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Sylvia is a nine-year-old girl with an extraordinary love for nature. While Sylvia feels out of place in the manufacturing town where she grows up with her parents and many siblings, she feels right at home in the countryside around her grandmother’s farm. She is completely at ease in this environment and spends most of her time observing animals, climbing trees, and generally enjoying the solitude of nature. The name Sylvia literally means “spirit of the woods” and the character represents just that. When Sylvia wanders the woods, she imagines what the animals are saying, and she feels at home blending into their routine. She usually walks the forest in bare feet, and she has such an intimate connection with birds it is implied that she can communicate with them. Her interaction with the heron is described in spiritual terms that show just how much she reveres the natural world. The hunter’s appearance in the woods is a challenge to Sylvia’s contentment with her life in nature because he represents the human companionship she foregoes but still desires. Sylvia struggles with the moral quandary of whether to choose companionship over preserving nature. Ultimately, she decides to protect the heron, but she still feels lingering regret over what could have been.

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