1994 AP English Literature and Composition Exam
Prose Question from Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron”
Sample A
In this reading, Sarah Jewett dramatizes the adventure of Sylvia, a small girl, by emphasizing the scale of her achievement. She accomplishes this primarily through her slow-paced and description-oriented style, her choice of diction, and the natural imagery of the story.
Although Sylvia’s accomplishment is great, the author makes it seem even greater by vividly describing Sylvia’s goal, the obstacles she faces while working towards that goal, and the setting in which this all takes place. Jewett describes every single action or observation one could make about the tree and Sylvia’s relation with it. As a result, the narrative pace of the story is rather slow, further emphasizing the scale of events in the story. By slowly and descriptively telling us the events in the story, the author builds suspense and dramatizes the experiences described. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is that it is told not from Sylvia’s point of view, but by a third-person narrator who seems to know the thoughts of both Sylvia and the tree. By showing us the tree’s thoughts, the author shows that the events taking place aren’t just some petty human activities: they are dramatic and important enough to gain the attention of a massive and ancient organism, the king of the forest, the giant pine tree.
The diction in this narrative is particularly interesting. All of the adjectives don’t provide description as much as they serve to enhance our own imagining of the events. Although they are purposefully vague, they serve to dramatize the events of the story and transform a relatively simple tale of tree-climbing into an epic of conquest and nature. Words such as ‘ponderous frame”(45) and “great rough trunk” (12-13) emphasize the sheer size of the tree itself but allow the reader to imagine a tree of any size. Another element highlighted by diction is nature, and the solitude that accompanies humans experiencing it. Only one human is ever described, and Sylvia is “small and silly” (17) when compared to the natural elements around her. However, upon reaching the top of the tree and symbolically merging with nature, Sylvia is described as being “like a pale star” (55), almost capable of “flying away among the clouds” (66). Overall, the diction serves to emphasize the scale and importance of the events and to show the connection between Sylvia and nature.
A final element Jewett uses to dramatize the story is imagery. The most obvious image is the tree itself. Much of the story serves to show the incredible size of the tree. It is described as the king of the forest with its “stately head” (8) and the “great main-mast to the voyaging earth” (43). Another clear image is the pair of hawks flying “only a little way from the tree” (64-65). They illustrate the freedom that Sylvia feels upon reaching the top of the tree. Both of these images represent the goodness of nature, and Sylvia’s relationship with both serves to illustrate that man can experience that freedom and goodness as well.
By using these elements in her story, Jewett managed to create a compelling and dramatic tale from a normal and relatively uneventful incident.
Sample B
In this portion of prose, adapted from “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett, Jewett dramatizes the journey of the little girl as she triumphantly reaches the top of a pine tree using a clear transition in language and narrative pace while also utilizing dramatic imagery. Jewett adapts the point of view of third person omniscient to better personify the animals and tree itself in order to emphasize the drama of the young heroine’s adventure. Ultimately, Jewett utilizes all of the above methods to create a dramatic and profound description of the journey made by Sylvia.
At the beginning of this piece, Jewett sets the stage for young Sylvia’s task at hand. She describes the pine tree Sylvia desires to climb as “a landmark for sea and shore miles and miles away” (9-10) which with its “stately head” (8) “towered” (8) above the remaining trees. Just before Sylvia begins her climb, Jewett reiterates the image of the tree giving it the title of the “huge tree” (16). In addition to establishing the immense and overpowering figure of the tree, Jewett dramatically describes Sylvia as “small and silly” (17) making the task ahead of her seem all the more daunting. Also, Jewett mentions Sylvia’s immense and “utmost bravery” (18) although this is again overshadowed by the description of her “tingling, eager blood coursing” (18-19) in anticipation.
After this initial introduction to the situation, Jewett begins to use increasingly dramatic language along with more verbose and elaborate descriptions of Sylvia’s progression to create a more overwhelming and intense atmosphere for the journey. Jewett begins by describing the “sharp dry twigs” (37) of the pine as “angry talons” (38) which scratch and inhibit Sylvia. The tree is made to seem even more daunting as it is capable of rendering poor Sylvia’s “thin little fingers clumsy and stiff” (39). The increasing number of descriptions of the preventative forces of the tree serves to increase the pace of the narrative itself. Sylvia’s journey becomes more and more intense as she journeys up the tree. Such lines as “who knows how steadily the least twigs held themselves to advantage this light, weak creature” (47-48) serve to further entrench the reader in the fast pace and intensity of Sylvia’s journey.
