When the narrator spends the day in the upper part of the house, it shows how he is physically and emotionally separate from his companions. The narrator is a boy on the cusp of adolescence, and his development in this story marks his transition from carefree childhood to naive adolescence to realizations about the mundanity of adulthood. When he spends the day waiting in the upper part of the house, he hears his peers playing on the street below him. Earlier in the story, he explains how when they were all young they played in the streets until their bodies "glowed." He also describes how their "shouts echoed in the silent streets."

But now that he is growing up, he is consumed with his interest in Mangan’s sister and feels like he no longer has time for childish play. As he waits upstairs, he says the cries of his companions below were “weakened” and “indistinct.” This is a stark contrast to the loud cries he once made with them, which represents how his childhood is fading away. In a way, it also symbolizes how the narrator feels he is superior to his peers because he thinks he is more interested in adult things. He then leans against the window and stares at where Mangan’s sister lives. This represents how he is now preoccupied with his adolescent woes.