What is the summary of the story open window?
She utilizes the situation at hand and is quick to whip tales back to back without any hesitation. The Open Window summary tells us about the ability of clever people weaving deceptive stories to be manipulative to others. Moreover, it also shows how tough it can be to determine the truth in a story.
What story does Vera tell Framton about the open window?
When talking to Vera, Framton reveals to her about his lack of social skills. Thus, she starts telling him about the story of the open window. She says it was a great tragedy which took place in her aunt’s life.
What happens at the end of the open window?
The successful ending of “The Open Window” depends on its surprise but also on the reader’s belief, along with Nuttel’s, that Vera is telling the truth. To ensure that Vera’s story will fool Nuttel, Saki makes use of many of the stereotypes and popularly held beliefs of his day.
What is more at debate in the story the open window?
What is more at debate in “The Open Window” is the level of cruelty or maliciousness on the part of Vera in playing the joke. In answering that question, an examination of Vera and Nuttel is necessary, a feat made more difficult, however, by the brevity of the story.
What year is The Open Window set in?
A short story set in an upper-class home in the English countryside sometime between 1880 and 1905; published in 1914. As a prank, an English girl of the upper class fabricates a tale about ghosts and madness in her family for a gentleman visitor suffering from a nervous condition.
What is the atmosphere of The Open Window?
Why? The atmosphere of the story The Open Window is a little spooky because in the beginning Vera tells Framton that her brothers and husband went missing at later, they appear and which the first view of it would be them being ghosts, which leads to the house being haunted.
What is the conflict of The Open Window story?
Conflict: Person vs person – Vera aims to disrupt Nuttel's chance for peace and serenity. Also, person vs self is present, to a lesser extent, in Nuttel's poor attempt to hold on to his fragile mind.
What is the exposition of the story The Open Window?
In The Open Window, the exposition is that Framton is in the countryside visiting an acquaintance of his sister, Mrs. Sappleton.
What is the rising action of open window?
The Rising action is when Framton tells Nuttel about her father and two brothers going out on a hunting trip and never coming back. Its also when she tells him that that Mrs. Sappelton keeps the window open for the men to come through like they always did.
How many years ago did his sister stay in the country?
Solution: The niece has been described as self possessed. How many years ago did his sister stay in the country? Solution: His sister stayed in the country for four years.
Who are the characters in The Open Window?
The main characters in “The Open Window” are Framton Nuttel, Vera Sappleton, and Mrs. Sappleton. Framton Nuttel has moved to the country in the hopes that its relaxing atmosphere will soothe his nerves. He is utterly deceived by Vera's story and flees the house when he believes he has seen ghosts.
Which element of plot introduces the characters setting and major conflict of the story?
The EXPOSITIONThe EXPOSITION introduces the setting (time and place), characters and plot.
What occurs at the climax of The Open Window quizlet?
What occurs in the climax of The Open Window? What occus in the falling action of The Open Window? Nuttel flees, thinking he is seeing the ghosts of the dead men.
What is the theme of the open window?
Though it is a remarkably short piece of fiction, “The Open Window” explores a number of important themes. Mr. Nuttel comes to the country in an attempt to cure his nervous condition. He pays a visit to the home of Mrs. Sappleton in order to introduce himself, and before he gets to meet the matron of tha house, he is intercepted by her niece, who regales him with an artful piece of fiction that, in the end, only makes his nervous condition worse.
Why is the window in the room left open?
While he waits for Mrs. Sappleton to appear, her niece keeps him company and tells him a story about why a window in the room has been left open. He believes her story, that the window remains open in hopes that Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and brother, who the niece says are long dead, will one day return.
What is the initial impression of Framton Nuttel?
When the hunters return, visible through the open window, the reader’s reaction is the same as that of Framton Nuttel; that is, the initial impression is that something eerie and supernatural is afoot. The suspicion of deceit may be present, but it is as yet unverifiable.
What is the name of the story that Saki wrote in 1914?
Saki 1914. “The Open Window” is Saki’s most popular short story. It was first collected in Beasts and Super-Beasts in 1914. Saki’s wit is at the height of its power in this story of a spontaneous practical joke played upon a visiting stranger.
What does the open window symbolize?
When Mrs. Sappleton’s niece tells Mr. Nuttel the story of the lost hunters, the open window comes to symbolize Mrs. Sappleton’s anguish and heartbreak at the loss of her husband and younger brother.
What is Vera's story?
Vera’s story is essentially a tall tale. Tall tales are often found in folklore and legend and describe people or events in an exaggerated manner. Good examples are the story of John Henry and his hammer, and the story of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Vera exaggerates the significance of the open window by making it the centerpiece of a fabricated tale of tragic loss.
How old is Vera in The Lull?
A girl of the same name is the central figure in “The Lull,” a story written ten months after “The Open Window.”. A now sixteen-year-old Vera spins a fantasy of a broken reservoir to keep a politician in need of relaxation from dwelling on politics. But “The Lull” differs greatly from “The Open Window.”.
Why is Vera important in The Open Window?
Vera is also an important character in “The Open Window” because she introduces childhood, a theme common in many of Saki’s stories. Saki frequently portrays childhood as an unfortunate state of children being trapped in a boring, adult world. This perspective stems, in part, from H.H. Munro’s own upbringing.
