Where It All Goes Down
19th-Century New England Countryside
In many ways, the New England countryside is the fourth main character of "A White Heron." This wondrous natural environment is the key to the story since it's the thing that the hunter wants to tame and Sylvia wants to protect.
Sylvia's World
From the outset, we're shown just how connected Sylvia is to the natural world that surrounds her country home. She can walk through the forest "whether [her] eyes could see it or not" (1.1), and she can instantly tell the difference between a bird's whistle and a man's whistle. She is deeply connected to all of the creatures that inhabit these woods, both big and small.
But there's one part of the woods, in particular, that is more magical than the rest: the marshes surrounding the tallest pine tree in the forest. Sylvia has already been warned by her grandmother about the sunshine that "always seemed strangely yellow and hot" and the "soft black mud" that could pull her under to "never be heard of more" (1.23). But none of this prepares her for the reality of the marsh.
Journey to the Center of the Woods
Think of this area as a belly button—the point of connection between nature and the energy that powers it. When Sylvia climbs the tree, magical things start to happen: the trunk starts to "lengthen farther and farther upward" until it transforms into the "great main-mast to the voyaging earth" (2.6). Sylvia, too, is transformed by the experience, her face looking like a "pale star" (2.7). Although this stuff isn't actually happening, it certainly feels that way to Sylvia.
This marsh serves to remind Sylvia that there is something special in these woods. Sure, she's never sure if birds are "better friends than their hunter might have been" (2.14), but she knows that she is where she belongs. Despite all of the human intrusion that the countryside receives, we get the sense that the marsh will outlast it all.