H10000825Multicultural LiteratureEdwardA White Heron: The Flying Independent Soul of Little SylviaProcess of growth is not always with pleasant surprise to learn new things, but sometimes can be a pressure of compromising with the world around us and abandoning something innocent deep within our soul. This is particularly for Sylvia, a tiny little girl who lived in a conservative village, during whose period of life women tend to submit to men’s will. By telling a fiction story, Sarah Orne Jewett expresses a good will of keeping the innocence regardless of the temptation from the outside world, and raises the awareness of female independence.Sylvia is the main character in the story. She is a typical little girl who posses all the personalities of pure human nature: innocent, brave, solitary and a little bit shy when she meets strangers. The story opens with Sylvia in village surrounded by nature and she. Sylvia has not always lived in the forest, as the writer tells us, she “had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm.”Here the manufacturing town becomes a metaphor of developed human society and personalities, and little Sylvia is quite unadjusted to it. When she thinks of city, only the noisy town and the red-faced boy who used to chase and frighten her comes to her mind. Absolutely, here author creates Sylvia to stand for thehuman nature which is unshaped and original, quite different from the highly developed ones.Also,the name Sylvia gives us a clue to the little girl’s personality. Sylvia means woods or forests. Maybe the author wants us to think the girl is much like the forests. She belongs to the forests, and that’s why she never had been alive in the city.The white heron in this story is a metaphor of the innocence Sylvia possesses. In this story, the life of the white heron is under threat, and the innocence within Sylvia’s soul is almost deserted because of the young sportsman’s appearance. For little Sylvia, he is “a hand first put out on her from the great world”--a temptation from the outside world. He comes to the peaceful village from the city, and breaks the peace of Sylvia’s heart. He is nice to her, and promises if she shows him where the bird is, he will gave her a large sum of money.In the story, the relationship between the young man and Sylvia is typical for most men and women in that time---women tend to be dependent on men, and they usually give up their will and follow the men’s. After the young man leaves, Sylvia feels that she “could have served and followed him and loved him as a dog loves!” The image of the young hunter stands for the perfect man image-- he is young, handsome, wealthy, well educated, kind and appeals to women. He awakes the women’s love asleep in little Sylvia who almost makes up her mind to follow him and be loyal to him as a dog does. Here author indicates the relationship between men and women inlove is sort of unequal, and when they have different views of something, women’s wills are often influenced by men’s.Further more, forests are always a metaphor for the women’s body. The young hunter carries a gun into the forest. Obviously, he is a conqueror of the forest and women. The climax of this story is when Sylvia climbs up to the top of tree and observe all this vast and awesome world, and the whole process symbolize Sylvia’s self-awareness awaking. The dawning sun makes a golden dazzle on the sea, and two hawks fly toward glorious east. The most exciting scene is when the white flies “by the landmark pine with steady sweep of wing and outstretched slender neck and crested head”. That is really an awesome trembling dawn filled with hope. Little Sylvia is shocked by the magnificent landscape and the solemn bird, and changes her mind. When she stands at the top the forest, she knows she is a part of it. If she help young man do any damage to the forest, it also causes damage to herself. She wants to protect the bird, which shows the beauty of the nature and also arouses the kindness deep inside Sylvia’s heart to rid her of the young man’s temptation. Also as a woman, Sylvia’s self-awareness awakes. She is no longer those women who are totally dependent on men. She has her own ideas and sticks to what she believes. Finally,she has the independent soul.The novel White Heron is a story about the little girl Sylvia’s growth, and every one can recognize themselves from her experience. Like the solemn pure white heron flying in the sky of the golden dawn, after experiencing all these difficult situations,little Sylvia has the flying independent soul, and she keeps the innocence within her heart.。
