They were Nature's wards now, he told her, they had crossed into a Realm.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: When the young couple flees their colony, they are entering the unknown. Although they are unfamiliar with the north woods into which they are running at the start of the novel, the forested region offers them hope and possibility. They feel both protected and liberated by the natural world, an experience that the woods' future inhabitants will share.

The house was empty, the ground thick with rotting windfall, and still I felt as if I were trespassing on another's bounty.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: When Charles Osgood moves to the yellow house in the north woods, he is conscious of the land's history. He is respectful of the property's past, because he realizes that other lives have come before him. He has purchased the property, but does not claim it in a domineering or destructive manner. He is in communion...