heron, but he places a monetary value on it (138). I think this passage make the hunter appear greedy and selfish. These are two attributes that I can correlate with the industrial world. Nevertheless, Sylvia wonders about the money. She is poor, and she dreams about the treasures $10 will bring her. The next day she travels with hunter to search for the birds; yet, she can't understand why her new friend would kill the very thing he proclaims to love and admire so much. Again, I think the hunter symbolizes the great distance between rural and industrial values. His value system is from a world that is so far removed from having compassion for nature, that he never questions the conflict and irony of his actions. Jewett describes this conflict and states: Sylvia would have liked him vastly better without his gun; she could not understand why he killed the very birds he seemed to likes so much. But as the day waned, Sylvia still watched the young man with loving admiration. She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful; the woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love. (136)Although the hunter is a contradictory figure, Sylvia has the need and desire to be loved by this man and makes the decision to help him pursue the white heron. Yet, if she chooses to help this young hunter win his prize then she will be going along with industrial society's norms for a young lady, and lose her own identity. Later, we realize that in order to locate this bird, she has to climb the tallest tree around, a feat in itself. The climb up the massive tree is decidedly the turning point for Sylvia; she becomes closer to nature and feels its existence all around her. Therefore, we can see that Sylvia is developing a new and stubborn resolve. She seems to welcome this change in her values. She treasures it. Moreover, the encounters between Sylvia and the hunter help us empathize with her fear of the industr...
