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The White Heron A Summary of the Main Points
Course: Composition II (ENG 102)
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Students shared 5 documents in this course
University: Truckee Meadows Community College
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Blake 1
The White Heron: A Summary of the Main Points
“It seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm”
explains Sarah Orne Jewett, author of the short story, A White Heron. This quote sheds light on
the main character's, nine-year-old Sylvia, life so far. Once she moves away from her parents and
siblings in the “small manufacturing town” where she had always lived, Sylvia starts to come to
life. This story takes place a year after moving to her grandmother's farm. This delightful short
story has four main plot points, which includes, meeting the stranger in the woods, spending time
looking for birds with the young man, climbing the pine to find the white heron, and returning
home after her adventure.
The first main plot point that Jewett writes is Sylvia meeting the young stranger in the
woods. Sylvia had been looking for her cow, who liked to hide every day when it came time to
go home to the farm. They were later than they usually are, and while on the path home Sylvia
hears something. Jewett writes that Sylvia hears “a boy’s whistle, determined, and somewhat
aggressive,” and this makes her hide. The stranger, a young man, sees her however, and she
reluctantly tells him how far the main road is after some coaxing. Much to her dismay, the
stranger follows her back to her grandmother’s farm. Once there he asks if there is any way he
can stay with them for the night, and Sylvia's grandmother obliges. While talking with the girl
and her grandmother, the stranger, whom Jewett calls an “ornithologist,” explains that he hunts
for birds, as he is “making a collection of birds.” The stranger asks Sylvia about the “rare” white
heron he has been searching for and saw a few days ago. He even offered ten dollars to the
person who could show him where he could find the bird. The stranger plans on looking for it
again the next morning and Sylvia decides to joins him.
The second main plot point comes the morning after Sylvia meets the stranger in the