Animals are commodities in “A White Heron”

The author uses characterization to convey the story’s message that humans view animals as collective objects to benefit from them. Animals are seen as commodities who are only valued for their resources and not as an individual. In the exposition, we learn that the cow is Sylvia’s “valuable companion” (Jewett 1) but the narrator later mentions how “the relationship would have been different if the cow had not given plenty of good milk” (Jewett 2). This detail indicates a conditional relationship between Sylvia and the cow. Both of them are interdependent on each other for survival; the cow…