The White Heron A Summary of the Main Points PDF

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ENG 102 Essay on the main points in The White Heron...

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The White Heron: A Summary of the Main Points “It seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm” explains Sarah Orne Jewett, author of the short story, A White Heron. This quote sheds light on the main character's, nine-year-old Sylvia, life so far. Once she moves away from her parents and siblings in the “small manufacturing town” where she had always lived, Sylvia starts to come to life. This story takes place a year after moving to her grandmother's farm. This delightful short story has four main plot points, which includes, meeting the stranger in the woods, spending time looking for birds with the young man, climbing the pine to find the white heron, and returning home after her adventure. The first main plot point that Jewett writes is Sylvia meeting the young stranger in the woods. Sylvia had been looking for her cow, who liked to hide every day when it came time to go home to the farm. They were later than they usually are, and while on the path home Sylvia hears something. Jewett writes that Sylvia hears “a boy’s whistle, determined, and somewhat aggressive,” and this makes her hide. The stranger, a young man, sees her however, and she reluctantly tells him how far the main road is after some coaxing. Much to her dismay, the stranger follows her back to her grandmother’s farm. Once there he asks if there is any way he can stay with them for the night, and Sylvia's grandmother obliges. While talking with the girl and her grandmother, the stranger, whom Jewett calls an “ornithologist,” explains that he hunts for birds, as he is “making a collection of birds.” The stranger asks Sylvia about the “rare” white heron he has been searching for and saw a few days ago. He even offered ten dollars to the person who could show him where he could find the bird. The stranger plans on looking for it again the next morning and Sylvia decides to joins him. The second main plot point comes the morning after Sylvia meets the stranger in the

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woods, which is when Sylvia and the stranger go back into the woods looking for the white heron. By this point, Sylvia finds the young man no longer a terrifying stranger but, a “friendly” acquaintance. As they walk through the woods, Jewett notes that “He told her many things about the birds and what they knew and where they lived." This interests Sylvia, as she has become quite the country and nature girl, according to her grandmother. Although the young man has given her a knife, she does not kill any birds, and she is confused when her acquaintance does. Sylvia “could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much” (Jewett), and though she would like him better if he had not had a gun, her feelings toward him grow as the day carries on. By the end of the day Sylvia had a “loving admiration” for her new companion, and she realizes that she can find the herons nest for him, and she can only imagine how happy he will be. Jewett’s third main point of her story is when Sylvia climbs the tallest pine and search for the Heron’s nest. She has decided that she could leave early in the morning and climb the tallest pine tree in the woods. Jewett observes Sylvia's thoughts of “triumph and delight and glory for the later morning when she could make known the secret” of the sought-after bird. So, she leaves and begins her ambitious task. She first must climb an oak tree to get to the branches of the pine tree. This task is painful and tedious, but she finally makes it to the top of the “great pine.” From here she can see all the treetops and the sea. She scans the treetops and spies the “elusive” white heron in a relatively close tree. Her daring expedition has paid off and she hurries to get back to her grandmother and the young man. The fourth and final point Jewett writes is when Sylvia makes it home after her adventurous task of finding the white heron. She makes her way from the top of the pine back down to the ground, and even though she is pained and exhausted, she is eager to get home.

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Jewett describes Sylvia's thoughts as she makes her way home,” Wondering over and over again what the stranger would say to her, and what he would think” when she tells him that he found his rare bird. Surprisingly when Sylvia arrives back home, she is unable to speak even though her grandmother and the young man were waiting for her. Much to her dismay, “Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron’s secret and give its life away” (Jewett). This short story ends on a bittersweet note after hitting four main points. After meeting the stranger, spending time with the young man, climbing the pine, and returning home, Sylvia saves the life of the rare white heron, but she also loses the young man and his ten dollars. To her, he was “so well worth making happy” (Jewett) but she just could not give up the location of the bird’s nest. The “ornithologist’ leaves unhappy, and Sylvia is once again a “lonely country child.” Jewett ends the story with an intriguing thought, “Were the birds better friends than their hunter might have been.”...