1a. Why does Sylvia's grandmother, Mrs. Tilley, bring Sylvia rather than one of Sylvia's brothers or sisters to the farm?
2a. Whom does Sylvia meet on the way home? What is he doing on the road?
3a. Why does Sylvia climb the landmark pine tree?
4a. Identify the different ways in which the young man is described and explain what each description says about him.
5a. Does Sylvia make the right decision in not telling the young man where the white heron nests? Why, or why not?
1b. Why is Sylvia particularly suited to take care of the cow?
2b. Why does the young man want to know where the white heron nests?
3b. How does Sylvia's attitude toward the young man change in the course of the story?
4b. How are societal roles for men and women different in this story? In other words, what can the men do that the women cannot?
5b. Consider the dialogue, setting, and characters in "A White Heron." If a writer were going to write a regional short story about where you live, how would the characters speak? Where would the story be set? What types of characters would the writer draw?
Conflict. With what internal conflict does Sylvia struggle? What are some other conflicts within the story? What is the relation between these minor conflicts and the main conflict?
Motif. In what ways does the bird motif shed light on the relationship Sylvia and the young man have with nature?
1. Write a letter to Sylvia, telling her whether you would have responded in a similar or different way to the young man's request to find the white heron's nest. Connect your response to your own relationship with animals.
2. Imagine that you are Sylvia. Write a birdwatching log in which you describe your observations of the white heron.
3. Write a paragraph describing an internal or an external conflict with which you have struggled, and detailing how it was resolved.
Correcting Run-Ons. Rewrite the following sentences. Correct each one either by making it into two or three separate sentences or by adding a comma and a coordinating conjunction. If the sentence is not a run-on, copy it as it is.
1. Regional writers write about a particular part of the country they focus on what makes the region special.
2. Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about rural Maine, she was brought up in the area.
3. The story "A White Heron" is about a shy young country girl who loves the creatures in the woods because they are the companions with whom she plays, these creatures bring her great happiness.
4. The young man in "A White Heron" treats the creatures of the woods as something to study, Sylvia treats them as companions.
5. Sarah Orne Jewett was a nineteenth-century "feminist" writer, other nineteenth-century feminists include Kate Chopin and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman.
Police Report.Imagine that the young man in the story is in trouble with the police for hunting rare birds. Fill out a police report. See page 447 in your text for more details.
Sources Used:
