A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett Analysis Sample

đź“ŚCategory: Literature
đź“ŚWords: 646
đź“ŚPages: 3
đź“ŚPublished: 17 February 2022

“A White Heron,” a short story written in 1886 by Sarah Orne Jewett, follows the tale of a young girl named Sylvia as she mounts the last great pine tree near her home. For Sylvia, this tree represents more than just a tree, it stands as a window to the world itself and a mountain unconquered. In “A White Heron,” Jewett uses colorful imagery and an exciting mood to portray Sylvia’s adventurous spirit through her perception of her own experience with the great pine tree. 

In order to portray her audacious spirit, the author uses colorful imagery through Sylvia’s thoughts and perceptions. After reaching the tree itself, Sylvia begins her climb “with utmost bravery to the top of it, with tingling eager blood coursing the channels of her whole frame”; all the while, she imagines the pine tree as a “monstrous ladder reaching up, up to the sky itself” (line 30,34). Upon reaching this sentence, the reader cannot help but envision a tall wooden ladder reaching high into the night sky. Such a thought entertains the child in every human being, and the reader can practically feel the blood rushing to their head and the excitement that comes with an adventure. Further into her journey, Sylvia relates the tree to “a great main-mast to the voyaging earth” (line 63) and later personifies the pine tree by stating that “the old pine must have loved his new dependent” (line 78). Ships, or the earth, in this case, are often related to discovery and life; masts, as an integral part of the ship, provide a vantage point to see across the vast ocean. Sylvia’s tree, in her eyes, will allow her to see the entirety of the earth itself, and she imagines that she has become a part of adventure itself. The author describes the earth as a ship in order to create an image of exploration and adventure in the reader’s mind. Overall, the images of a ladder to the sky and a ship with an overarching mast through a child’s eyes all serve the purpose of portraying Sylvia’s adventurous spirit.

Secondarily, Jewett uses an exciting mood to illustrate Sylvia’s adventurous personality through her imagination and thoughts. Sylvia views her entire excursion as exciting as she thinks, “What a spirit of adventure, what wild ambition!” (line 23). The author uses words such as “wild ambition” and “spirit of adventure” to create an excitatory mood as the reader cannot help but feel excitement and a childlike sense of adventure after seeing Sylvia’s vivid imagination. Upon reading this line, the audience is compelled to continue reading; they anticipate discovering the ending of the story, just as Sylvia is excited to discover the rest of the world. Furthermore, the author uses a suspenseful tone to create an anticipatory and excitatory mood when she writes, “There, where she made the dangerous pass… the great enterprise would really begin” (line 45). Words such as “dangerous pass” and “really begin” serve to create suspense, and, combined with the already exciting mood of the piece, these words only exemplify that excitement. Sylvia believes that her true adventure has not yet begun, and she looks forward to the rest of her journey, further demonstrating her audacious spirit. The audience anticipates Sylvia’s discovery as much as Sylvia herself does, and it creates an anticipatory and exciting mood throughout the piece. Altogether, Sylvia’s thoughts and perceptions all create an exciting and anticipatory mood throughout the story due to the author’s clever use of word choice and Sylvia’s own adventurous personality. 

In slightly more than six hundred words, Jewett uses imagery and tone to create an impactful and suspenseful tale as well as an adventurous spirit through the perceptions of a young girl. At the end of the story, we learn that Sylvia reached the top of the pine tree as she thinks, “truly it was a vast and awesome world” (line 91); however, we leave the story with much more than a happy ending. We leave the piece feeling adventurous ourselves and aware of the powerful impact that a child’s perspective may possess. The reader may not know what happens next, but they know that a touch of discovery will be involved.

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