The Cricket in Times Square — Chapter 2

About This Passage

Selden is doing something remarkable here. The first sentence is an imaginary comparison — not 'the sound was like a cricket,' but 'if a leaf had fallen, it might have sounded like that.' This is called a counterfactual simile, and it works by asking the reader to picture an event that did not happen (a leaf falling at midnight in a distant forest) in order to understand an event that did happen (a cricket chirping in a subway station). The comparison is also a kind of time-travel: it moves the reader out of New York and into a green forest, then out of midnight and into a memory of last summer, all in three sentences. By the time we return to the subway station, we know what a cricket sound means, even though the word 'cricket' has not yet been spoken. Copying this teaches a writer how imagination and memory can carry meaning that direct description could not.

Narration Prompt

In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?

Discussion Questions

1. In Chapter 1, we saw that Papa Bellini is described as someone peaceful who 'always tried to head off arguments.' In Chapter 2, Papa lets the whole argument about the cricket happen and then settles it with four quiet words: 'He's yours then.' Is Papa's silence during most of the argument a form of strength or a form of avoidance? What in the scene makes you think so?
2. Mama Bellini says crickets carry germs, that they will whistle to their friends, and that she will end up with a house full of bugs. She is not being cruel — she is protecting her family and her small home. Is the reader supposed to agree with Mama, disagree with her, or hold both at once — understanding her and still hoping Mario gets to keep the cricket? Which of these three responses does the author seem to invite, and how?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide