Advancements for Women
The late nineteenth century ushered in numerous new opportunities for women in the United States and other industrializing nations, and Sarah Orne Jewett seized these opportunities. In 1848, just a year before Jewett’s birth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and others organized the seminal Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. By the time Jewett graduated from Berwick Academy in 1866, women were beginning to earn certificates to practice medicine (a dream Jewett once had), gain admission to universities, and, under the leadership of Stanton, Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, they formed the American Equal Rights Association dedicated to securing voting rights for women and African Americans. For the first time in American society, women were gradually being allowed to fully participate as citizens and professionals.

Equally significant for Jewett, women were starting to enjoy a broader range of "acceptable" personal lifestyles. Married women could pursue careers, as depicted in Louisa May Alcott’s Jo’s Boys, published in 1886, the same year as “A White Heron.” It was no longer assumed, at least among urban upper-class circles, that every woman would marry as soon as possible and live her life as an unequal partner to a man, without property rights and unprotected should the marriage be unhappy. Jewett and others saw the potential to live independently, outside traditional patriarchal frameworks. Women could pursue careers and earn enough to support themselves. While there were no public and political organizations for lesbians in the nineteenth century, many women like Jewett felt free to discreetly devote their emotional energy to other women. The concept of the “Boston marriage,” referring to the intimate companionship of two women, was acknowledged and accepted, though not openly discussed.

These societal changes significantly influenced Jewett’s writings, which often focus on independent women who struggle with or reject male dominance. Jewett authored several stories and novels about women doctors—roles that were previously unimaginable. Even many of her rural characters, like Mrs. Tilley and Sylvia, lead fulfilling lives without male counterparts. When Sylvia rejects the hunter, whom she sees as a suitor, she asserts her independence from male-dominated society, much like Jewett and many of her contemporaries did. She “could have served and followed him and loved him as a dog loves,” but in this new era, she has other options.

Industrialization
In major cities, manufacturing jobs were abundant but perilous, as business owners sought more and more inexpensive labor to keep their factories operational. Workers frequently went on strike to demand better working conditions. In 1886, streetcar workers in New York City brought the city to a standstill for several days with their strike; they ultimately agreed to a twelve-hour workday with a half-hour lunch break. New methods for working with metals were invented, the internal combustion engine was refined, household products like Johnson’s Wax and Avon cosmetics became available, and large department stores like Bloomingdale’s began to open. However, in rural areas, it was still common for people to live simple lives of subsistence farming, without experiencing the benefits or dangers of industrial life.

The Growing Conservation Movement
By the late nineteenth century, what was once perceived as a vast and limitless continent was now recognized as delicate and in need of protection. Pollution in cities like Sylvia’s “crowded manufacturing town” was rampant and much worse than it would be a century later. The great buffalo herds had been dramatically reduced, and their decline was widely noted in popular songs and stories. Forests were being cut down at an alarming rate, supported by the Timber Culture Act of 1878, which allowed the clearing of public lands. A nascent conservation movement had begun, focusing on the preservation of forests and wildlife.

The woods where Sylvia lives are second-growth forest, but it is in the old-growth great pine, “the last of its generation,” where she finds wisdom: “Whether it was left for a boundary mark, or for what reason, no one could say; the woodchoppers who had felled its mates were dead and gone long ago.” Jewett uses this symbol, a rare ancient tree, to emphasize the importance of preserving the land.

The heron, too, is rare and endangered. According to George Held, the bird Jewett likely had in mind was the snowy egret, whose feathers were highly sought after for adorning ladies’ hats. By 1900, it was nearly extinct, and it received federal protection in 1913.

Set in a remote part of Maine, "A White Heron" narrates the story of a lonely nine-year-old girl who decides not to disclose the location of a beautiful white heron and its nest to a visiting hunter. The hunter departs, disappointed, and the girl, Sylvia, loses her first human friend.

