I loved the story of A White Heron. At the beginning of the story I was worried what was going to happen to Sylvia because it seemed like they were setting her up to get raped by the stranger. She seemed scared of him and I was worried about her fate. The books progression showed this wasn't the case and was a cute story. For Sylvia she is used to living in the city, but since she has been at her Grandmas in the woods she feels at home and at peace. She has found where she belongs. Everyday is a new adventure for her and the more she's there the more with nature she becomes. This was shown when the stranger comes and is looking for the heron. Although Sylvia has seen the heron before she doesn't tell the stranger. Instead she goes out and looks for the heron; she goes to the tallest tree--a tree she has been admiring for a while--and decides to climb it. Because she had said how she has been admiring it for me showed that everything with nature she finds she is amazed by. She can find no wrong with nature, she can only find wrong with the people that want to control it (The stranger wanting to control and kill the heron). When Sylvia climbs the tree she is in awe by nature. She sees the sails from the ships out at sea, she sees the pink and purple of the far away sky, and she sees the white heron in it's nest. This part reminded me of the movie Pocahontas when Pocahontas sees the sails from the ships that arrived from England and she thought they were "strange clouds". Sylvia saw the world differently and she was loved it. This is similar to Pocahontas because she had never seen the world like that before, the sails and ships were something new for her and she was in awe. Sylvia's connection with nature and how she goes against her grandmother and the stranger to save the heron brings in that similarities the story has to a Fairy Tale. The way it reads is like a Fairy Tale and how the heroin goes against the "law" (grandmother) to save something for me reminds me of a Fairy Tale. That is probably why I loved the story so much... I'm a sucker for a good fairy tale. Especially one that reminds me of Pocahontas.
-Rachel Roloff
I felt that at first the man was going to hurt Sylvia because of how she reacted to him when she first saw him. At the same time I do feel the reaction was appropriate and that the author did that on purpose not only because it is a genuine reaction when a little girl meets a stranger, but also because of the situation he put her through as well. I feel that the situation of forcing her to find the white heron is almost a metaphor for the rural and the city (nature and humanity). I feel the metaphor strongly points out how humans take from nature or how at times the city exploits the rural. Which may be why there is a strong resemblance to the Disney version of Pocahontas.
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The pokemasters
That's an interesting connection with Pocahontas and also about controlling nature. If this story were written in 2015 instead of 1886, your concerns about Sylvie might have been borne out.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting that you felt danger was ahead of Sylvia. I felt this way as well and I think that is partly due to her innocent and sluggish nature. The story referred to her as moving as if she had nowhere to be, which could be a sign of unintelligence or just ditziness which did concern me for Sylvia at first. Obviously we both know she wasn't ditzy, she was actually incredibly smart and in tune with nature. I just like how you picked up on her innocence right off the bat as well. Good job!
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Mikah J. Wilson
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