A Comparison and
Contrast Essay
Comparing and contrasting Jewett's Sylvy
in "A White Heron" with May Bartram of James's "The Beast in the
Jungle" proves to be an interesting task.
How can two such unlike characters be so alike. Only on close examination do these common
threads appear.
In the story "A White Heron,"
Sylvy is presented as a young, pre-adolescent girl, living in the country with
her grand mother. They are very isolated
to themselves, living fairly simple and frugal lives. Sylvy has a few mundane responsibilities
which give way to plenty of time
for meandering about, and day dreaming while
setting about her task. One evening,
after much searching for their cow, which proved to be a daily chore, she was
coercing the cow back home when surprised by the presence of a stranger. He was ever so polite and friendly. He was hunting the Great White Heron and had
hoped she or her family might put him up for the evening. In a nice sort of way he was pushy and
insistent. Not used to interacting with
many people, the reader can see it would have been a difficult situation for
her to handle any other way. Rather, it
handled her. The grandmother was most
receptive and hospitable. Over the
course of the short stay, Sylvy realized many things. The hunter offered money in exchange for help
in finding the heron's nest. Not only
was his offer tempting and attractive, but a curiosity awakened in her as he
was most attractive as well. She was
somewhat intrigued and in a fog, taken each moment and each step one at a time,
carefully, slowly. Sylvy seems to come
to her senses in the twelfth hour when she climbs high into the trees early one
morning to see the white heron fly in ever so close. It was as though their was a kinship between
the two, an understanding. Because of
this special feeling for the bird, Sylvy could not succumb to the hunter's
desire for knowledge of the nest and never divulged the secret.
May Bartram in the "Beast in the
Jungle" contrasts Sylvy quite
interestingly she is assumed to be in her twenties and time is starting to pass
faster making the need for a man in her life more immanent with each passing
day. Suddenly one day, the right time,
the right place, John Marcher enters her life forever. Just as the hunter offered bribery of money
in exchange for help in securing the heron, John Marcher offered his presence
in exchange for every ounce of self May Bartram would give. To the reader, this was not so attractive or
tempting but to May, in consideration of the alternative, John Marcher became
an obsession, even a career. Just as
Sylvy would daydream, surely May would dream also, altering her real existence,
feeding on her infatuation. Otherwise,
the relationship, left to John Marcher, would have surely died starving. Do understand where as he contributed next to
nothing as far as contributing to a quality, mutual relationship, he most
definitely was attentive to the relationship so as to nurture and sustain his
own selfish needs. Surely May's only
hope for existence with such a narcissistic person would be in a dream world of
hope, anticipation and the ability to obliterate all the painful
disappointments into non-existence.
Just as Sylvy possessed such admiration
and respect for the heron resulting in her decision to protect and cherish
it, so did May have an understanding of
and great feeling for John Marcher. She
went to great lengths to preserve, promote, and even stimulate their
relationship, always there, always accommodating.
I suggest that the young character Sylvy
won out over May Bartram. The figure of
speech "Wise beyond one's years" comes to mind when I think of
Sylvy. Despite her naiveté, youth,
awakening of unknown feelings, her extra sense caught her and carried her
perhaps saving her from regrets. It
would have been easy to understand how she could have been swayed momentarily
and even justifiable. Poor May had the
years, but no wisdom, no extra sense.
May perhaps had the extraordinary
ability to ignore her extra sense in hopes that endurance, tolerance, and
perseverance would pay off. May accepted
her bribe and lived on the mere crumbs John Marcher would throw her from time
to time without ever experiencing the satisfaction from taking a stand or making
a decision. Her life seemed to ramble on
waiting for her love to came to his senses.
Anticlimactically it rambled on until it rambled out.
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