The Chalk Box Kid

“His tablet and paints and brushes were on the table, but he didn’t feel like painting.”

Gregory’s love for art is one of the first details of characterization the story offers. The polysyndeton—or use of repeated conjunctions—of the phrase “tablet and paints and brushes” creates the effect of things piling up, indicating how many art supplies he habitually travels with. The fact that he is too agitated to paint at the moment indicates how miserable he is about the lack of celebration for his birthday.

“The house was small and it needed paint. It looked as if it had grown out of the sidewalk. There was no yard at all.”

The imagery used to describe Gregory’s new house conveys how disappointing it is: It is not an attractive or well-kept home, and it does not have a yard for Gregory to play. The personification of the house as something growing out of the sidewalk not only reinforces how little space there is around the house—it also portrays the house as utilitarian, cold, and drab.

“He looked at the floor and the walls and the ceiling. He looked into every corner. This was what he had always wanted—a room of his own.”

Polysyndeton—or repeated use of conjunctions—in the phrase “the floor and the walls and the ceiling” emphasizes that each aspect of the room is important to Gregory. This is reinforced by the detail of him looking in “every corner,” as well: Even ordinary details are significant to Gregory, because he has never had a room of his own.