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Jun 22, 2017 · What happens in ‘The Open Window’, in summary, is this: a man, who has the glorious name of Framton Nuttel, has newly arrived in a ‘rural retreat’, to help him settle his nerves. His sister, worried that he will hide himself away there and ‘mope’, thus making his nerves worse, has given him the names and addresses of all the people ...
- The Open Window
The Open Window - A Summary and Analysis of Saki’s ‘The Open...
- Saki
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Saki, real...
- Short Fiction
Short Fiction - A Summary and Analysis of Saki’s ‘The Open...
- The Lumber-Room
A man, dressed in the hunting costume of some remote period,...
- The Open Window
Vera makes the open window a symbol of Mrs. Sappleton’s (supposed) insanity, as she believes her dead loved ones will walk through it. We would generally expect an open window to symbolize transparency, honesty or freedom. Saki (and Vera) cleverly uses these associations to add to the veracity of the story.
2. SIGNS AND SYMBOLS. One of the ways in which owners, occupants and visitors to buildings sought to ward off evil was by carving protective symbols, as graffiti, into the structure’s fabric. In doing so, they sometimes turned to ancient folk beliefs and pseudo-theology for inspiration.
In “The Open Window,” as in many of his other stories, nature prevails. For example, in Vera’s first fabricated story the hunters drown in a bog. In her second fabrication, several dogs chase Framton Nuttel into an empty grave. Next Section Metaphors and Similes Previous Section The Open Window Summary and Analysis Buy Study Guide
- Plot
- Social Conventions Provide "Cover" For Mischief
- Smooth Storytelling
- The Duped Reader
Framton Nuttel, seeking a "nerve cure" prescribed by his doctor, visits a rural area where he knows no one. His sister provides letters of introduction so he can meet people there. He pays a visit to Mrs. Sappleton. While he waits for her, her 15-year-old niece keeps him company in the parlor. When she realizes Nuttel has never met her aunt and kno...
The niece uses social decorumvery 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 ...
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. Seen through the ghostly lens of tragedy, all o...
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. Like Nuttel, the reader is surprised and chilled when the hunting party shows up. But unlike Nuttel, the reader final...
The Bog Man tells of the summer affair between a final year undergraduate and her archaeology professor, who combine a romantic getaway with a newly discovered bog body in Orkney. When seeing the body the girl suddenly questions the morality of the excavation: 'Surely there should be boundaries set upon the wish to know, on knowledge merely for its own sake' (Atwood 1992, 96).
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117 The Open Window. “My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel,” said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; “in the meantime you must try and put up with me.”. Framton Nuttel endeavoured to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come.
