The poetic voice, heavily reflecting William Carlos Williams's own autobiographical perspective, serves as an observer of 1920s America. Living in a comfortable suburban environment, he possesses unique insight into various social classes through his work as a medical doctor. He views the rapid consumerism of his era with skepticism. His professional position affords him a safe distance from extreme poverty, yet he recognizes his own entrapment in a culturally fractured environment.

Elsie is a young nursemaid with a mental disability who works for a middle-class doctor's family in the suburbs. She was raised in an orphanage and sent out by the state to perform domestic labor at the age of fifteen. In her attempts to attract the attention of wealthy young men, she adorns herself with cheap jewelry. For the speaker, she acts as a voiceless representative of marginalized classes caught in poverty.