Remember, you may answer one of these prompts, or not, as long as you address some aspect of the story; you may respond to something someone has already said, but try not to repeat what someone else has said; read over what your classmates have written, and check back in later to see what people write after you.
1. Are there ways in which Sylvia's life is difficult or challenging?--before the arrival of the hunter, I mean
2. Are there ways in which Sylvia's life is a good one?
3. Sylvia feels love for certain non-human creatures. Can you get specific about what that love is like?
4. What in the story creates its dramatic tension?
Sylvia leads a good, but solitary, life with her grandmother in the woods of New England. She is peaceful, and a friend to her natural surroundings. Sylvia's life is full of adventure. She wanders the woods that surround her grandmother's small home and becomes friends with the birds and other animals that live there. She has a deep love for these animals and for the beauty of her home.
ReplyDeleteSylvia's chief responsibility is to rein in the always wandering Mistress Moolly (the cow). This responsibility leads to adventures in the forest, and an appreciation of beauty and an understanding of wildlife that makes Sylvia's life truly good. The things Sylvia learns from chasing after Mistress Moolly are things many people never learn. Sylvia has an innate compassion and empathy for other beings. She also has a deep appreciation for small things (that are actually really big things) such as sunlight, and bird calls. This deep understanding is so special. It is something to treasure and cherish, it is the reason Sylvia's life is a good one.
Before the arrival of the hunter, Sylvia's life seems to be a bit difficult given the situation. It seems as though she has been taken from her family to live with her grandmother. She says Sylvia was an "unlikely" choice, which means there may have been some family troubles surrounded her. Maybe Sylvia was considered one of the weaker siblings, though her grandmother chose her. Sylvia is said to be "afraid of folks", which may have caused her some problems while living in a house full of many children.
ReplyDeleteSylvia lives a very withdrawn lifestyle with her Grandmother. She lives in a small house in the North East and grows to be very involved with nature. In my opinion, such a companionless lifestyle would be extremely frustrating and lonley. On the other hand, if I had started off living in solitude than I make think that living a non sheltered life is similarly terrifying. However, I can argue that Sylvia's life style is not a challenge or dificult because she seems more than comfortable with her surroundings. For instance she finds friends and love within the nature around her such as the animals and the elements. I think that Sylvia's religion and faith lies within nature, and it guides her to happiness despite her life of isolation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Casey said. Nature was all that Sylvia knew throughout her entire life. Nature was both her home and her friend. I also think that is why she is so fascinated by the hunter when he came to her for help with finding the bird. Almost all the contact she previously had was with the animals around her or with her grandmother, and that is why I think that new person was so interesting.
ReplyDeleteAlthough her life may seem lonely and poor, the feelings the author describes Sylvia to have say quite the opposite. There is very little evidence to say that Sylvia is dissatisfied with her living condition, and enjoys having "no playmates." Sylvia's lack of human friends causes her to have an intimate relationship with nature, almost as if the creatures of the forest know she is lonely and, like the cow, play games with her. To me, Sylvia's positive relationship with nature versus a life she would lead in the city can best be summarized by this quotation: "Alas, if the great wave of human interest which flood for the first time this dull little life should sweep away the satisfactions of an existence heart to heart with nature. . ." This means that, perhaps to people like us, who rely on many social interactions with others, her life is dull, but to Sylvia, life is satisfactory by having a close relationship with nature.
ReplyDeleteTension in the story is brought on completely by the arrival of the hunter. In my opinion, her initial fears of the hunter were correct. Initially, the huntsman bribes Sylvie with money in exchange for the location of the White Heron. This seems to be a very shallow reward to give up something Sylvia admires and has a close connection with. Additionally, there is a hint of malice in the huntsman when Sylvia returns from climbing the tall tree, saying that his "kind, appealing eyes looking straight in [Sylvia's] own." This could be from the point of view of the grandmother, to whom the money is extremely appealing due to their poverty.
Finally, I believe as a whole this story is about the loyalty Sylvia has to her closer friends in nature than to the huntsman and his money.
When the appealing ornithologist comes to the woods of New England, young Sylvia must decide whether to please her new friend by showing him the nesting place of the heron he wishes to kill for his collection, or remain loyal to her animal companions. Although the nine year old girl would never consider her situation in these terms, the decision Sylvia must make is the choice between flesh and spirit—between normal human pleasures and the natural world. The normal human pleasures being Sylvia’s desire for a human friend and possibly a romantic companion too, and the spirit being her love of animals and her passions.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even though Sylvia longs for a human companion she decides in the end that it is more important for her to protect the life of another being rather than become rich by showing the ornithologist where the white heron’s nest is. Sarah Orne Jewett writes: “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.” This quote really shows how Sylvia has grown accustomed to loving and nurturing her animal friends and nature. She pays close attention to these things and because of her close interest we learn that Sylvia is an animal lover and that she would rather save a life than have a personal gain because to her she loves spending time closely observing and nurturing the animals of the forrest.
