In atleast 150 words, explain the symbolic role that the hunter plays to sylvia in this story

Answer :

In the short story "The White Heron" by Sarah Orne Jewett,  the hunter symbolizes the invasion of civilization and technology. He, in a way, represents the “the great red-faced boy who used to chase and frighten her” in the town. He is symbolic of the town and the townspeople that Sylvia has left behind.

In the beginning of the story, Sylvia perceives him as the enemy when she hears his whistle and is immediately aware that it is not friendly like a bird's whistle but aggressive like a man's. She is quite alarmed when the hunter tries to talk to her and fears how her grandmother is going to react once she takes him home. The lines "Sylvia was more alarmed than before. Would not her grandmother consider her much to blame? But who could have foreseen such an accident as this? It did not seem to be her fault, and she hung her head as if the stem of it were broken, but managed to answer "Sylvy," with much effort when her companion again asked her name. " aptly describe how she feels at this point.

The hunter carries a gun and talks about killing birds and then stuffing and preserving them in order to add them to his huge collection of birds. Sylvia instinctively perceives him as a threat to nature. His mere presence threatened the safety of the birds in their wild habitat.

In the end, Sylvia chooses her love for nature over the lure of money and human companionship and does not reveal the location of the white heron to the hunter.

the first proposition is to question economic materialism and victorian christianity. the lines are:

“it moves us not.—great god! i'd rather be

a pagan suckled in a creed outworn; ”

wordsworth is stating that nature no longer interests mankind, that the latter is not “moved” by it and explains that ancient western paganism had a more positive attitude concerning nature since it lacked the perv erted judaeo-christian interpretation of having received the world and all its animals and elements from god to use as we , instead of humans actually being not only part of nature but its wardens, meant to appreciate it and protect it.

the next lines are:

“so might i, standing on this pleasant lea,

have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

have sight of proteus coming from the sea;

or hear old triton blow his wreathed horn.”

wordsworth here make it very clear that by actually looking and contemplating nature, human beings would reconnect with happiness, serenity and purpose. the use of mythological figures is quite evocative as well, proteus is a greek mythological god of the changing sea. he personifies the sea that changes, which symbolizes the way nature changes and inevitably can change to be destructive not only due to natural causes but to human pollution. furthermore, the sea is even more symbolic since all life originated in the sea so it is not only our past but our future since no life form in our planet can survive without water and if all water is destroyed in earth all life will be gone as well.

he then uses triton which is symbolic of the synthesis of both nature and mankind. triton is a mythological greek god that has the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish (a merman). this human fish duality evokes the fact that humans are not only human but also part of nature, the fish tail representing nature. the main attribute of this god was that he used a conch shell as a horn to calm the roaring seas. in other words, triton uses nature through science for the benefit of human sailors who risk death during tempests. with the use of such metaphor, wordworth is conveying the message that human technology   is supposed to use nature to preserve nature and thereby humanity as well.

caminas makes the most sense here since it means to walk.