Sarah Orne Jewett

Mikaila Garfinkel
English 48B
The White Heron


"The guest did not notice this hint of family sorrows in his eager interest in something else."

Sylvie's grandmother is telling her and Sylvie's family history to their guest, the stranger, but he is barely listening as he is distracted by something else. He has taken an unusual interest in Sylvie, despite him being a full grown man, and her being a nine year old girl. The girl becomes unthreatened by the stranger, and he soon becomes a friend whom the grandmother and Sylvie accept into their home. Sylvie and the hunter take an unusual close connection to each other,one that is almost too close for comfort when thinking about the age difference between the two. It is unusual that the Grandmother and hunter do not become as close to one another as the child and the hunter. While it is possible that he is interested in Sylvie because her grandmother mentions that she is friends with every bird and squirrel in the forest, and he is trying to to find the White Heron, the bird he has been after for many days, there are other underlying themes that can reside in this quote.

I chose this quote because, honestly, I found it to be incredibly creepy. One way of viewing the way the hunter is looking at Sylvie, is that he sees her as the girl that has the answer to his problems. She knows of the White Heron, and he is aware of this, so he could be playing up his interest in her, to gain her trust and get her to reveal where the White Heron lives. I also see the possibility that the hunter is looking at her in a fatherly way. The description does not depict him as creepy, or having immoral intentions at heart, and he could be interested in her due to her hospitality. While it is plausible, I do not believe that was the writers intention in the meaning behind his look. I think Jewett included it to come off as explicitly sexual. The fact that the little girl and her grandmother are alone in the woods plays a large role in this reasoning. They are far from civilization, and too willingly accept a stranger into their home, as if they too are eager for some company. But the fact that he is a full grown man, allows the boundary of acceptable to be crossed when he befriends Sylvie. The words "eager interest" subtly show the true meaning behind the look. Like them, he has traveled alone, and it would not be surprising if he would take interest in a girl, even so young. I also feel like the "White" Heron is symbolic as well. White is often used to represent virginity, and the Sylvie has the answers to the White Heron, as if she is holding on to her virginity. When she finds the bird, and chooses not to share the information with the hunter, despite her liking to him, it is as if she is choosing to hold on to her virginity, and not giving her morals aways. Although, the morals in the story are keeping her secrets with the animals she befriends, this as well could represent her choice in protecting her purity.