“A White Heron”

1. Background and Style “A White Heron” Sarah Orne Jewett

2. Background Realism • Civil War ends 1865 • Reconstruction • Immigration and Expansion • Regionalism abounds • “local color” • offshoot of Realism (ordinary people, ordinary situations) • writers focus on specific geographical areas • presentation of characters, dialect, customs, topography, and other features specific to a certain region • often nostalgia and sentimentality in the writing (naturally, author from that area) • contributed to: • the reunification of the country after the Civil War and • to the building of national identity • short story as a literary form is popularized Regionalism Naturalism

3. Sarah Orne JewetT1849-1909 • born in South Berwick, Maine • daughter of a country doctor (Obstetrician) • poor health as a child • accompanied father on trips to visit patients in rural southwestern coastal Maine • Inspiration to • Chronicle • New England Life

4. Her most famous work: The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896), a collected of interconnected sketches about coastal Maine • From 1881 to her death in 1909, Jewett had close domestic relationship with Annie Adams Fields, widow of editor James T. Fields: they had a “Boston marriage” • Relationships between mothers/daughters and among women figure prominently in her fiction. After the Civil War, which killed many men, American women faced new demands and opportunities to form relationships and communities

5. Chronicles of New eNGLAND Life Works include but are not limited to… Deephaven A Country Doctor A White Heron and Other Stories A Native of Wimbly The Life of Nancy The County of the Pointed Firs* “They melt into the land and the life of the land until they are not stories at all, but life itself.”-Willa Cather

6. Standards L.F.1.1.3 Analyze, interpret, and evaluate how authors use techniques and elements of fiction to effectively communicate an idea or concept. L.F.2.5.1 Identify, explain, interpret, describe, and/or analyze the effects of personification, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, satire, foreshadowing, flashback, imagery, allegory, symbolism, dialect, allusion, and irony in a text. L.F.2.3.5 Explain, interpret, compare, describe, analyze, and/or evaluate tone, style, and/or mood in a variety of fiction: •• the relationship between the tone, style, and/or mood and other components of a text •• how voice and choice of speaker (narrator) affect the mood, tone, and/or meaning of a text •• how diction, syntax, figurative language, sentence variety, etc., determine the author’s style L.F.2.4.1 Interpret and analyze works from a variety of genres for literary, historical, and/or cultural significance.

7. Stylistic Components • Imagery Vivid words or phrases used to create images that appeal to one of the five senses • Regional Dialect the accurate portrayal of how a person from a particular region actually speaks, evident in purposeful misspellings, grammatical errors, colloquial phrases, inventive punctuation and loose sentence structure • Symbolism when an object represents an idea

8. Stylistic components 1. Imagery: Vivid words or phrases used to create images that appeal to one of the five senses Example: The cow stopped long at the brook to drink, as if the pasture were not half a swamp, and Sylvia stood still and waited, letting her bare feet cool themselves in the shoal water, while the great twilight moths struck softly against her. 1. Underline the imagery in the ex. 2. This ex. of imagery appeals to the sense of _________. 3. The purpose of using this example of imagery is …

9. Imagery cont’d Task: Find two effective visual images and two images that appeal to other senses. List your findings in a chart like the one below, addressing all areas of concern.

10. Stylistic components cont’d 2. Regional Dialect -the accurate portrayal of how a person from a particular region actually speaks, evident in purposeful misspellings, grammatical errors, colloquial phrases, inventive punctuationand loose sentence structure Example: “ ‘Afraid of folks,’ they said! I guess she won't be troubled no great with 'em up to the old place!” • Underline two examples of regional dialect within the above sentence from “A White Heron.” • Label each example as to what type of regional dialect is being used. • Translate each example as to what it should be or really is meant. • Explain the purpose of Jewett’s portrayal of old Mrs. Tiley in speaking this way.

11. Stylistic components cont’d 2. Regional Dialect -the accurate portrayal of how a person from a particular region actually speaks, evident in purposeful misspellings, grammatical errors, colloquial phrases, inventive punctuationand loose sentence structure Task: Find 3 examples of regional dialect within text and list your examples in a chart that replicates the following:

12. Stylistic components cont’dcont’d Symbolism -- when an object represents an idea • Task: • List descriptions of the items on the left, as many as you can find, skim and scan the entire text. • List the location. • Determine what each item could symbolize based on the descriptions you have listed. • Explain your reasoning as to why you have come to that conclusion

13. Task: L.F.1.1.3 Analyze, interpret, and evaluate how authors use techniques and elements of fiction to effectively communicate an idea or concept. As a Regionalist writer in “A White Heron,” how does Sarah Orne Jewett convey her purpose? Divulge what the purpose of this short story is, and how Jewett achieves this purpose. You will Discuss the literary elements used, specifically, the use of style and the following components of style: (imagery, regionaldialect, and symbolism). Be sure to include multiple examples to support your answer.