a white heron — the hero's journey

7/24/2019 A White Heron the Hero's Journey

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A White HeronThe Story


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Setting/Background Late 19thcentury New England

Countryside an undisturbed,

natural environment.ole o! the Natural "orld in the story.

#ylvia is dee$ly connected to thenatural world.

%&s i! she had never been alive at alluntil she moves to the countryside '()*+.


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Feminist Criticism Late 19thcentury .#.&

o "omen began to tal- about universal surage ande/ual rights.

0ewett chooses a heroine, a little girl, to be the

center%!ocus o! the story 'not a boy+. #he is unli-eother little girls2 o! her time she $lays out in thewoods and is one with the animals. #he does want tobe domesticated.

3any !eminist scholars believe that this story is arebu-e o! the role o! women at the time4

#ylvia does not need the young man to 5nd the"hite 6eron.

7he young man is incom$etent in leading the 8ourney'man in the lead role is a !ailure.+

#ylvia ultimately re8ects the money o! the young man.


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Themes to think About 3an v Natural "orld

outh:;nnocence v Corru$tion

;solation


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Character Archetypes

#ylvia '$rotagonist the story2s 6eroine+

oung man '&nti%6ero=+

#ymboli>es man2 'corru$ted+

3rs. 7illey 3oody the cow '#ylvia2s main com$anion+

7he 7ree 'the ?bstacle+

7he "hite 6eron 'antithesis o! the young

man.2+

oe$resents natural world, which is !ree o!corru$tion.


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The Heroines Journey #ylvia2s /uest !or the "hite 6eron4

%#he has unusual2 gi!ts '()9+.

%&s i! she is also a creature o! the woods

and is innocent li-e them. ;! she 5nds the "hite 6eron2 !or the young

man, she will receive @1A.AA com$ensation

%7oday2s e/uivalent o! @BD.AA

?riginally, the money ecites #ylvia,because she has seen the "hite 6eronbe!ore.


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The Heroines Journey 7he 8ourney 'in Fart ; o! the story+4

o #ylvia begins to li-e the young man and hischarm '(()+ G tem$tation.

o 6owever, #ylvia re$eatedly doesn2t understand

why he has to carry a wea$onH IsheJ would haveli-ed him vastly better without his gun '((B+.

6er innocence : con!usion with -illing !ors$ort.

Notably, she is not leading the 8ourney. 6e is4

o #he only !ollowed, and there was no suchthing as s$ea-ing 5rst '((B+.

o 7hey are unsuccess!ul, mainly because hewas leading the hunt.

h (


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TheHeroinesJourney (PartII)

#ylvia is able to snea- out o! the house and loo-!or the "hite 6eron alone 'this is im$ortant+.

#he 5nds a huge tree aslee$ in the moonlight,that she climbs 'the obstacle+4

#har$ dry twigs caught and held andscratched her li-e angry talons '(()+.

7he tree seemed to lengthen itsel! out as she

went u$ '(()+.

7he tree is the most diKcult $art o! her 8ourneyHit is alive and acts to $revent her !rom 5nding theto$.

%et, the tree is said to admire2 her s$irit anddetermination '(()+.

Eventually, she reaches the to$.

J


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e eroinesJourneyartII)

Climao G #ylvia2s climbing o! the mystical tree and

succeeding

o #he sees the beauti!ul vastness o! the naturalworld o! the sea, the birds, and the !orest.;t is incorru$tible.

o 7he birds sang louder and louder. &t last thesun came u$ bewilderingly bright. #ylvia

could see the white sails o! shi$s out sea, andthe clouds that were $ur$le and rose%coloredand yellow at 5rst began to !ade away '(((+.

o #he s$ots the "hite 6eron, and -nows hissecret now'(((+.


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The Heroines Journey 7he eturn

o "hen #ylvia 5nally !aces her internal conMict 'money!or her low%income grandmother or the "hite 6eron2sli!e+, she chooses to save the "hite 6eron2s li!e

6er conscious, heroic choice.

7he murmur o! the $ines green branches is in herears, she remembers how the white heron cameMying through the golden air and how they watchedthe sea and the morning together, and #ylvia cannot

s$ea-H she cannot tell the heronssecret and give itsli!e away '(((+.

"hat is the "hite 6eron2s secret=


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Complicated Ending? "ere the birds better !riends than their

hunter might have been who can tell'((O+=

o


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Concluding analysis #ylvia is a heroine because she

ma-es a choice that we, thereaders, most li-ely a$$rove o!.o Pes$ite tem$tations, she saves the "hite

6eron !rom destruction.

Questions=

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a white heron — the hero's journey

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