Winnie recalls an old poem with the line “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” How does this relate to Winnie and each of the Tucks. Which characters are imprisoned in the story, literally and figuratively?
Having a direct connection with nature means that they can never be in a literal or metaphorical prison.
Unlike other stories about children venturing into nature, Winnie does not want to conquer or overcome or even play in nature. Instead, she wants to protect it. Kunza argues that this places the novel firmly within a tradition of ecology-minded fiction.
Moreover, the novel also centers on the importance of natural cycles, with Tuck emphasizing that his family's immortality removes them from the natural cycle of things, and is therefore not a good thing. Additionally, the book is filled with beautiful descriptions of landscapes and scenery, which support the connection between natural cycles and the processes of birth and death (see Imagery section for more details).