The main sources for slowing the ever increasing pace of the writing are Jewett’s descriptions of Sylvia’s determination and her exault at finally completing her task. Although the descriptions of the journey and the tree become increasingly daunting, every so often Jewett describes little Sylvia’s “determined spark of human spirit” (45-46) or “brave, beating heart” (51) to increase drama but keep pace in check. Ultimately, through a series of positive depictions of the tree itself, Jewett brings the dramatic journey to a peak and closes using softer imagery and once again slowing down her narrative pace. Statements such as “the old pine must have loved this new dependent” (49) help create this effect and the narrative is brought to a calm close as Sylvia’s dramatic and heroic journey is summed up with the simple phrase “truly it was a vast and awesome world” (69). The uses of imagery, narrative pace, perspective, and diction were employed to fully dramatize the journey of a “little girl” (12) to realize a “truly” “vast and awesome world” (69).
Sample C
In “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett, the author uses clever mirroring diction and strong metaphorical imagery, and she matches the pace of her writing with the pace of her young protagonist, Sylvia, to tell a story of the triumph of adolescent wonder towards the world and the power of nature.
In the beginning of the story, the largest tree is introduced as one which “towered above” all of the other trees since “the woodchoppers . . . were dead and gone long ago.” This tree serves as the perseverance of nature against humankind, which would have torn down the tree long ago. Jewett is likely a Romantic author based on her sincere appreciation of nature as seen through the young girl named Sylvia who “looked willfully at those dark boughs” and saw the large tree with childlike awe and wonder. The comparison between the small girl and the towering tree serves to show the power and strength of nature and its ability to adapt and survive long past when humans whither away. The narrative pace is slow here to allow the reader time to soak up all the imagery and gain the same appreciation seen in Sylvia.
The middle of the story (lines 10-23) serves as a clever case of mirroring diction and imagery. When Sylvia first begins to climb the tree next to the giant pine, she experiences great success. She climbs gracefully “with her bare feet and fingers that pinched and held like a bird’s claws.” In her climbing, she has become one with nature. But as she climbs, she begins to upset the nesting bird and the squirrel in the tree, and we are once again reminded of mankind’s isolation from nature. Suddenly, Sylvia’s path begins to take a turn for the worse, emphasized by the increased narrative pace accomplished by shorter, more precise words and clauses. While her fingers and toes were once like talons, it is now the “sharp, dry thing” that “caught and held her and scratched her with angry talons,” showing with this new usage that this is not where she really belongs. Her fingers are now clumsy and stiff as nature is seemingly fighting back against mankind in athe only way it can by protecting itself with sharp thorns and twigs to prevent itself from being conquered.
While this would have deterred almost certainly any other human being, Sylvia is able to persevere through sheer force of will. Though the tree appears to stretch upward forever, a piece of imagery showing man cannot fully conquer nature, the “determined spark of human spirit allows Sylvia to keep trying. Once the tree sees the strong spirit, the pace slows once again to allow the reader to experience nature’s power to its fullest extent. Though the tree is impossible to control, it allows itself to be climbed due to “The brave beating heart of the solitary child.” nature is conquered, but only on its own terms as Sylvia’s desire to truly become one with nature is apparent. nature is personified through this tree as Sylvia’s love for nature in turn makes the tree “love its new dependent.”
In the closing of the story, the diction and imagery reveal the author’s point of view fully to the reader. Attempting to conquer nature has left Sylvia “pale . . . trembling and tired” but her ability to reach the top with the personified tree’s help, leaves her feeling triumphant. The narrative pace slows once more to allow the reader to immerse him or herself into the vivid imagery used to describe the majesty of nature from “a dawning sun making a gold dazzle” to a truly “vast and awesome world.” Jewett’s diction once again makes it apparent that the child truly wishes to be a part of nature as Sylvia wishes “to go flying away among the clouds” with the rest of the birds. In a way only a child can truly understand, Sylvia has been able to experience and become one with nature, if only for a moment.
It is clear upon examination of the diction, imagery, and narrative pacing of “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett that the author is calling the reader to appreciate nature with childlike awe instead of trying to conquer and control nature like the long dead woodcutters.