The Cricket in Times Square — Chapter 6

About This Passage

This passage is one of the book's quietest but most important moments. Chester listens to a very old story about a wise man being turned into a cricket, and the story moves him because it matches something he has 'always thought' about himself. The author uses a careful phrase: Chester 'sort of believed it' — not fully, not skeptically, but in a middle place where you accept a story not because you can prove it but because it feels true to your experience. The line 'there was more to his song than just chirping' is the heart of the passage. It tells us that Chester has been carrying a quiet feeling about his own gift all along, and the old story has just given him a way to name what he had already felt. Copying this passage teaches a writer how a story you hear from someone else can suddenly make sense of something you had never been able to put into words.

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 5, Mr. Smedley refused to give Chester music lessons because he believed Nature herself had already taught the cricket. Now in Chapter 6, Mr. Sai Fong sells Mario a beautiful cricket cage for only fifteen cents and gives him a free bell. Both adults give something to Mario without taking what they could have charged for. What do you think connects these two different acts of generosity?
2. Mr. Sai Fong tells Mario the story of Hsi Shuai, a wise man who was turned into a cricket by the gods. Right after the story, Chester chirps a single clear note inside the shop, and Mr. Sai Fong says 'Cricket has understood.' Is this just a coincidence, or is the author asking us to believe that Chester really did understand the story? How does the author want us to feel about this moment?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide