The natural world in general has a large presence in the novel, but trees are particularly significant. In fact, two of the novel’s main characters have names that reference them: Salamanca “Tree” Hiddle, and Chanhassen Pickford Hiddle, whose first name means maple sugar. Appropriately, both Sal and her mother have an affinity for nature, and for trees in particular; Sugar embraces and kisses a maple tree, and Sal prays to trees, noting, “This was easier than praying directly to God. There was nearly always a tree nearby” (7). When asked to draw her soul, Sal even sketches a maple leaf.

In this sense, trees—and maple trees in particular—represent the bond that exists between Sal and her mother, which is so strong that at times the two seem to share an identity: In one postcard, for instance, Sugar refers to her daughter as her “left arm” (139). Although the plot of the novel in many ways revolves around Sal learning to exist as her own individual, the maple tree imagery that links mother and daughter highlights the fact that they share (and always will share) certain aspects of their identity. One obvious example is their shared Native American ancestry, which Sal suggests is in and of itself tied to their shared spiritual relationship to nature: “My mother and I liked this Indian-ness in our background.