When Nate Foster boards a Greyhound bus to New York, he notices that everything from the décor to the passengers is gray. He uses the same adjective to describe his hometown. Jankburg is a small town populated by small-minded people. They have no aspirations beyond their own insular world. While Nate fills out his audition form, he’s asked which parts of E.T. he connects with most. His reaction to the question is an indictment of his town:

Oh, Lord, this is like psychology. This is the kind of thing people in Jankburg make fun of, the kind of flamboyant stuff that got the arts funding all but cut from my school in the first place. The only thing children should be connecting to, my dad would say, is each other, in a football uniform. Or connecting to a blasted scholarship (61).

Nate’s use of the word “flamboyant” indicates what he loves most about New York. While Jankburg can only be described in various shades of gray, New York offers a multicolor pageant on every street corner. Although Nate is visiting the city during Halloween, New York is so diverse that every day seems like Halloween. He says:

The rain went away, and every other person was in a Halloween costume.