Narrator/Point of View
Among the technical elements of this story, which centers on a young girl faced with the choice of revealing the location of a heron’s nest to a charming ornithologist or protecting the bird, the point of view has been particularly contentious among critics. While many readers have considered Jewett’s sudden and dramatic shifts in point of view as a flaw and a sign of immature writing, more recent readers have interpreted these shifts as deliberate and effective. The story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, one who is not a character within the story but has a comprehensive view of the events and insights into the characters’ thoughts. This narrator delves more deeply into Sylvia’s thoughts and feelings than those of the other characters. The hunter’s and Mrs. Tilley’s thoughts are only revealed through their words and actions. Most of the story is narrated in the past tense, but there are three notable shifts to the present tense: when Sylvia first hears the hunter approaching ("this little woods-girl is horror-stricken"), when she discovers the heron’s nest ("she knows his secret now"), and when she decides she cannot disclose the secret ("Sylvia does not speak after all"). These moments provide a sharp sense of immediacy that is brief. After each shift, the narrator resumes a more distant stance. Occasionally, this detachment vanishes entirely, and the narrator directly addresses Sylvia ("look down again, Sylvia") or nature ("woodlands and summer-time, remember"), creating the sensation that the reader is also present, observing and hoping. Gayle Smith identifies in this blend of past and present, memory and experience, detachment and involvement, an example of Jewett’s use of language to illustrate the transcendent connection Sylvia has with nature.

Setting
The setting in "A White Heron" is crucial because Sylvia's deep bond with nature distinguishes her from others. Appropriately, the name "Sylvia" derives from the Latin word silva, meaning "wood" or "forest." The narrative unfolds in the woods, far from the bustling city where Sylvia was born, and near the expansive ocean that she has never seen until the story begins. "There ain’t a foot o’ ground she don’t know her way over," and she is familiar with the birds and animals, making her an ideal guide for the hunter. However, when they venture out together, the young man takes the lead. This setting highlights the power imbalance between them. The hunter selects Sylvia for her knowledge of the terrain, yet he directs her through it. The proximity of the coast is also significant because, upon reaching the top of the old pine and seeing the ocean and "the white sails of ships out at sea," Sylvia understands that this "vast and awesome world" is hers to discover alone. She realizes she does not need the young man to show her the world; this "wonderful sight and pageant of the world" unfolds before her. The story's time period is equally important. In the late nineteenth century, it was plausible for a girl to live in rural seclusion, encountering few people other than her grandmother. One can imagine how thrilling and bewildering a visitor offering money might be. Sylvia's innocence of the technological world is vital; she must be completely immersed in nature, where she truly belongs, yet it must seem natural that she has never seen the sea.

Anthropomorphism
In the first half of "A White Heron," the forest where Sylvia resides appears to be an ordinary forest, although her connection to it is evidently deeper than most people's. It features typical trees, animals, and bird songs, and even the birds feeding from her hands seem rare but not fantastical. However, as she begins to climb the old pine tree, the tree is depicted as an active, sentient entity: "it must truly have been amazed that morning," "The old pine must have loved his new dependent." This anthropomorphism, or attributing human traits to non-human entities, accentuates Sylvia's remarkable unity with nature. Initially, the tree only seems "to lengthen itself out" as she ascends, but by the time she reaches the top, the tree's sentience is evident. The narrator does not suggest that the tree appears to shield Sylvia from the wind, or that Sylvia imagines it does; the bold claim is that "the tree stood still and held away the winds." The increasing anthropomorphism mirrors Sylvia’s growing knowledge and power as she climbs.

Pathetic Fallacy
Similar to anthropomorphism, the pathetic fallacy is when the narrator assumes that nature possesses human emotions and empathizes with human suffering. This technique is evident at the conclusion of ‘‘A White Heron’’ when the narrator speaks to nature on Sylvia's behalf. Addressing the ‘‘woodlands and summer-time’’ may appear old-fashioned to contemporary readers, but Jewett prepares the audience by gradually increasing the narrator's and reader's engagement throughout the latter part of the story. After the great tree has seemingly aided Sylvia in her climb, and her unity with nature is confirmed by her decision to keep the nesting place a secret, it feels natural for the narrator to implore nature: ‘‘Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country child!’’

Early readers primarily viewed the story as an excellent example of local color writing. This literary movement, which peaked in the United States during the 1880s, aimed to depict the distinctive habits, speech, dress, and traditions of specific regions. Prominent figures in this genre included Mark Twain, Joel Chandler Harris, Bret Harte, and Sarah Orne Jewett. Local color writing was considered less serious than other fiction genres, often intended to entertain or amuse. This does not imply that these works lacked quality, but readers generally did not seek profound themes or ideas in them.

