The Open Window by H. H. Munro (Saki)

• Synopsis

The Open Window is about a young boy named Franton who visits a certain Mrs, Sappleton through her niece named Vera. Vera acted as the hostess of her aunt and narrated to Franton a family tragedy, when her uncle and 3 male went on a hunting trip and never came back. Mrs. Sappleton is always waiting through that open window until one day the men came back that scared the hell out of Franton.  Franton Nuttel visited Mrs.Sappleton's village to take rest for a few days to cure his nerve disease. He had brought a letter of introduction from his sister who four years earlier.

•     Questions

1.    What are the moral values that you have learnt from the short story?

Among the lessons that might be taken from "The Open Window" one important one has to do with the repression of women in a patriarchal society. Vera is not merely a mischievous girl but a cruel girl. Being a female, she is confined to the house and cannot go shooting with the three macho males. No doubt she would like more freedom and adventure, as her story about the feral dogs in India suggests. Her story about the three men being sucked into a bog may be a sort of wish-fulfillment. In other words, she might have thought about this misadventure long before Framton Nuttel ever appeared on the scene. Vera might be compared with Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, a woman who becomes cruel because of being forced into a passive domestic role for which she is temperamentally unsuited. Vera takes her anger and frustration out on poor, neurotic Framton Nuttel, another male. Likewise, Vera's Aunt Sappleton represents domestic women of Edwarian England and serves as a foil to Vera, who probably detests her too and sees her future in this brainless woman who is so exclusively devoted to her three men that she can only talk about the one subject that interests them: killing birds.
Vera is described as calm, cool, poised, and self-possessed, but underneath that young and innocent facade there is a very different person brooding, one who is preoccupied with cold and morbid fancies and developing a sadistic, passive-aggressive character.

2.         Who is your favourite character in the short story? Provide reasons for your answer.

The character that be my favourite is Vera, of course, is the storyteller without equal, who is quickly able to seize on details and weave convincing tales to horrific effect.  Note how she dominates the story - it begins with her words and ends with them. We are told in the first sentence that she is "a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen". It is clear that she sees in Framton Nuttel an object for one of her stories, as she is quick to establish that he knows nobody from the area and thus she is free to use her excellent wit and intelligence to create a fable that will shock Framton Nuttel for her own amusement. She shows herself to be an excellent actor as well as a storyteller. She is not only creative, but quick, intelligent and able to fool others into believing her words. This is demonstrated yet again at the end of the tale when, nonchalantly, she creates another tale to explain Framton Nuttel's swift escape from the house to trick her family, telling the tale "calmly" with complete equanimity. Clearly this tale celebrates the power that a good storyteller can have over a susceptible audience, with Vera presented as the master storyteller, and everyone else her ignorant and naive victims.

3.    Provide an alternate ending to the short story.

A Solid Mistake
As the misty apparitions came into view, Mr. Nuttel filled with fear, ran for his life. at the very moment he turned and began to run, the door swung open and hit him square on his pointy nose. It was Vera's little brother. He was very excited, for he had just lean to tie his shoe. Meanwhile Mr. Nuttel had been knocked unconscious. Billy, Vera's little brother, began to cry as he realized what he had done. Quickly, Vera's aunt ran to the medicine cabinet to fetch some sniffing salts. When they relived Mr. Nuttel, he was offered a full weekend stay at the inn for free, but being so shaken from the frightful events, he decided to decline and just ride the bus home. He hoped maybe that would go a little bit smoother.