"A White Heron"
Symbol White: White is shown in two basic forms in this short story. It is mentioned as the color of the milk from the cow as well as the color of the elusive heron that the hunter is hunting. As a general rule, white is a symbol of purity and innocence. I feel both of these can be directly relating to Sylvia as she completes the chores asked of her and goes about her life in the country. At times she seems to be one with the country. As an inference, I am going to say that the white represents Sylvia's purity of heart shown when she doesn't tell the hunter where the heron nests.
Symbol Hunter: The Hunter is an intrusion on Sylvia's way of life. He causes her to question her morals and think hard. Given this I am going to say that he is a symbol of the settlements and what they represent. When the first settlers came to America they destroyed nature and just took over. This Hunter is much the same. He represents cities and urbanization. He came in and tried to change Sylvia's mindset on the nature she seems to be one with.
"The Yellow Wall-Paper"
Symbol Yellow: The color yellow is given the understood meaning of sickness or weakness. If you take this color and couple it with how the main character insists she is sick throughout the story, one can almost infer that the yellow is also supposed to represent how she is weak. It might even stretch to say that all females are weak, or were treated as such in that time period.
Symbol Wall-Paper: The story revolves around the wall-paper. The entire story, beginning to end, is about the main characters obsession with this paper. The fact it doesn't have a distinct pattern is important. If the wall paper is to represent how she is trapped in the house, then it represents the way all women were treated. Jennie is caught touching the paper in wonder and this can be taken as how she realizes her situation but doesn't know how to change it. Jennie is dumbstruck with how to get out of the stereotyped position she is forced to live in.
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