Fire
The opening line of the novel asserts that the Herdman siblings set fires and cause trouble. They even set a fire that actually burned down an entire building. It was a conflagration that required “two engines and two police cars and all the volunteer firemen and five dozen doughnuts sent up from the Tasti-Lunch Diner. The doughnuts were supposed to be for the firemen, but by the time they got the fire out the doughnuts were all gone. The Herdmans got them…You could actually see the doughnuts all around Ollie Herdman’s middle.” This imagery is far more effective at conveying the true level of the wickedness of the clan.
Yard
The Herdmans are outsiders. The question is whether this is the result of the community or their own exercise of free will. “Where other people had grass in their front yard, the Herdmans had rocks. And where other people had hydrangea bushes, the Herdmans had poison ivy. There was also a sign in the yard that said BEWARE OF THE CAT.” The imagery here positions the Herdmans as being prickly outsiders. Instead of welcoming visitors to their home with grass and shrubbery, they present a rough exterior that discourages people with rocks and the threat of itchy skin.
Mary and Wise Men
The Christmas pageant has a profound impact on the narrator’s perspective toward what she originally described as the worst kids in the history of the world. “Imogene liked the idea of the Mary in the picture—all pink and white and pure-looking, as if she never washed the dishes or cooked supper or did anything at all except have Jesus on Christmas Eve. But as far as I’m concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman—sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby. And the Wise Men are always going to be Leroy and his brothers, bearing ham.” This is the imagery upon which the novel concludes. It is not going too far to say it is also the whole point of the story. The narrator learns a valuable lesson about judging others too quickly and too harshly. It just isn’t what Jesus would do.
