The Cricket in Times Square — Chapter 3

About This Passage

Chester's first self-introduction. The two sentences of narration that follow his name are doing remarkable character work: Selden gives Chester both a descriptive voice ('high, musical') and then an extraordinary metaphysical gesture — everything Chester says is 'spoken to an unheard melody.' The phrase insists that Chester's speech is musical even when no song is audible, which anchors the book's central commitment: music is not something Chester PRODUCES; music is what Chester IS. The copywork invites students to notice how a skilled author can establish a character's entire identity in one compact sentence, and to meditate on the strangeness of the 'unheard melody' formulation.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 3 with attention to its structural movements — Tucker's reconnaissance, the introductions, Tucker's liverwurst fetching, Chester's Connecticut backstory, the cat's arrival — and evaluate how each movement contributes to the establishment of the book's central friendship. Which moment do you find most decisive for the bond between Tucker and Chester?

Discussion Questions

1. Selden characterizes Chester's voice as 'high, musical,' adding that 'everything he said seemed to be spoken to an unheard melody.' Pair this with Tucker's characterization — 'excitable,' in constant motion, darting and whisking. What argument is Selden making about friendship across different temperaments, and how does the contrast set up the animals' complementary roles in the novel?
2. Tucker brings Chester a piece of liverwurst he had been saving for his own breakfast, breaks it in two, and gives Chester 'the bigger one.' The narrator's gloss is that Tucker 'decided that meeting his first cricket was a special occasion.' What ethical vision of friendship does this small sequence embody, and how does it differ from a transactional or reciprocal view of exchange between friends?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide