Previous

The Industrial Revolution, which occurred from the mid eighteenth to the early twentieth century, caused a cultural shift from a society built around farming in the country to one built around factories manufacturing goods in cities. People who remained in rural regions struggled financially as they watched their friends and family members migrate to cities where they presumably found better-paying work. At the time when Jewett wrote, “A White Heron,” many critics felt that the changes that occurred during the Industrial Revolution had a mostly negative effect on society. Industries pulled apart families, prioritized profits over people, and destroyed natural places with pollution and unsafe practices. Early industry was irresponsible with waste and irrevocably damaged many natural places without seeing any punishment, only profits. This injustice motivated many artists and writers to create work in the same spirit as Romanticism, an early literary movement that celebrated nature. Romantic literature focused on the exploration of characters’ inner lives. Their thoughts and emotions were just as important, if not more important than the story’s action. Breathtaking natural places were perfect settings for characters’ great insights, much like Sylvia experiences in the climax of “A White Heron,” when she watches the sun with the heron.

Previous section About Sarah Orne Jewett

Take a Study Break