diff --git a/make.sh b/make.sh
index 4539154..ec9025b 100644
--- a/make.sh
+++ b/make.sh
@@ -7,5 +7,6 @@ gcc `find src/ -name '*.c'` \
 	submodules/utilitiec/build/lib/libScratchpad.a \
 	submodules/utilitiec/build/lib/libhashmap.a \
 	submodules/utilitiec/build/lib/libsiphash.a \
+	submodules/utilitiec/build/lib/libTracingHeap.a \
 	-Isubmodules/utilitiec/src \
 	-lm -ggdb -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -o bin/flup && echo "build successful"
diff --git a/src/interpreter.c b/src/interpreter.c
index 92f51a2..022bfc5 100644
--- a/src/interpreter.c
+++ b/src/interpreter.c
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ const BuiltinFunction standard_builtin_functions[] = {
 
 int Interpreter_Create(Interpreter* self, DynamicArray* tokens)
 {
+	if (TracingHeap_Create(&self->heap, NULL)) {
+		return EXIT_FAILURE;
+	}
 	if (DynamicArray_Create(&self->call_frames, sizeof(CallFrame), 16, NULL)) {
 		return ENOMEM;
 	}
@@ -300,6 +303,20 @@ int Interpreter_GetParenthesizedRange(Interpreter* self, CallFrame* top_frame, s
 	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }
 
+Object* _Interpreter_MakeObject(Interpreter* self, ObjectType* otype)
+{
+	size_t object_size = Object_AllocationSizeForType(otype);
+	Object* new_object = TracingHeap_Allocate(&self->heap, object_size);
+
+	return new_object;
+}
+
+static int _Interpreter_ConstructString(Interpreter* self, StringView view)
+{
+	Object* string_head = _Interpreter_MakeObject(self, self->native_list_type);
+	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}
+
 int Interpreter_ExecuteNext(Interpreter* self, size_t stop_token)
 {
 	size_t frame_count = DynamicArray_GetLength(&self->call_frames);
@@ -489,6 +506,11 @@ int Interpreter_ExecuteNext(Interpreter* self, size_t stop_token)
 
 		case TOKENTYPE_STRING:
 		{
+			StringView v = StringView_Slice(t->get.identifier, 1, t->get.identifier.length - 1); // drop the "s
+			int construct_code = _Interpreter_ConstructString(self, v);
+			if (construct_code) {
+				return construct_code;
+			}
 		}
 			break;
 
@@ -658,6 +680,7 @@ int Interpreter_Startup(Interpreter* self, CallFrame* root_frame)
 
 	self->implicit_char_type = char_type;
 	self->implicit_base_type = base_type;
+	self->native_list_type   = list_type;
 	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/interpreter.h b/src/interpreter.h
index a204dbf..e86822d 100644
--- a/src/interpreter.h
+++ b/src/interpreter.h
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include "../submodules/utilitiec/src/dynamicarray/dynamicarray.h"
 #include "../submodules/utilitiec/src/Scratchpad/Scratchpad.h"
+#include "../submodules/utilitiec/src/TracingHeap/TracingHeap.h"
 
 #include "tokenizer.h"
 #include "callframe.h"
@@ -20,9 +21,12 @@ struct Interpreter_s {
 	DynamicArray* tokens;
 	DynamicArray call_frames; // stores CallFrame
 
+	TracingHeap heap;
+
 	// global stuff
 	ObjectType* implicit_char_type;
 	ObjectType* implicit_base_type;
+	ObjectType* native_list_type;
 };
 
 int Interpreter_Create(Interpreter* self, DynamicArray* tokens);
diff --git a/src/object-type.c b/src/object-type.c
index cee326d..3abc250 100644
--- a/src/object-type.c
+++ b/src/object-type.c
@@ -43,3 +43,8 @@ int ObjectType_DefinePrimitiveAttribute(ObjectType* self, enum ValueType attribu
 	};
 	return HashMap_Put(&self->attributes, attribute_name.source, attribute_name.length, &attribute);
 }
+
+size_t ObjectType_GetAttributeCount(ObjectType* self)
+{
+	return HashMap_Size(&self->attributes);
+}
diff --git a/src/object-type.h b/src/object-type.h
index a4dcdfc..c9015cf 100644
--- a/src/object-type.h
+++ b/src/object-type.h
@@ -46,4 +46,6 @@ int ObjectType_Create(ObjectType* self, StringView name, ObjectType* supertype,
 int ObjectType_DefineObjectAttribute(ObjectType* self, ObjectType* attribute_type, StringView attribute_name);
 int ObjectType_DefinePrimitiveAttribute(ObjectType* self, enum ValueType attribute_type, StringView attribute_name);
 
+size_t ObjectType_GetAttributeCount(ObjectType* self);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/src/object.c b/src/object.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4dd26fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/object.c
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#include "object.h"
+
+size_t Object_AllocationSizeForType(ObjectType* otype)
+{
+	return sizeof(Object) + sizeof(union ValueContent) * ObjectType_GetAttributeCount(otype);
+}
diff --git a/src/object.h b/src/object.h
index 9c724db..fca9973 100644
--- a/src/object.h
+++ b/src/object.h
@@ -28,4 +28,6 @@ struct Object_s {
 	union ValueContent attributes[];
 };
 
+size_t Object_AllocationSizeForType(ObjectType* otype);
+
 #endif