t. She is happier in the country then she would be in a city setting. Sylvia spends all day at one with nature while at the farm.
While the young man is intensively looking for the white heron, he winds up coming through her territory which makes Sylvia extremely upset. He apologizes to Sylvia and tries to explain that he got lost, but she becomes so upset that she labels him the “enemy” in the beginning. Sylvia feels threatened by him and becomes fearful. The young man tries to get Sylvia to lead him to the white heron by offering her ten dollars as a reward. Although Sylvia loves nature, and everything about it she thinks about how poor she really is and all the things that the ten dollars could buy.
The money offering to Sylvia disrupted her sense of loyalty to nature. But as Sylvia spent time together with this man she found him appealing. Sylvia’s heart became excited from this man and although she was only a child her heart became filled with love towards this man that she had only came to know. Sylvia admired him so much, she had never met a man so “charming. ” Sylvia knew where the young man who was a huntsman could find the white heron that he was looking for.
Both of them played the gender roles they were suppose to in society, as the female Sylvia would not lead him to the nest of the heron, or start a conversation first. Sylvia would just look around and take in her surroundings as well as observe the young man and his every move. With Sylvia not talking it helps saving the bird and not giving away where the heron’s nest really is. While being out with the huntsman she became closer to him, but was not as close with nature as Sylvia usually was.
Sylvia was not really able to sleep at all that night, so she went for a walk in the forest. She climbed the big oak tree looking for the heron’s nest, as Sylvia was climbing the tree branches were hard for her to climb through and gave her many scratches. As Sylvia fought through the branches and came to see light at the top of the tree she saw where the heron was nesting. Sylvia comes back to reality and the realization that she can not give up the herons nesting spot. Sylvia realizes that the young man was trying to come between her and nature.
Sylvia balanced out her options of giving the young man the heron because of the money and being one with nature, and realized that she could not give the birds life away. Although Sylvia was so smitten by this man and knew giving up the heron’s location could be worth it, in the end she knew that she could not betray nature. After spending the morning with the bird, she realized that no man should or could ever be swayed by a man’s charm. Sylvia became a tough strong hearted feminist that would not give up or betray what she believed in for any one, especially a man.
Sylvia devoted her life to the world of nature and knew it would always be there for her. In this short story, Sylvia is tempted to betray the world of nature by the young man or the huntsman which represents “evil. ” This story shows the struggle between good and evil, the constant seduction of good by evil and how to follow your instinct and go with what you truly believe in. Sylvia in a sense is the heron, untouched and at peace with her environment. Although because of external forces, which would be the hunter, Sylvia losses her innocence.
If Sylvia would of given up where the heron nested it would of been like giving up a part of her and what she stands for. In this story Sylvia and the heron need each other for survival. It was not possible for Sylvia to betray nature, because if she did she would no longer be the same person. She was able to ignore the attraction of a man, money and attention for something she felt loyalty towards. Sylvia showed how she grew as a women and stayed loyal to her values that she felt so strongly about and making her relationship to the world of nature even stronger.
