Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Little Benny's most prized possession is a pink teacup he finds in the dump. Overlooking a giant crack, he waves it in the air and declares that it will be his special cup. Back at the boxcar, as the children wash their almost-new dishes, "never did a little boy hand dishes so carefully to his sisters as Benny did" (5.41).
The Aldens scavenge many things to help make their home in the woods, but Benny's attachment to the pink cup symbolizes how you can find not just utility, but also beauty, in broken things. The cup's crack is so large that Jessie seems skeptical it will even hold liquid—but brand-new pink cups at Benny's grandfather's house "were not so dear to Benny as his old cracked one" (13.51). Sometimes, one man's trash is another little boy's treasure. It all depends on the perspective a person brings to the situation.