“It was like a quick stroke across the strings of a violin, or like a harp that had been plucked suddenly. If a leaf in a green forest far from New York had fallen at midnight through the darkness into a thicket, it might have sounded like that.”

Selden uses imagery to compare Chester’s chirp to human instruments and to illustrate its connection to the natural world. This early attention to sounds in the story helps introduce the theme of The Power of Music.

“There seemed always to be something smiling inside Papa.”

This characterization of Papa highlights his kindness and helps establish him as the family peacemaker; Mario’s parental “good cop.” Papa, with his internal gentleness, chooses to be happy rather than look for the negative.

“Cricketers are good luck—so I suppose ants are better luck. And cockroaches are the best luck of all.”

Mama’s comment about Chester reveals both her dry wit and her critical side. The practical Mama is unimpressed with Chester and doesn’t buy into Mario’s assertion that crickets are good luck. She believes in hard work rather than luck. Ironically, Mama is proven wrong about Chester and comes to value him.