Arrietty's Bedroom
Arrietty's father Pod had built her bedroom out of cigar boxes. This gives us an idea of how little the Borrowers are. Arrietty can fit in a cigar box with room to spare as her bedroom. The book says, "Pod had built Arrietty's bedroom out of two cigar boxes, and on the ceiling lovely painted ladies dressed in swirls of chiffon blew long trumpets against a background of blue sky." This is a very descriptive image for us to imagine. The "swirls of chiffon" and "long trumpets" are specific and visual. It also says, "below there were feathery palm trees and small white houses set about a square. It was a glamorous scene, above all by candlelight..." This is also a very colorful description. The ceiling didn't just have a painting of palm trees, but a painting of "feathery palm trees." And there aren't just houses, but "small white houses set about a square." This description gives us a feel for Arrietty's bedroom in a visual way.
Arrietty's first glimpse of the big people's world
Arrietty has always been stuck inside the walls of the big house, in her little house. She and her mom and dad live in the wall together. Arrietty never gets to go out; only her dad goes borrowing. But one day her dad takes her with him to go borrowing. "As she scrambled past the jagged edges of the hole, she had a sudden blinding glimpse of molten gold: it was spring sunshine on the pale stones of the hall floor." This is Arrietty's first look at the big people's house. She, who had always lived underground and never went outside, gets to see this beautiful sunshine. The "molten gold". This is a unique way to describe sunlight. It captures our attention. The next thing she experiences in the big people's house is the big grandfather clock. "The hollow darkness vibrated with sound; it was a safe sound-solid and regular... the pendulum; it gleamed a little in the half light, remote and cautious in its rhythmic swing." This is a grand description of the clock. It has many visual descriptions from the sound of the pendulum to the look of it. The author even describes Arrietty's reaction when she first comes across this clock, "Arrietty felt warm tears behind her eyelids and a sudden swelling pride: so this at last was The Clock! Their clock... after which her family was named." The author, with her imagery gives us and idea of what Arrietty feels and we can feel that with her.
The "Boy's" eye
The first time that Arrietty goes out borrowing with her father, she is seen. She was not only seen but she also interacts with a human. The boy crouched over Arrietty; the book says, "It was an eye. Or it looked like an eye. Clear and bright like the color of the sky. An eye like her own but enormous. A glaring eye." This compares the size of Arrietty and the "boy". With the description we see Arrietty's perspective. The boy's eye is basically as big as Arriety's whole body. It is "clear and bright." It is also the "color of the sky". Without directly telling us that his eye is blue, the author indicates this fact so that we already know. The narration also says, "a glaring eye," because the boy had been looking at Arrietty with curiosity, so to Arrietty the eye looks like it's glaring at her.
The Overmantel Borrowers
Long before, there had been many Borrowers living in the same house. But they all lived in different places. Arrietty and her parents, the Clocks, lived behind the clock. The Ovemantels lived on the mantel. But now only the Clocks are left. The rest of the Borrowers emigrated. However, the Overmantel Borrowers are described in the book as, "tweedy... with wasp waists and piled Edwardian hair-swinging carelessly outwards on the pilasters, lissom and laughing; gazing at themselves in the inset looking-glass." This was the description of the lady Overmantels. We can imagine the ladies from the olden days, around the 1800's. We get a feel for their style and how it contrasts with the Clocks. The men Overmantels are described as, "fair... with long mustaches and nervous, slender hands-smoking and drinking and telling their witty tales." This also gives us the feel for how the Overmantels differ from the Clocks and their styles and tastes.
