The White Heron

After reading The White Heron, the theme of nature continues to be underline some of the literature we read. When reading, I was sure that Sylvia would give up the white herons location and spend the money making her and her grandmothers life better. After finishing the story and find out out that she could not give up the heron, I started to understand that nature and the purity or preservation of nature is more important than money.

A couple of ideas or symbols come to mind when I think of the preservation of the heron. THe hunter represents the urban life and Sylvia decides to not hinder the rural environment with the urban killings. THis will preserve the beauty and simplicity of the woods and what sylvia defines as home. The hunter comes from the urban setting and is taking the beauty away from the rural woods.

Another idea that I thought the story might represent is the gender roles that are given in this short story.  The cow, grandmother and Sylvia are all doing fine and don't mind their simplistic lives. The only way it gets skewed is when a male, the hunter, comes into their lives. When the hunter comes into their lives, they have to make him dinner, give him a place to sleep, find the heron and show him where it nests so he can fulfill his interests and goals. Sylvia decides not to give into what he wants and stands for what she believes in. THe heron represents the purity and strength woman can have on their own and not giving into what the man wants.

Ultimatley, The White Heron opens up an array of themes and connections between nature and people. The heron itself is white and pure and represents nature, but the hunter represents man and the destructive mindset that wants to destroy or end nature.

Blog #6 The Luck

Bret Harte's "The Luck of Roaring Camp" tells the story of a community that comes together to raise a child that is born in their camp. Tommy "The Luck" inspires the men to become well-behaved and clean, so as not to be a bad influence. The men, who are extremely misogynistic and prideful, refuse to bring in any outsiders to help raise the child. Stumpy and the rest of the town tale care of the boy, using goat's milk to feed him. Of course, in the end of the story Roaring Camp is flooded, and Tommy dies. Kentuck holds the dead baby in his arms as he dies, claiming that he's "got the luck" with him.

The truth is, he is dragging the luck with him into death. The camp got greedy, thinking they had all the luck they needed. In their hubris they refused to bring in a woman to care for the child, and they refused to leave when they knew the flood was coming.

At first, Tommy induced a positive change, but good fortune went to the heads of the men of Roaring Camp. I believe that Harte's story is a cautionary tale about mob mentality, pride, and hubris.