The White Heron

In "The White Heron" Sylvia portrays a kind character that has a choice to sacrifice her love of the outdoors for a man who barely considers the fact that she may possibly be in love with him. Sarah Jewett makes it clear of how important nature could be to an individual and reflects that in this story. Sylvia, who had left the city to live on a farm with her grandmother, grew an immense love for nature. I believe that her strong love for the outdoors plays a big role in her final decision at the end of the story.I also believes that her decision to not tell the hunter of the whereabouts of the bird was a good one. Since she loved nature so much and had only just met the young man, it was only natural and in some ways logical to save the poor creature. Because she was a really shy person, in some ways I do believe that she did not want to give up the location of the bird because she was fairly terrified of speaking, especially being the first one to speak.

Being the shy girl that she was, Sylvia definitely played it safe by keeping the location of the bird to herself, even though it meant not being able to receive a useful amount of money. It seems as though she was quite content keeping to her and caring for the things that she loved best. Sylvia also had two things working on her; money, that the hunter had offered her if she could find the bird, and love. She could have easily chosen to show the hunter where to catch the bird so that she could, in return, receive a pleasant reward which could come in handy and possibly get some recognition and attention from him. Although it would have been nice to receive money in return, I think that she played it safe and protected what she loved more.