While the initial observations of Sylvia’s character come through third person omniscient point of
view, an interesting shift^8 occurs in the third paragraph when the venerable tree becomes aware of his
new tenant. Through the tree’s perception of her, we further understand that Sylvia is “determined,”
“brave,” “solitary,” and of course “triumphant”: all qualities of a hero on a journey.
The pine tree becomes an important character in Sylvia’s adventure. He is like a “great main-mast to
the voyaging earth,” giving the impression that little Sylvia is on the greatest ship of all, sailing into her
imagined world. The tree is first wary of his “visitor,” who he sees as a “determined spark of human
spirit creeping and climbing.” But then he comes to appreciate her. While she is in his lower branches, he
fights her, but as she continues in her journey, he comes to love his new dependent and even helps her
along her way just as a mythical god might have helped humans he cared about; the tree reinforces his
“least twigs,” making them strong enough to hold her and holds “away the winds” so her last vantage
point is steady.
Sylvia’s adventure is in some ways comparable to epics of the past, and the lone pine tree provides the
setting: it is a foreign land to be explored, full of obstacles, much like the lands beyond Ithaca in which
Odysseus found his travails. Jewett’s imagery and diction reinforces this idea. Sylvia begins her journey
early in the morning “in the paling moonlight,” a time when most people are still sleeping. The red
squirrel “scolds” her as an unwelcomed stranger in his world. Jewett describes the treacherous climb up
a tree that is like a “monstrous ladder,” making it seem both tall and menacing. In addition, “sharp, dry
twigs caught her and held her and scratched her like angry talons.”^9 The trees twigs seem to be attacking
Sylvia, like a bird of prey, creating a situation that requires her bravery and perseverance. Weaker spirits
may have given up. Further advancing the idea that Sylvia is in a foreign land, Jewett writes in the third
paragraph of the tree’s usual inhabitants: “hawks, bats, moths, and sweet-voiced thrushes,” creatures that
Sylvia would not generally associate with, but now she is in their territory and she can observe them
closely.
Then Sylvia reaches the top of the pine tree, nestled in his loving branches. She is at the end of her
journey. To see her now from below, she seems like a “pale star,” almost as if she’s part of heaven
instead of earth. Jewett exalts her tiny heroine at last. What Sylvia sees now is truly majestic and a
reward for her courage and determination. The golden sun shines on the sea. The hawks are so close that
she recognizes how slowly their wings move, and she sees their feathers as gray and “soft as moths,”
details she never could have detected while on the ordinary earth.
Sylvia’s reward is a new view of her own world that may make her feel both small and daring. Like all
of us who venture beyond what is familiar and comfortable,^10 she realizes that the world is larger and
more vast than she realized. But she must also know that she is ready for any journey her future brings.