Flower Market
"There were pots of fragile hyacinths and tulips crowded together on planks in front of the stalls. There were pink carnations and oleanders in great tin pails. Most of all there were bouquets of red-beaded holly, clumps of white-pearled mistletoe and little green for trees because it would soon be Christmas"
In this short description of the flower market, the author manages to convey the overwhelming mass of colors and the way in which they were crammed together in different receptacles that also give their own color to the mix. In describing the appearance of the flowers the author also inspires the reader to imagine the heady perfume of the market as well as the colorful visual image.
Armand's House
"He stacked the branches and twigs, and made a pile of the dead leaves he had gathered. He pulled out a dirty canvas and a rusty iron hook. He set a blackened can with a handle near the leaves. He sorted some bent spoons and knives. Last of all, he pulled out an old shoe with a hole in the sole."
The author paints a descriptive picture of Armand's little area of the home under the bridge and the disparate and pretty pitiful collection of belongings he has gathered. The visual image created is one of random items at a yard sale but to Armand they are his treasures and are set out on a way that gives them meaning.
Yule Log
"No sooner had he coaxed them away from the mechanical toy than they came to a bakery shop. There was a Christmas log cake in the window - such a delicious log. It was chocolatey brown with fancy mushrooms popping from its sweet bark. Pink spun-sugar roses grew out of the chocolate too. And such a real-looking ivy vine reined around it, spreading luscious green leaves."
With this very detailed description of the chocolate log, the author appeals not only to the reader's visual sense but also to our sense of smell and taste as well. The cake is as vividly flowery as the vision of the flower market and the inclusion of the spun sugar lets us know what the cake must smell like. The reader's sense of taste is also brought into play with the emphasis on how chocolatey the cake is.
Gypsy Yard
"They could hear a clattering and banging behind the fence as if the workmen were busy at their destruction. But when Armand guided them through an opening, the children's eyes opened wide.
The sandy yard was filled with makeshift tents. Two rattle-trap automobiles were parked among them. Dark-skinned men gathered around a fire were bearing on old pans with hammers.There were black-eyed women with gaudy skirts dragging over the wet sand. Children with half-wild fox faces stared at them. Then five dogs came bounding toward them, snarling and barking."
The author presents the reader with a cacophony of images that are both visual and auditory. The gaudy spectacle of what the children can see seems to magnify the sounds that they are hearing. There is banging and hammering and all sorts of metallic sounds and even the cars are described in terms of the sound they make not by the way that they look. The gaudy skirt drags over the sand which also portrays a sound on top of all of the others. The overwhelming image created is one of wild discord.
Gypsy Tree
"The tree was an unusual gray-green with needles as soft as feathers. Fastened to its graceful branches were little packages tied in red, white and blue papers that looked as if they might have been picked up near the Halle's. On top of the tree hung a copper star, like the patch the gypsies used for mending pots and pans."
The Christmas tree that stands at the front of the gypsy house is a beautiful evergreen, which gives the reader a sense of the way it must smell, and also the unusual coloring of it. The overwhelming image is one of color; the colors of the French flag on the gifts, the gifts a bright pop of color against the needles of the tree, and the orange glow of copper atop it. The tree is also an illustration of the way in which the gypsies incorporate their own history and traditions into the story of Christmas.