Sylvia's innocence is reflected through her love of nature, while the bird hunter's corruption is symbolized through his taxidermy. Sylvia is able to appreciate the simple, yet beautiful, aspects of the world and be satisfied by them. This is similar to the buddhist's quest of true happiness. The traveling bird hunter isn't satisfied simply with what the world can offer him. He yearns to destroy and control that which eludes him for a sense of victory. This mindset is similar to much of the modern world. Instead of being satisfied with the barest and simplest aspects of our world (something that can be hard to do and takes practice and dedication) we turn to more shallow alternatives to appeal our interests. Such as our constant need to gain knowledge, our addiction to competition between each other and the world, and our need to always have more. So in short, Sylvia symbolizes the direction the human race should be going as a whole, while the traveler symbolizes the direction that we seem to be going and should not continue with.
ReplyDeleteSylvia knew a lot about birds from before, but it was her admiration for her new friend that made her climb the old pine tree and see the real beauty of the specific bird she was looking for, which was a white heron.
ReplyDeleteShe climbed the tree to see where this bird was from, to find its secret with the purpose of making her friend happy, telling him the secret and making his life easier telling him the exact location of the heron.
Once up there, she got to see the beauty of nature and finally saw and discovered the secret of this bird.
I think she fell in love with the beauty of this, i mean this action left her speechless.
"she cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away"
It is evident that the love for this bird is serious, i mean more than love she feels sort of respect. she knew that what her friend was going to do to the heron, which was killing it.
Sylvia has a very strong connection with nature and all it's creatures. I think this connection is brought about by the fact that she is very solitary. She is living in a farmhouse in the countryside. There are no other children there to play with so entertain herself she plays with nature and all it's animals. The animals are her friends, her sibling and her companions. Instead of playing with other children she plays with the family cow. Nature is a bit instilled inside her. She is adventurous and even a little bit wild. She is not an outsider observing the birds as the hunter is, she is part of them. Her free spirit runs with the forest, it doesn't watch or chase it. She doesn't have to figure out where she is going, but she just knows. She sees the beauty of her fellow creature the heron and therefore she can not betray one of her own.
ReplyDeleteSylvy's family has suffered a lot of loss- the grandmother's four dead children, as well as Dan's absence and the father's depression. The author reveals to us that "the guest did not notice this hint of family sorrows in his eager interest in something else".
ReplyDeleteNot only does this poor girl have few friends, but is described frequently as a pale-faced, grey-eyed girl, suggesting that she may too be depressed, like her father. Her refuge is the forest. To kill time, she memorizes the forest and hunts down the cow-daily.
She deals with her internal issues fairly well by hunting down the cow as if playing a game of hide and seek. It seems that her friends are the animals- not humans, probably because she has had conflict with so many humans. She avoids humans and plays with animals and nature to find refuge and happiness.
It is hard to tell when reading this story if the life sylvy leads is a happy one. on the one hand, she seems to love the secluded life on the farm, as it fosters her antisocial nature, as evidenced by her first interaction with the stranger. she can barely speak. But when she has no one to speak to, she seems quite content to recede into her shell and play hide and seek with cows.
ReplyDeleteThough this lifestyle may not be healthy socially, it can be said that her upbringing is advantageous. Growing up in the forest has given her a sense of respect and love of the wilderness that many lack, but is very important. And she seems happy in her surroundings, Because she can appreciate the nature around. Therefore I think that it can be said Sylvy is happy.
I think that the hunter definitely creates the dramatic tension in this story.
ReplyDeleteSylvy does have this great appreciation for nature and the natural beauty of animals in their own habitats. However, when this boy comes into the picture, because of her very sheltered lifestyle, socially, I think she was a bit shocked to experience meeting someone who was from the same generation as she was and who she was attracted to. She seemed to be very torn between her safe, animal friends, and the new interesting person who pushed her out of her comfort zone. It seemed that many more of her thoughts, as the story progresses, begin to point their direction of focus or needing of approval to the hunter. I think this is because Sylvy has never felt this way about any human being in her life before, and even though she didn't know him terribly well, she was still willing to consider sacrifices for him for the sole idea that he might reciprocate the love for which she feels for him. Sylvy seems to enjoy her usual life with the animals, the forest, and her beautiful surroundings, but I think that the hunter triggers the other side of Sylvy's personality that is more normal and more curious of how other people her age act and their everyday lives and chances for affection with another human being rather than the animals she's used to knowing.
Sylvys life is difficult because she has been used to only living with Nature and her Grandmother. I believe her life style before the hunter really isn't very healthy for anyone to have but it is an interesting thing due to the fact she is normal but in our society i dont think we would consider her that normal of a person since nature has been her only true friend. That doesn't make her a bad person but life itself must be very different from her point of view.
ReplyDeleteSylvy appears to live a contented life with her Grandmother. She spends her days playing and exploring outdoors, finding new animals to befriend or new activities to bide her time. A child who loves playing outside so much would usually be considered a very happy child. In Sylvy's case, however, it is difficult to say whether she is happy and so she plays outside, or if she plays outside, and so she is happy. Sylvy may hate her home so much that she cannot stand to stay inside, so she created relationships with the creatures outside so that she would not be so lonely. The story never mentions Sylvy having human friends, and if the way she treated the young man when she first met him was any indication, she's not the most outgoing little girl. Even the appearance of this exciting new face in her life could not distract her from her animal companions. The man could not come between Sylvy and the heron no matter what he tried.
ReplyDelete