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What is the dialogue of "A White Heron"?
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High School Teacher
Direct dialogue exists in the story between the stranger and Sylvia’s grandmother, but also we encounter direct speech from the narrator to the reader,
Bring your gifts and graces and tell your secrets to this lonely country child!
and even to Sylvia herself-
look down again, Sylvia
This range of perspectives has been highlighted by some as confusing, but by others as an effective way of portraying the levels of interpretation of the actions and events of the story. We see the simple language of Mrs Tilley, Sylvia’s grandmother, as evocative of the setting of the story in terms of place and time-
There ain’t a foot o’ ground she don’t know her way over,
And it is such details which make the text an extremely effective and evocative piece of local color writing.
The story is narrated by an omniscient third person, but the story is told by each of the voices: that of Mrs Tilley, the narrator and Nature itself.
Posted by kiwi on March 17, 2012 at 2:46 PM (Answer #1)
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