The two novels, Stuart Little, by E.B. White, (1944), and The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden, (Newberry Honor Award, 1961), are similar in some ways and different in some ways. I think there are three main ways that the texts are similar. The three ways they are similar is that both of the stories have talking animals, they are both based in New York City, and in both, the animals really care about each other. Three differences in Stuart Little and The Cricket in Times Square (CiTS) are that, in one story the animals can talk to humans while in the other one they can’t, New York City is described in one way in Stuart and a grimier way in CITS, and the love and caring is shown powerfully in CiTS and indirectly in Stuart.

Both stories take place in New York City, in Times Square obviously, and in a neighborhood. In Stuart Little, the lead character, Stuart Little, a talking mouse, meets many people and other animals along his travels to find his friend, Margalo, whom he cherishes greatly. In the CiTS, Chester, a talking cricket, finds friendship with a human boy, but longs for his home in Connecticut, while Stuart is a human-mouse, or a mouse-human, and finds love in a bird named Margalo, but she flies away, and he heads to Connecticut to find her. While in the city, both Stuart and Chester both get dirty and smelly – Chester is found in a pile of cigar butts while Stuart experiences being stuck in a trash can and then dumped onto a trash barge.

One of the main differences between the two stories is that the animals in Stuart Little can speak and listen to humans while in CiTS, the animals can hear the humans but cannot communicate with them. This key difference changes how the author is able to relate the characters in the two stories.  Instead of Stuart acting almost as equal to humans in Stuart Little, the animals in CiTS are clearly subordinate to the humans. While Chester’s human friend, Mario, is clearly dear to him, he is also sort of his master in a way. Chester lacks some of the free will that Stuart is able to possess. For instance, Stuart is able to go off on his own wherever and whenever he wants, like sailing a ship in Central Park, but Chester has to stay in the newsstand unless Mario takes him out.

Finally, The Cricket in Times Square is similar to the Orpheus story because Orpheus was able to stop time and animals and humans and make them all listen, and Chester is able to make all the humans and animals listen to him play music with his wings. If you are waiting to hear about the myth that possibly inspired Stuart Little, I may need some help there. What do you think? What myth echoes a loner’s solitary quest for love? A type of person who can operate in two separate worlds, as a human-mouse… or is he a mouse-human? Let me know if you have any ideas.

Lochlan McCarroll responds:

Michael, I read your amazing essay on Stuart Little and you have a good lingering question. The Orpheus myth… you asked us to find a connection with the Orpheus myth in Cricket and this got me thinking about Stuart. While I was not able to find a new mythological character to relate to Stuart, I found another analogue: the myth of Orpheus in The Cricket in Time Square functioned through Chester stopping citizens of New York with his amazing music just like Orpheus did to the trees, animals, etc. This connects to Stuart Little’s quest for Margalo because he stopped stuff too! For instance, Orpheus made everything stop so they could hear his music but in Stuart Little it was the other way around. Stuart Little stopped everything for Margalo in his quest for love. For instance, Stuart Little stopped his sleep: getting out of bed and shooting his cat in the ear to save her. Then, he leaves his home and goes on a daring quest to find Margalo without thinking about how his family might feel about his decision, thus stopping all family relations. Orpheus stopped everything because of his music and Stuart stopped everything for his affection for Margalo.