If the “promises” mentioned in the last stanza represent, in a larger sense, the overall responsibilities faced by the speaker, what might the “woods” stand for?

arah orne jewett first published "a white heron" in her 1886 collection, "a white heron and other stories." this short story tells the tale of what happens when sylvia, a 9-year-old girl living deep in the forest with her grandmother, meets a young hunter looking to capture, and kill, the white heron living in sylvia's woods. the climax occurs when sylvia must decide whether to him or protect the bird.

rising action

leading up to the climax of the story, the nameless young hunter befriends sylvia and her grandmother, mrs. tilly. he explains to mrs. tilly that he is bent on "stuffing and preserving" a little white heron that he believes lives near their cottage. mrs. tilly offers up that "[t]here ain't a foot o' ground" that sylvia doesn't know and suggests that she may be able to him find the bird.

climax

after following, but not really , the young hunter on his search for the heron, sylvia slips out of bed alone in the middle of the night to find the heron for herself. perched at the top of a gigantic pine tree, sylvia spots the heron, and its nest, in a dead hemlock tree across the way. the following morning she returns home to find her grandmother and the hunter waiting for her at the door. in the moment when she plans to tell the hunter where to find the heron, she suddenly decides to protect the heron and remain silent; even the promise of much needed money does not sway her.

explanation:

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)

the narrator is a first person, participant one, who describes in the simple past tense important and difficult events in his earlier life. he also provides temporal markers as the month (january) and the time (12: 30 pm). finally the account of his experience is very detailed, to the extent that a participant narrator would talk the same way about his experiences. a good example of such detail is the mention of the “bovril ration” which historically was a native american food adopted by european explorers in arctic and antarctic regions due to its high level of calories.

being surrounded by crimes, poverty, and failing schools as well as his own lack of confidence in his abilities.