Journal 23: Jewett's The White Heron

Quote:
“The murmur of the pine’s green branches is in her ears, she remembers how the white heron came flying through the golden air and how they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron’s secret and give its life away” (Jewett 528)

Summary:
At the end of “The White Heron”, when Sylvia comes back from the forest, she doesn’t tell the stranger about the discovery she made, she chooses to remain silent and let him go, because she doesn’t want him to kill the white heron.

Response:

This ending was maybe unexpected to most readers, but I think it’s the perfect ending to the story. The way Jewett describes the strong connection between Sylvia and nature, especially with the white Heron, is amazing.

I think the Heron and the golden sky symbolize freedom for Sylvia, a freedom she could not reach, but after the perilous journey she went through to get to the top of the tree, she did taste some of it, and it was greater than the little “crush” she had for the stranger. Tasting this freedom made her understand that she couldn’t take away the life of a bird, which was able to enjoy this freedom all its life. Plus, it is very contradicting how after seen the greater world from the top of the tree, she decides not to tell the hunter about the bird, because if she had, she would probably be able to reach this bigger world, to be part of it. I think she didn’t do this because she likes to see the world, she was an observer, but she didn’t want to be part of it.

She is the bird, and she wants to keep the sight of this new world all to herself, make it her secret, so when she says “she cannot tell the heron’s secret”, she is doing it to protect the heron’s life, but also to protect herself. Telling the secret would give her own life away, because it could have been the start of a change, caused by this stranger. Furthermore, Sylvia has a deep connection to nature, and all the pain and beauty that hides in it makes here remain loyal to it, refusing the woman heart’s that had feelings for the stranger.