Journal #24 Sarah Orne Jewett

Shirly Ong
English 48B
28 February, 2008
Journal #24 Sarah Orne Jewett

Quote:
“She had never seen anybody so charming and delightful; the woman’s heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love…the young man going first and Sylvia following, fascinated, a few steps behind, with her gray eyes dark with excitement.”

Summary:
This quote depicts the little girl’s love admiration towards the young man.

Response:
In this quote, Sarah Orne Jewett discloses the nine-year-old girl’s heart. To Sylvia, the young man is the most charming and delightful person she has ever seen. She has developed “love admiration”(526) towards him even though she was only nine years old. Sarah Orne Jewett explains that this is because of the woman’s heart asleep in Sylvia. In other words, Sarah Orne Jewett believes that girls are born with women’s hearts, which hold love towards men. Living in a farm with her Grandma and being accompanied by a female cow, Sylvia was living in a lonely women world. She has an unusual feeling towards the young man, who suddenly entered her life. Sarah Orne Jewett describes this feeling as “a dream of love”. As shown in the quote, Sylvia was fascinated and excited when she was following the young man in the woods silently. Even though she could not understand why he was killing the birds, she thinks he is charming and delightful. Later in the story, Sylvia searched for white herons to please him. These are all evidence of her “love admiration” towards the young man. I think Sarah Orne Jewett has well portrayed Sylvia’s acts of affection and thus proved the existence of a woman’s heart in this girl. I do believe that girls are born with women’s heart and naturally we show admirations towards men in different ways since we are young. This has been proved by many psychological studies too. I found this is one of the most interesting facts in the field of psychology.