Analysis of the 5th paragraph: Suddenly this little woods-girl […] A good ways.

This paragraph displays some of Sylvia’s personality and knowledge. It shows us, the reader, that Sylvia, even while being very familiar with the wild (“woods-girl”), can get scared when confronted with a mystery (the whistle). This passage shows her out of her comfort zone and how fearful she is of the unknown. She even abandoned the cow, her only friend, instantly to save her own skin. This also shows how wild Sylvia is and how in-sync she is with nature. When hearing the human whistle, instead of meeting the person, she dove into a random bush to find herself immersed again in her “home”, the wilderness, her comfort zone. This passage shows a lot about Sylvia if we look beneath the surface and analyze it.

By the end, it is hard to say if she is less or more civilized or wild. The hunter is supposed to represent civilization but hunting down nature just so he can augment the number of trophies on his wall can be perceived as a very barbaric act. In fact, I do believe that she is a lot more civilized than the hunter. She respects every living being and life around her. She embraced nature while the hunter attempts to conquer it. Therefore, in my own perception of the story, being wild is being civilized because of how being “civilized” is portrayed in the white heron.  From the very beginning to the very end, she did not change, she just revealed to the readers who she really is once again when choosing not to unveil the heron nest’s location.