3.3 Sarah O. Jewett

                                                      Sarah O. Jewett

Sarah Jewett grew up in Maine. As a child she wasn't very healthy but, still made rounds with her farther whom was a doctor.  She enjoyed reading from her father’s library where she then decided to become a writer.  She closely studied the dialect of the native people, and the way the lived their daily lives.  She was fascinated with the hardships the villagers and farmers underwent. Sarah was focused on their character making sure the reader understands the intense hardships they faced.  Sarah captures this in her novels, where she illustrates great empathy for her characters, and the life they live of poverty, loss, and hard work but still yet they have so much joy.  Sarah’s writing only improved as she expanded her knowledge and then became an accredited author.

Sarah Jewett’s novel “A White Heron” is a very touching story about a girl named Sylvia. That came from the city to live with her grandmother, in which she helps with the chores gathering the cows.  Sylvia loves the farm life way better than the city. She never wants to leave the farm.  The story opens with Sylvia searching for the cow Mistress Moolly.  While in the woods she plays the game hide and seek with Moolly until she finds her to take her back to the farm for milking.  Sylvia tries to hurry the cow home when she meets a strange man and is frightened.  The man follows her back home where her grandmother takes him in for the night.  This man was a bird hunter looking for a white heron, that he wants to add to his collection.  The man tells Sylvia he will pay a large sum of money if anyone can show him the nest of the heron.  The next day Sylvia accompanies the man into the woods to look for the birds nest. 

Sylvia has seen the birds flying around and doesn’t want to see them killed.  Sylvia sees the bird but doesn’t share this with the man.  Even though: her grandmother could have used the money. Sylvia loved the farm and all that the country had to offer.  I am surprised that Sylvia as a child didn’t want to show the man the bird being that children love to know they have helped.  But she wanted to save the bird more than she wanted to be a helper.   I really enjoyed this novel it was very relatable for me, being that I grew up on a farm where we had cows.  The air was so clean and crisp and I will never forget reading this story and thinking I could smell the air the way it used to be on the farm.