What conflict does Sylvia face in "A White Heron"?

Sylvia faces an internal conflict of the character vs. self variety. When the hunter offers her ten dollars in order to reveal to him the location of the heron's nest, she cannot help but be tempted by it.

No amount of thought, that night, could decide how many wished-for treasures the ten dollars, so lightly spoken of, would buy.

Not only is Sylvia tempted by the thought of all the treasures one might buy with the ten dollar reward, but she is beginning to think differently of the young man who first frightened her. Now, she thinks he's a "friendly lad" who is proving "to be most kind and sympathetic." He tells her lots of things about the animals she loves, and he even makes her a gift of a jack-knife that she thinks of as a great treasure. She no longer fears him, except when he shoots a bird, and she begins to see him with a kind of "loving admiration. She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful [...]." In her desire to please the hunter, she considers the tall tree on the wood's edge, thinking,

[...] why, if one climbed it at break of day, could not one see all the world, and easily discover from whence the white heron flew, and mark the place, and find the hidden nest?

So she climbs the tree the next morning, watching hawks and feeling "as if she too could go flying away among the clouds." Sylvia spots the heron too, silent as she watches him perch and call back to his mate in the nest. "She knows his secret now [...]," and she wonders, with some excitement, what her hunter will say when she tells him where the heron lives. However, when the moment comes, she cannot speak.

He can make them rich with money; he has promised it, and they are poor now. He is so worth making happy, and he waits to hear the story she can tell. No, she must keep silence! What is it that suddenly forbids her and makes her dumb? Has she been nine years growing and now, when the great world for the first time puts out a hand to her, must she thrust it aside for a bird's sake? [...] [S]he 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.

On one hand, she would tell the hunter where the heron lives because she wants to make him happy as well as relieve her poverty; on the other hand, she doesn't want to tell the heron's secret because she wants to protect it. She is torn, momentarily, between these two conflicting desires before she, ultimately, decides that she cannot betray the heron; she knows telling its secret will mean certain death for the beautiful bird with whom she feels a kind of kindred connection.

Sylvia's conflict is that she is fascinated by the 'stranger' who comes to their property but she is also loyal to the creatures which are part of her world.

The traveller tells of collecting birds, and her grandmother highlights Sylvia's ability with the animals. Sylvia is intrigued by the hunter, though becomes upset when she sees the birds he has shot.

He offers ten dollars for the location of the nest of the white heron. This money would be a great benefit to her family, and Sylvia is at first drawn to help him. She is flattered when he gives her his jack-knife as a gift-

the woman's heart, asleep in the child was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love.

However, when Sylvia climbs the great pine tree to locate the heron's nest, the powers of nature draw her back and remind her of her alliance to them. She chooses not to reveal the location of the nest, remaining a

lonely country child.

What is Sylvia's ethical dilemma in "A White Heron" and how do her hidden behaviors contribute? How does the guest interpret this?

In the short story "A White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett, a nine-year-old child named Sylvia who is bringing a cow home from pasture through the woods unexpectedly encounters a stranger. The man seeks hospitality at the house of Mrs. Tilley, Sylvia's grandmother. He explains that he hunts birds to stuff and mount for his collection, and he is particularly eager to find a rare white heron. He offers 10 dollars, which is an amazingly large sum to Sylvia and her grandmother, if Sylvia can help him find the heron. Sylvia imagines that she can buy "many wished-for treasures" with the money.

Sylvia accompanies the man for a day while he searches the woods, but she cannot comprehend why he wants to shoot the birds that he seems to like. She considers that if she climbs a certain tall pine tree she might be able to spot the white heron. After she makes the dangerous climb and gets to the top of the pine, she sees the heron not far away. She now knows where the heron's nest is.

Sylvia's dilemma is whether to tell the man where the heron is, earn the 10 dollars, and be able to purchase the things she desires, or whether to protect the heron and keep its location a secret. If she doesn't tell, she won't get the money, but if she does tell, the hunter will shoot the heron and kill it. Sylvia resolves her dilemma by choosing to protect the heron. As Jewett writes:

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.

The guest has no such hidden motivations. His desires are easily apparent. He wants to kill the heron and stuff it for display. The dilemma any reader of this story faces is whether he or she would have protected the white heron as Sylvia did or point it out for the hunter to kill in exchange for money.

What is Sylvia's main conflict about the stranger in "A White Heron"?

In Sarah Orne Jewett's "A White Heron," Sylvia wants to please the stranger, the young ornithologist who seeks the white heron; however, she is conflicted because she does not wish to harm this beautiful bird. Thus, the main conflict is Man (Humans) vs. Nature.

When Sylvia first spots the young man, she is frightened and hides from him, but he insists upon asking her name, so she replies, "Sylvy." He accompanies her home, hoping that her grandmother will allow him to stay overnight. Despite Sylvia's fears, the grandmother is warm and cordial to the young man, extending her hospitality. After supper, the young man declares that he is making a collection of birds:

There are two or three very rare ones I have been hunting for these five years. I mean to get them on my own ground if they can be found.

When Mrs. Tilley asks if he cages them, the ornithologist tells her that he stuffs and preserves them, and he adds that he is looking for the white heron of which he caught a glimpse three miles from there. "They have never been found in this area," he adds.

When Sylvia hears the man's declaration, her heart skips a beat because she knows that strange white bird, whose voice is often heard in the woods on stormy nights. Then, when the young man wants this bird so badly that he is willing to offer ten dollars for its capture, Sylvia is stirred. Gradually, too, she loses her fear of the young man, and she begins to feel that he is "most kind and sympathetic."

