Notes

Now we are going to read the short story by Hector Hugh Munro, a.k.a. Saki, called the "The Open Window". You know, the first time I ever ran across this author I thought for sure he was from Japan or China. Saki. Turns out I was wrong. He was actually British. He was born in 1870 in Burma, which is way over by China. His dad was apolice inspector there when Burma was still part of the British Empire. He died in 1916, killed by a German sniper during World War I after enlisting at the age of 43. That's a pretty old age to decide you want to be in the service. A tragic and early death.

Now two theories about his pen name Saki. It was a character some say in a book of 12th-century Persian poetry. Some other people say it was actually a name taken from the South American long-tailed monkey called the Saki. Now Saki monkeys are known to hide a vicious streak beneath the gentle exterior, a characteristic that some people think our author had himself.

Fascinating facts about Saki. His mom was killed by a runaway cow when he was very young. Now, there is something you don't hear everyday. As a result, he and his siblings were raised by his grandmother and his aunts in an environment that wasn't exactly free and easy, if you know what I mean. Now this experience gave him some of the attitudes he would later include in his writings.

Little bit about the setting. "The Open Window" was set in England during the Edwardian era. That just means that King Edward was king at that time, a time when the arts, literature, and theater were all the rage but mostly just for the upper classes. That time if you were rich, you were really rich. If you were poor, you were really poor. The two classes didn't mix much. It's kind of like the way things were aboard the ship Titanic. Maybe you read about it or saw a movie about that North Atlantic Sea tragedy. It sank around this time, 1912.

Our story is set in a country where the main character has gone on vacation to undergo a "nerve cure." Now, that might sound a little strange, but keep in mind that back then medicine wasn't what it is today. For example, the same year the story was written a Nobel prize in science was given to the scientist whose work led to the eradication of malaria. Now we don't even hear much about malaria these days. Much less it has been the killer of millions of people in the tropics back in the day. Now when Saki wrote the short story women didn't even have the right to vote or own property. Not until 1920 in the United States, almost 100 years after the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention of 1848.

Now let's take a look at our characters. Mrs. Sappleton, lady of the house; paying a visit to her is Mr. Framton Nuttel and then there is Vera Sappleton, Mrs. Sappelton's niece who lives with her.

A little bit about character analysis. Now this is a somewhat serious sounding term that simply means the consideration of what the author tells and shows us about the people in their stories. So as you read the story you will see that the author uses some very creative ways to make his characters come alive for us. One way to organize your thoughts about the character is with a character wheel such as this. Helps you consider the characters in your thoughts and feelings, speeches, actions, or what he says, what he doesn't say, physical descriptions, reactions of others to the character just like you do everyday with people you know.

Enjoy Saki's descriptions of his characters and the way he uses people to play off one another showing what each is made of. Saki also uses foreshadowing to give us clues about the characters. It's kind of like playing a detective again, finding out what clues they give and what you can come up with as a result of those clues. Now I don't want to give the story away but I can give you one very big hint from my own experience. I remember the very first time I read "The Open Window" by Saki, I wished I would have paid more attention to the way Mrs. Sappleton characterized her niece, the young woman living with her way out in the country.

That's all I have to say about that. So enjoy the first reading on this very entertaining story and I'll see you on the other side.