The White Heron

By Sarah Orne Jewett

In this story A little girl is living with her grandmother in the country by some woods. A stranger calls out to the girl as she is driving her cow home. The stranger asks where she lives and if he can stay there for the night. She leads him to her house and her grandmother finds a place for their guest to sleep. At first, the little girl is afraid of the stranger, then she finds out more about the visitor and starts liking him more and more. The traveler tells them that he hunts rare birds, shoots them, and stuffs them for his collection. He informs them that he is on a hunt for the White Heron. The grandmother tells the newcomer that little Silvia is a bird watcher and knows a lot about the birds in that area. Their guest tells them that he will give a ten-dollar reward for anyone who tells him the location of the White Heron's nest. The next day Silvia locates the White Heron's habitat. She is torn between the decision of telling the guest where the bird lives to earn the ten dollars or being quiet and saving the bird's life.

            One of the best sections of the story that shows setting that is when Silvia is taking her cow home.

                                    The companions followed the shady wood-road, the cow taking slow steps and the child very fast ones. The cow stopped long at the brook to drink, as if the pasture were not half a swamp, and Sylvia stood still and waited, letting her bare feet cool themselves in the shoal water, while the great twilight moths struck softly against her. She waded on through the brook as the cow moved away, and listened to the thrushes with a heart that beat fast with pleasure. There was a stirring in the great boughs overhead. They were full of little birds and beasts that seemed to be wide awake, and going about their world, or else saying good-night to each other in sleepy twitters. Sylvia herself felt sleepy as she walked along. However, it was not much farther to the house, and the air was soft and sweet. She was not often in the woods so late as this, and it made her feel as if she were a part of the gray shadows and the moving leaves.

As you can see Sarah Jewett does a great job creating the setting in this section of the story. Sarah uses four senses: sight, smell, hearing, and touch. Sarah also sets the mood well. The mood is peaceful and glad. The best section that I thought Sarah portrays this mood is when she was thinking how late she was in the woods.

                                   

                                    She was not often in the woods so late as this, and it made her feel as if she were a part of the gray shadows and the moving leaves.

 

The time in the story is also very clear. Mrs. Jewett describes setting very well in this story. It is a great story for all ages.