So enamored is Sylvia of this young man and desirous of his payment that she considers finding the heron's home and revealing its whereabouts to him. But, on the morning that she discovers the nest of the great white heron and his mate, Sylvia is in awe. She wonders what the young man will think when she tells him where to find the bird. So, she starts for home.

Seeing her approach, the grandmother calls to the shy girl. She urges Sylvia to talk, but Sylvia says nothing, despite her grandmother's rebukes. Even as the young man's "kind appealing eyes are looking straight in her own," Sylvia starts to reconsider her decision to protect the birds, thinking that he can make them rich with money; he is "worth making happy," and he waits to hear what she has to tell him. But, suddenly, Sylvia cannot speak: "...She cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away." She leaves the young man puzzled and frustrated, and her grandmother rather exasperated.

In "A White Heron," what is the basis of Sylvia's internal conflict?

In Sarah Orne Jewett's "A White Heron," nine-year-old Sylvia chooses between telling the man where the heron nests (and allowing the man to kill it) or protecting the bird and its nest. There is a conflict in that Sylvia feels she should help her grandmother: by helping the young man, he will give them some much-needed money.

Sylvia knows the countryside very well: having come from the city, she has taken to her new life quickly. She is out very early in the morning, coming home late with Mistress Moolly (the cow, and her only companion). Sylvia knows the animals that live in the woods. It is easy to infer that she has an emotional connection with them when the young ornithologist talks of the white heron:

Sylvia's heart gave a wild beat; she knew that strange white bird, and had one stolen softly near where it stood in some bright green swamp grass, away over at the other side of the woods.

Sylvia was drawn to cautiously sneak close to watch the bird and it enchants her, as does the sea that she can sometimes hear but has never seen.

The young man is handsome, he offers money: ten dollars—a fortune to Sylvia and her grandmother. He represents an world that is alien to Sylvia, and it would be natural for her be not only be in awe of the young man, but also conflicted because all the things that the world would value (his appearance, his wealth, etc.) are aspects of life that Sylvia might not understand beyond their appearance. Sylvia finds that she likes the young man: he keeps her company (she is a child without friends), and he also knows a great deal about many birds in the woods. It might seem that Sylvia is being lulled into a position of sympathy: after all, she does not have a great deal of knowledge of the world. In fact, the sound of her voice frightens her: she is not used to hearing it.

Coming home in the evening, Sylvia stops at an old tree in the woods where she is sure that if she climbs it to the top, she would "see the ocean." At the top of the tree she is certain she would see the world—in particular, where the heron flies and hides its nest. She imagines what a hero she will be in delivering this information to the ornithologist.

She does not sleep that night and rises early to climb. She goes up one tree and cautiously crosses over to another tree—an oak—to take her even higher.

The tree is personified as knowing its new "dependent," recognizing the...

...brave, beating heart of the solitary grey-eyed child.

And from her new height, she can see the sea and the sail of a ship; the birds sing more loudly. She sees the heron and makes her way back down. At the homestead, the man—who cares only for the bird and not for Sylvia— thinks...

...she really must be persuaded to tell.

However, Sylvia's experience has brought her into a new world. A kinship has been formed between her and the heron:

...they watched the sea and the morning together, and Sylvia cannot speak; she cannot tell the heron's secret and give its life away.

While she gave up the money he offered, and would have earned her grandmother's disapproval, and experiences a sharp sorrow in losing the friendship of the young man, she kept the secret of this beautiful creature and protected its life and that of its young.

She does not tell the young man where the heron is in order to save the heron. Her conflict is found in trying to please the world (the man and her grandmother), or to save the bird. She chooses to protect the heron.

How does Sylvia's moral dilemma influence the plot of "A White Heron"?

Sylvie's moral dilemma is whether to reveal to the young hunter the location of the heron's nest. This decision is bound up with other feelings that she has about her life in the woods and her distrust of other people. Although her action is to take no action, to say nothing, by withholding the information, she is not only depriving her family of ten dollars, but she is also making a decision about what sort of life she wants to lead. Her loyalty to the heron is a metaphor of her love of family; in allowing the bird to be destroyed, she would also in a sense be destroying herself.

The climax of the plot comes when Sylvie climbs the old pine tree to find out where the heron lives. This climb is also a metaphor for Sylvie's own imagination. From the top of the tree, she can see everything, including the sea; the boundaries of her life in the woods fall away, and she experiences a profound sense of oneness, of belonging to the landscape she sees. It is a kind of secret knowledge for her, and when the heron perches in he tree near her, it is as if to acknowledge that Sylvie and the bird are bound by this same secret. It is this realization of her place that causes her to remain silent about the nest.

What is the central ethical dilemma Sylvia faces in "A White Heron," and why does she choose to keep the heron's location secret?

“A White Heron” presents the protagonist, Sylvia, as a girl who has recently discovered a deep love for nature. She wants to share her enjoyment and, when she meets an ornithologist, is also inspired to increase other people’s knowledge about birds—especially the white heron that swoops and glides. Sylvia soon realizes, however, that her mind and her heart are both conflicted. She is encouraged to help the man with his research both in the interest of science and because she appreciates what she considers to be their growing friendship.

An ethical conflict arises as she comprehends that his pursuit has a practical motivation, which is to advance his scientific career. The material dimension is played out in his offer to pay her. Even more challenging are the moral aspects of her inner torment. The scientist is also a hunter who collects dead specimens to preserve and study. If she agrees to his request to reveal the nest’s location, she will be a party to killing an animal she loves. Considering these two dimensions in combination, she realizes that by helping him, she would essentially become a paid hunter: she would take money for doing something she believes is wrong. As Sylvia climbs up alone to observe the bird, she rises above the conflicts. Sylvia will do what her own conscience tells her rather than follow the directives of another person with different values.