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Little Old Lady From Cricket Creek
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Setting
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The story takes place in Southern California at the Great
Riveroak Insurance Company.
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Mabel Jumpstone claims she is from Cricket Creek,
California, which is supposedly up north.
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The story is dated because there are no computers and all
writing is done on manual typewriters
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Characters
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Mabel Jumpstone is a 65-year-old secretary.
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She is described as resembling an old gray mare the first
time we meet her, but she is extremely competent and proves
to be a whiz at typing.

She is hired despite her age and in a short time, becomes the
most popular employee at the insurance company.

Mabel is a stereotypical character because at first, she fits
the stereotype as a ‘typical old lady.’

She is also a round character because we learn she has
several sides to her personality.
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Characters
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Ralph Cummings is an associate at the insurance company.

Ralph is also the narrator of the story and we get an insight
into everything that happens through him.

Ralph has an active part in hiring Mabel Jumpstone and as we
later learn, is in on Mabel’s duplicity.
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Ralph is a round character because he has several sides to
his personality.
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Characters
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Art Bowen is another associate at Great Riveroak Insurance
Company.

Art also has an active part in interviewing and hiring Mabel
Jumpstone, but is not in on her duplicity.

Art is a flat character because he is a minor character and we
know little about him.
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Point of View

The story is told in the first person point of view
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Ralph Cummings is the narrator

Because the story is told through Ralph’s eyes, we as the
readers are only given partial information.

What we find out about the other characters and events in the
story is limited to what Ralph tells us.

This increases the surprise at the end of the story when we
discover that Ralph and Mabel are related.
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Theme
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The story is a humorous account of how easy it is to be deceived
by appearances.
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To begin with, there is the hint of prejudice against hiring such
an old employee whom they are sure will only be able to type
“ten words a minute.”

Mabel proves them wrong after having gained their trust by
playing the part of of the innocent, little old lady, and robs them
blatantly.
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The narrator’s involvement in the scheme is not made clear until
the end of the story
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Nothing is what it appears to be in “Little Old Lady from Cricket
Creek”
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Irony
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Irony is when the outcome of a situation is inconsistent with
what we expect would logically or normally occur. It is the
reverse of what we expect will be or happen.
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Mabel is deliberately described as a typically “harmless”
eccentric old lady.
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She does not fit the stereotype of a hardened bank robber,
which creates a sense of irony of character and adds to the
humour of the story.