Sylvia's Heron

Jewett’s “A White Heron” can be seen as a coming of age story of a girl who will choose a more uncommon path. Most girls in Sylvia’s position would have taken the money, but Sylvia inevitably chooses nature over money or “physical things” in general. She also in a way chooses not to sell herself by showing the hunter where the bird lives. The fact that all the characters in the story are female until the outsider or the “man” comes into the plot is crucial. This could bring an entirely different meaning to the story.

Women didn’t have a lot of choices back in the day (obviously). Girls were expected to marry and money was one of the most important factors in picking a husband. This could also be seen as a woman having to “sell” herself to a man. The essay “The Shape of Violence in Jewett’s “A White Heron”, by Elizabeth Ammons elaborates on this idea in relation to “A White Heron” :

“Sylvia chooses not to pass over into the world of adult female sexuality as it is defined by the culture. The nine-year-old child, a girl about to enter puberty, refuses to enter into the transaction that everyone - the hunter, her grandmother - expects her to make. "A White Heron" says that heterosexuality requires the female to offer up body itself as prey. All Sylvia has to do is offer up the body of the bird - a free, beautiful creature like herself - to the hunter and she will receive in return money, social approval, and the affection of a man. Clearly the heron in this story symbolizes the heroine, and the exchange Sylvia is expected to make at the age of nine, with her heart set throbbing by the handsome young man, is the transition from childhood to the threshold of womanhood, the wrench from little girl identification with the mother (in this case the maternal earth itself) to big girl identification with a man. Sylvia is expected to offer her freedom, her true nature, indeed life itself to a predator, who will pierce, stuff, and then own and admire the beautiful corpse.” (Ammon p.5)


If the Heron in the story represented Sylvia then this girl was simply making her first responsible choice not only about nature, but about herself. She wasn’t going to sell herself out for the approval or acceptance of the stranger. Sylvia made a choice not to be bought.

Elizabeth Ammon’s essay on Jewett’s “A White Heron” also elaborates on the whole fairytale aspect of the story. Ammon says, “Jewett sets the stage perfectly for the rescuing prince to appear. And he does.” The “rescuing prince” or the hunter in this case appears, but the ending is not that of a usual fairytale. Sylvia doesn’t get rescued, but quite oppositely tells the man she doesn’t need to be rescued. She doesn’t want his money and she doesn’t want to give away her bird or herself no matter the cost.

There however, is a lot more in Elizabeth Ammon’s essay that I did not quote or even mention. Ammon argues, “that "A White Heron" is a story about resistance to heterosexuality; that the form Jewett adopts to express her idea is, quite appropriately, the fairy tale; and that despite her protests to the contrary Jewett shows in this fiction her ability to create conventional "plot" - that is, to use inherited masculine narrative shape - when she needs to.” The link to this essay is posted below if anyone is interested.

http://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2615&context=cq