White Heron Essay

A story is like a flower it can be ordinary or become something extraordinary. Even every day encounters like eating dinner can become sensational adventures, depending on if the author describes it in an exciting way. In the short story, “A White Heron”, the author Sarah Orne Jewett makes an ordinary event into an extraordinary adventure, by telling the story in an exciting way. Jewett describes a young girl named Sylvia, who climbs what is described as a massive tree half a mile away from her home, in the middle of the woods, yet this every day encounter becomes a thrilling voyage. As Jewett describes the grandeur of the tree, creates a challenging climb, and shows Sylvia’s joy and success of reaching the top, this ordinary event turns into an extraordinary adventure.
In the excerpt from the short story “A White Heron”, Jewett turns an ordinary event into an extraordinary adventure by illustrating the grandeur of the tree. In the beginning of the excerpt, Jewett describes the setting of the story, and explains how this one particular pine tree stands at the highest point in the woods. She explains how this pine tree is possibly left by the woodcutters as a boundary mark, and is “the last of its generation” (Excerpt from “A White Heron” (2). As Jewett describes the tree, readers sense that the tree is valuable and different from the rest of the trees in the woods. It evokes curiosity from the readers as to what will happen to this tree, and readers get the sense that this tree is valuable and unique. This tree which is ordinary turns into something extraordinary. Towards the middle of the introduction Jewett describes how the tree towers over all the other trees in the woods. Jewett goes on to explain how the tree makes a “landmark for sea and shore miles and miles away” (Excerpt from “A White Heron” (6). Jewett describes the tree as if it is like a sky scrapper, and gives readers a visual perspective on how the tree looks like. By showing the