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Do you think "A White Heron" would have been more realistic with a different ending?

The story would have been more realistic with a different ending only if Sylvia had been a different kind of girl. As the story was written and as her character was developed, the ending is very realistic and consistent with Sylvia's nature.

Sylvia is a lonely young girl who finds peace and solace in the woods surrounding her grandmother's farm. She is a child who finds her place in nature after having been trapped in the city, an environment that did not nurture her or speak to her spirit. When she first came to the farm, Sylvia immediately noticed the difference between the city and the country:

. . . Sylvia whispered that this was a beautiful place to live in and she never should wish to go home.

Sylvia spends her waking hours outdoors, where she feels a sense of belonging.

Since her background and personality have been developed in this manner, Sylvia's reaction to seeing the heron at sunrise from her perch high above the earth can truly be understood. In climbing the great pine, Sylvia left her world below and became part of the heron's world. The beauty and the majesty of all she surveyed in those moments became a part of her. She climbed the pine to find the heron's nest so that she could tell the hunter where it was. When she climbs down, however, she knows she cannot "tell the heron's secret and give its life away." The story ends very realistically because that's the only way it could end, Sylvia being who she was.