What is Saki's story about?
Saki’s stories frequently satirize and subvert the order of the Edwardian upper-middle class world of which H.H. Munro was a part. In “The Open Window” he does this by troubling and transforming the “rural” and calm setting of the formal house visit.
Who is Saki in The Open Window?
Saki is the pen name of the British writer Hector Hugh Munro, also known as H. H. Munro (1870-1916). In " The Open Window ," possibly his most famous story, social conventions and proper etiquette provide ...
Why won't the niece get caught in her lies?
The reader understands that the niece won't get caught in her lies because she's clearly mastered a lying lifestyle.
What did the niece of the Sappletons say about the dogs?
She claims that Nuttel told her he was once chased into a cemetery in India and held at bay by a pack of aggressive dogs.
What is the most engaging aspect of the story The Duped Reader?
The Duped Reader. One of the most engaging aspects of this story is that the reader is initially duped, too, just like Nuttel. The reader has no reason to disbelieve the niece's "cover story"—that she's just a demure, polite girl making conversation.
What is the niece's prank?
The niece's prank is impressively underhanded and hurtful. She takes the ordinary events of the day and deftly transforms them into a ghost story. She includes all the details needed to create a sense of realism: the open window, the brown spaniel, the white coat, and even the mud of the supposed bog.
What does the niece say in the meantime?
The niece uses social decorum very much to her favor. First, she presents herself as inconsequential, telling Nuttel that her aunt will be down soon, but " [i]n the meantime, you must put up with me." It's meant to sound like a self-effacing pleasantry, suggesting that she isn't particularly interesting or entertaining. And it provides perfect cover for her mischief.
What is the open window summary?
The Open Window summary tells us about the ability of clever people weaving deceptive stories to be manipulative to others. Moreover, it also shows how tough it can be to determine the truth in a story.
Who wrote Framton's story?
The story is written by Saki. Framton is not a social man so his sister has set up him to know her acquaintances. He arrives at her acquaintance’s house, Mrs Sappleton. Her niece, Vera, greets him. She entertains him till the aunt arrives to greet him. During this encounter, we learn a few things about the Sappletons.
Author Biography
Plot Summary
Characters
- Framton Nuttel’s sister
Framton Nuttel’s sister once spent time in the same town to which Framton has come for relaxation. She has given him a number of letters of introduction with which he is to make himself known to a number of people in the town. Mrs. Sappleton is the recipient of such a letter, and it i… - Mr. Framton Nuttel
Mr. Framton Nuttel suffers from an undisclosed nervous ailment and comes to the country in hope that its atmosphere will be conducive to a cure. He brings a letter of introduction to Mrs. Sappleton in order to make her acquaintance for his stay in her village. While he waits for Mrs. S…
Themes
- Though it is a remarkably short piece of fiction, “The Open Window” explores a number of important themes. Mr. Nuttel comes to the country in an attempt to cure his nervous condition. He pays a visit to the home of Mrs. Sappleton in order to introduce himself, and before he gets to meet the matron of tha house, he is intercepted by her niece, who regales him with an artful piec…
Style
- “The Open Window” is the story of a deception, perpetrated on an unsuspecting, and constitutionally nervous man, by a young lady whose motivations for lying remain unclear.
Historical Context
- Saki does not specify when his story takes place, but it is obvious that the story is set in Edwardian England, the period of time early in the 20th century when King Edward VII ruled England. During this time, England was at the peak of its colonial power and its people enjoyed wealth and confidence because of their nation’s status in the world. T...
Critical Overview
- Saki has been known for decades as a master of the short story form. In his “Introduction” to The Penguin Complete Saki, Noel Coward finds that Saki’s tales “are dated only by the fact that they evoke an atmosphere and describe a society which vanished in the baleful summer of 1914.” Saki may belong to a particular time, and his pen may have been stopped in the trenches of World Wa…
Criticism
- Rena Korb
Rena Korb has a master’s degree in English literature and creative writing and has written for a wide variety of educational publishers. In the following essay, she examines “The Open Window” : as an example of Saki’s wit and skillful social satire. H.H. Munro, writing under the name of Saki, … - What Do I Read Next?
1. For more of Saki’s fiction, consult The Penguin Complete Saki, published by Penguin Books in 1982, originally published by Doubleday in 1976. The volume includes not only Saki’s short fiction but his novels and plays as well. 2. E. M. Forster was a contemporary of Saki’s and, like Saki, is k…
Sources
- Coward, Noel. “Introduction,” The Penguin Complete SakiLondon: Penguin Books, 1982. Reprint of the 1976 edition by Doubleday & Company. Review entitled “Fiction: ‘Beasts and Super-Beasts’,” in The SpectatorVol. 113, no. 4489, July 11, 1914, pp. 60-1.
Further Reading
- Cheikin, Miriam Quen. Review in English Literature in TransitionVol. 21, no. 2, 1978, pp. 121-31. Langguth, A.J. Saki: A Life of Hector Hugh Munro New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981, 366 p. Spears, George James. The Satire of Saki: A Study in the Satiric Art of Hector H. Munro. New York: Exposition Press, 1963.