“Daddy had jumped the way he did sometimes.”

Marly’s father was a prisoner of war and is still experiencing the effects of the trauma. Although it is not named in the text, he has what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder, which can occur in soldiers who have experienced combat or any individual who has endured trauma. Loud noises, crowds of people, and sudden movements trigger his traumatic memories from his imprisonment. This is the impetus for his family’s move to the rural setting of Maple Hill.

“Hemlocks were like frosted green.”

The author incorporates lush descriptions of the natural world to highlight the thematic significance of nature in Marly’s life. As she gets her first glimpse at the bucolic environment surrounding Maple Hill, its beauty enchants her. In this quotation, the author uses a simile to more vividly describe how the snow drapes on the trees like frosting on a cake.

“It looks like the old witch’s house in Hansel and Gretel.”

In this quotation, the author makes an allusion to the classic fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm about two children who venture into the woods and become lost before finding a house inhabited by a witch who bakes them in an oven.