"As for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm. She thought often with wistful compassion of a wretched geranium that belonged to a town neighbor." What a strong point for the young girl, she had never been alive at all in her city life before. I see the mention of a sad potted plant as a comparison of the girl bound by the city compared to the boundful nature that surrounds her in new country home. Slyvia is in awe of what is around her, after admiring the young cat she says to herseself "that this was a beautiful place to live in, and she never should wish to go home".In these idyllic surroundings these three docile ladies (Slyvia, Mistress Moolly, and Mrs. Tilley) are living a life in a lovley wooded home.
The whistling of the Hunter disrupts the calm of the night Sylvia has become accustomed to. All that Slyvia has seen in her time living in the woods, she knows the existence of the White Heron the Hunter seeks, but her loyality to her beautiful new home prevents her from taking the Hunter's money.
"No amount of thought, that night, could decide how many wished-for treasures the ten dollars, so lightly spoken of, would buy." The treasures Slyvia cherishes and preserves are now that of the lives of the birds she so admires. She cannot bear the thought of seeing a creature she so admires being shot out of the sky, never to float in the morning sun again by this gun toteing intruder to her quite life. The third person omnisient pleads on Sylvia's behalf "Whatever treasures were lost to her, woodlands and summer-time, remember! Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country child!"
Thank you for using quotes and commenting on the language!
ReplyDeleteYour last example of narrative voice shows how the narrator intrudes--there's an earlier moment of that when the narrator says "Alas" and laments the possibility of Sylvia losing the riches of nature. It's clear were the narrator stands from this, but the end of the story also makes clear the sacrifice involved in choosing, Thoreau-like, the solitude of nature, one, moreover, Thoreau himself only practiced intermittently.