By the 1920s, scholars began to reevaluate Jewett’s work, influenced by Willa Cather, who, in her introduction to an edition of The Best Short Stories of Sarah Orne Jewett, compared Jewett to Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain. Critics started to revisit her short stories, uncovering issues of wider significance. While Jewett remained celebrated as one of the finest local color writers, she was also recognized for her nuanced exploration of the conflicts arising from industrialization and capitalism. Although significant criticism of her work was scarce in the 1930s and 1940s, ‘‘A White Heron’’ continued to be included in anthologies and textbooks, often cited in literary histories as a quintessential American short story.

1880s: Environmental concerns gain traction in the United States after the Civil War, as rapid economic development takes a toll on natural resources, including timber. In 1891, President Harrison signs a proclamation designating a million acres in Colorado as the nation's first forest preserve.

1990s: Forest conservation efforts threaten jobs in the Pacific Northwest, where loggers face layoffs due to restrictions on destroying the habitat of the spotted owl. Global environmental concerns lead to conferences like the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil, which addresses issues such as global warming and rain forest destruction.

1880s: Naturalist John James Audubon (1785–1851) gains considerable wealth and fame from his bird paintings. Preferring not to use stuffed and mounted specimens, he works from freshly killed birds to avoid the stiffness of preserved models.

1990s: The Audubon Society, established in 1886 as the nation's first bird preservation organization, now includes 500 chapters, 9 regional, and 12 state offices.

1880s: Many people migrate to bustling manufacturing towns, similar to where Sylvia and her family reside, due to the availability of factory jobs. The industrial sector experiences rapid growth in the 1880s, driven by standardized machine processes, new technologies, and abundant resources, making U.S. industries some of the most productive globally.

1990s: Manufacturing industry concerns are closely tied to environmental issues. Pollution from factories and automobile emissions is linked to global warming. While wealthier nations make attempts to regulate emissions, developing countries, which rely on industrialization to boost their economies, often lack the resources and motivation to control pollution.

A White Heron was transformed into a video suitable for elementary and junior-high students by the Learning Corporation of America in 1978. It is available in VHS, Beta, and 3/4U formats from Modern Curriculum Press (MCP).

The story has additionally been produced as an audiobook. Recorded by SoundWindow, the tape features excerpts from Henry Beston’s The Outermost House and was released under the title Christine Sweet Reads in 1996.

Sources
Ammons, Elizabeth. "The Shape of Violence in Jewett’s ‘A White Heron.’" Colby Library Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 1, March 1986, pp. 6-16.

Griffith, Jr., Kelley. "Sylvia as Hero in Sarah Orne Jewett’s ‘A White Heron.’" Colby Library Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1, March 1985, pp. 22-27.

Further Reading
Cary, Richard. Sarah Orne Jewett. Twayne, 1962. This is the first comprehensive critical review of Jewett’s work, attempting to analyze all of her writings. Cary finds "A White Heron" philosophically intriguing but technically flawed.

Griffith, Jr., Kelley. "Sylvia as Hero in Sarah Orne Jewett’s ‘A White Heron.’" Colby Library Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 1, March 1985, pp. 22-27. This analysis illustrates how Sylvia’s journey follows the archetypal hero’s quest for a desired object, suggesting Sylvia’s independence reflects Jewett’s own.

Held, George. "Heart to Heart with Nature: Ways of Looking at ‘A White Heron.’" Colby Library Quarterly, vol. 18, 1982, pp. 55-65. Held discusses his interpretation of Jewett’s "A White Heron," with a focus on the evolving relationship between Sylvia and nature.

Johns, Barbara A. "'Mateless and Appealing': Growing into Spinsterhood in Sarah Orne Jewett," in Critical Essays on Sarah Orne Jewett, edited by Gwen L. Nagel, G. K. Hall, 1984, pp. 147-165. This essay examines a recurring theme in Jewett’s works—the young woman who rejects marriage and traditional female roles after broadening her worldview—and uses Sylvia as an example.

Pool, Eugene Hillhouse. "The Child in Sarah Orne Jewett." Colby Library Quarterly, vol. 7, September 1967, pp. 503-509. Pool reads Jewett’s works autobiographically, suggesting Jewett herself desired to remain a child and avoid adult relationships.

Smith, Gayle L. "The Language of Transcendence in Sarah Orne Jewett’s ‘A White Heron.’" Colby Library Quarterly, vol. 19, 1983, pp. 37-44. Smith demonstrates how Jewett’s techniques effectively present a transcendental vision of reality, despite some critics viewing the shifting point of view and elevated language as weaknesses in the story.