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Sylvia
The hunter (whose name is never revealed) is an ornithologist from town who comes to the countryside with the aim of shooting and stuffing a rare white heron for his collection of birds. He stumbles upon Sylvia in the woods and stays a couple of nights in her grandmother Mrs. Tilley’s house. He is a materialistic person who seeks to turn wildlife into trophies and expects country homes to contain “horrors” of “primitive housekeeping” because of their lack of material comforts. The hunter presents Sylvia with the central moral conflict of the story: whether or not to help him find the heron. He believes he can tempt Sylvia into helping him with a monetary reward. This, plus his charming personality, friendly nature, and great knowledge of birds initially convince Sylvia to help him, despite the fact that she is horrified by his violent shooting of the birds she loves. When Sylvia sees the world from the heron’s perspective and decides not to reveal the location of its nest, however, the hunter leaves, presumably to continue his hunt for rare birds. The hunter represents the industrialization that threatens to conquer and destroy nature in order to satisfy human greed, and Sylvia must reject him in order to truly value her natural environment. Yet the hunter also represents the human companionship and connection one longs for, with the narrator wondering whether or not the wild birds Sylvia saved can replace the friendship she could have had with him.
The Hunter Quotes in A White Heron
The A White Heron quotes below are all either spoken by The Hunter or refer to The Hunter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I
Quotes
It was a surprise to find so clean and comfortable a little dwelling in this New England wilderness.
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“I am making a collection of birds myself…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.”
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Sylvia still watched the toad, not divining, as she might have done at some calmer time, that the creature wished to get to its hole under the doorstep…No amount of thought, that night, could decide how many wished-for treasures the ten dollars, so lightly spoken of, would buy.
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All day long he did not once make her troubled or afraid except when he brought down some unsuspecting singing creature from its bough…she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much.
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Part II
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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?
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Were the birds better friends than their hunter might have been, – who can tell?
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The Hunter Quotes in A White Heron
The A White Heron quotes below are all either spoken by The Hunter or refer to The Hunter. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I
Quotes
It was a surprise to find so clean and comfortable a little dwelling in this New England wilderness.
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“I am making a collection of birds myself…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.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Sylvia still watched the toad, not divining, as she might have done at some calmer time, that the creature wished to get to its hole under the doorstep…No amount of thought, that night, could decide how many wished-for treasures the ten dollars, so lightly spoken of, would buy.
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All day long he did not once make her troubled or afraid except when he brought down some unsuspecting singing creature from its bough…she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to like so much.
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Part II
Quotes
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?
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Were the birds better friends than their hunter might have been, – who can tell?
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