Summary of The Open Window

Framton Nuttel, suffering from the effects of a nervous breakdown, goes on vacation. He spends part
of it calling on the Sappleton family, acquaintances of his sister. When he arrives, Mrs. Sappleton is
momentarily detained, so he ends up in the parlor with Vera, her 15-year-old niece. Vera makes
small talk with Framton, then tells her of an awful tragedy that befell her aunt — her husband and
brothers were sucked into a bog while out on a snipe hunt three years ago on that very day. All three
died, and no one ever found the bodies. Vera says her aunt has a hard time accepting that they are
dead and keeps the large French windows of the parlor open every day, expecting her husband and
brothers to return from hunting, just as they did three years ago before their death — singing to
tease Mrs. Sappleton, a small dog at their heels, and with Mrs. Sappleton's husband with his coat
slung over his arm. Vera tells this tragic tale with a great deal of feeling, and thoroughly unsettles
Framton, especially when Vera says that sometimes she gets a creepy feeling as if their ghosts are
about to walk through the windows.

Mrs. Sappleton comes in, apologizing for her absence, hoping that Vera has managed to entertain
him. She points out the open windows and asks him to please not mind them, for her husband and
brothers will return shortly from a snipe hunt, and she keeps the French door windows open since
they always come in that way, tracking mud all over the carpet. This completely freaks out Framton,
as does the way Mrs. Sappleton keeps looking out the window, and he wishes he had not come to
visit on the anniversary of the accident.

They make small talk, and Framton is not particularly at ease — until Mrs. Sappleton brightens, and
calls out the windows to her husband and brothers. Framton looks at Vera in pity for her aunt and
finds Vera staring in horror out the window. He turns and sees three men, one with a coat over his
arm, and a dog, coming over the lawn and up through the window. Upon seeing what he believes to
be ghosts, Framton grabs his things and sprints out, not looking back. When he enters, Mrs.
Sappleton's very alive husband asks who that was who ran out of the house in such a hurry, and Vera
tells him that Framton had told her he was terribly afraid of dogs after being trapped in an open
grave by a pack of vicious dogs. Saki concludes the story by telling the reader that Vera has a talent
for making up stories on short notice.

Central Idea of The Open Window

The central idea of The Open Window is in the use of dramatic irony. For most of the story, we
believe what Framton believes, despite a masculine presence in the decoration of the parlor
contradicting Vera's story. But once Framton darts out in shock, we know what he does not, and may
never — Vera was lying to him. At that moment, we also know more than Mr. and Mrs. Sappleton,
for Framton did not run because he was afraid of dogs; he left because he suddenly saw a sad
gesture by a lonely widow transform into a portal to the undead.

The door symbolizes the line between truth and fiction, and while Framton (and the reader) are in
the parlor they don't know the difference. But once the husband and brothers cross that line, the
ruse is up and the lie is obvious. By playing with the trust that readers have in characters, Saki
comically disorients the reader, making the reader laugh at their own mistake, and inviting them in
on the joke that Vera plays on the Sappletons.