Arsenal- a place where arms are manufactured.

Wainscoting- Decorative paneling covering the lower 3-4 feet of an interior wall. Usually wood in a plain design; may be painted or only varnished.

This book uses a lot of good word choice; which I know I've stated several times before. It uses a lot of good metaphor es and similes. Two examples I found were:

"A single bulb splashed light on the soccer field. Alice couldn't see the stones underfoot, but she could feel them beneath the cork soles of Aunt Esme's sandals. A few paces ahead of her, Faith's pigtails bounced against her shoulders. The platinum stripe in Hope's hair glimmered in the moonlight. A chorus of crickets whistled" (172).

"Beside them was emptiness, nothing but the road moving beneath them and the trees' monstrous outline" (174).

I think this is an example of repetition:

"Alice saw a polished wooden table, an armchair, and a couch. Two rocking chairs sat in front of the window. With their backs turned to Alice, they faced the glass. One chair was large. One chair was small. Beside each of the rocking chairs was a wooden easel, shaped like the letter A. One easel was large. One easel was small" (178).

The author uses repetition in this form to show boldness. The items she is describing sounds like they belonged to an adult and a child. This will obviously have some significance to it.

One theme I've noticed from the book is strength, or strength to be your own person. Alice doesn't seem to have much strength in this way. She basically does whatever others tell her to do.