On Women and Birds: Ecofeminism and Animal Studies in Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron” and Katherine Mansfield’s “The Canary”

Abstract

This paper explores the short stories “A White Heron” (1886) by Sarah Orne Jewett, and “The Canary” (1922) by Katherine Mansfield through the postulates of ecofeminism and animal studies, respectively. In “A White Heron,” it is explored how the female protagonist must solve a predicament for which she has to choose either the financial safety that a man offers, or her own ecological belief system, which is deeply rooted in her identity. In “The Canary,” a lonely woman mourns the death of her canary. It is explored how interspecies relationships work in the case of domestic animals, and it is debated whether these are relationships of dominance/submission or of interdependence. While Mansfield’s text cannot ultimately escape anthropocentrism, as the bird is only conceptualized in relation to the woman, it is nevertheless a thoughtful, sensitive account of the love and admiration that human animals can feel for non-human animals.