The Cricket In Times Square

In these final chapters, Selden emphasizes the themes Good Friends: The Greatest Fortune and The Importance of Being True to Oneself as Chester discovers that the price of fame is his happiness. In Chester’s decision to return to Connecticut, he expresses his indelible attachment to home and his desire for the feeling of belonging that one’s true home conveys, reemphasizing the theme Home: Where the Heart Is. Finally, Selden highlights the ability of music to bring connection and joy, revisiting the theme The Power of Music.

Although glad to use his musical ability to help the Bellinis, Chester discovers that the pressures of fame —learning new songs, performing at specific times, and being under a spotlight—all cause Chester emotional stress. His playing, once spontaneous, original, and joyful, no longer makes him happy because of these constrictions. Chester thinks, “Life didn’t seem to have the fun and freedom it had had before” (124). Chester acutely feels a lack of freedom of expression, and freedom in general. Even his admiring crowd feels oppressive to Chester, as he reveals when he tries to find privacy in his matchbox. Chester, self-aware, recognizes that he’s unhappy. The natural changes that signify the coming of autumn remind him, with a sense of longing and loss, of his country home, where he was free and content. Chester realizes that although he enjoys New York and loves Mario and Tucker and Harry—and doesn’t want to hurt them—he needs to be true to himself and return home for his happiness. He can’t be a good friend to others if he isn’t true to himself.

Harry, Tucker, and Mario prove true friends, supporting Chester in his decision even though it brings them sadness. Emotional, outgoing Tucker wants Harry to make Chester stay, but Harry sagely recognizes that Chester is unhappy and opines that “it’s Chester’s life and he should do what he wants” (134). Mario also knows that Chester “isn’t happy any more” (129) and empathizes with the cricket, saying that he’d feel the same way. Chester’s friends show their love for him in their desire for his happiness. Once Chester makes the decision, gets over the hard part of telling his friends, and realizes that they support him, he comments, “Oh—I feel better” (135). Chester’s friends validate his choice, removing any burdens of guilt, worry, or remorse that Chester may have felt.

In turn, Chester shows his love for Mario, Tucker, and Harry. The cricket’s final emotional time and private concert for Mario is an affecting piece of dramatic irony because Chester knows that it’s the last time he’ll see Mario—but Mario doesn’t. Though Chester is excited to return home, his time in New York has helped him grow in self-knowledge, given him lasting friendships, and expanded his horizons. Chester comes to appreciate New York in a different way from his country home, telling Tucker that the subway station “looks almost beautiful” (146). Tucker’s suggestion that he and Harry visit the country next summer shows that the animals’ friendship isn’t lost forever—and Selden wrote several sequels to prove it, reuniting Tucker, Harry, and Chester for the first time in Tucker’s Countryside (1969).

Selden again emphasizes the powerful emotional effect of music and its ability to unite individuals and transcend daily cares. In Chapter 14, Chester becomes a modern Orpheus, reflecting the chapter’s title and referring to Mr. Smedley’s allusion to the Greek legend and his characterization of Chester as a “little black Orpheus” (40). Chester demonstrates the same power as Orpheus, calming and quieting everyone—humans and animal—with his playing. Chester’s music positively affects the mood of everyone who hears it. His song pauses strife and soothes worries. The people listening to his emotive final encore have a restful “change [come] over their faces” (138). The author compares Chester’s music to nature’s quietude, contrasting it with the city’s noise. The commotion of the subway station and the bustle of Times Square above come to a halt and become peaceful, “as still as a meadow at evening” (140), with the people no more than “tall blades of grass” (140). In addition, Chester’s playing illustrates the power of nature: Something as small as the chirp of a cricket can stop huge, industrialized human-made New York City in its tracks. Chester’s gift, like that of Orpheus, is nature-given.