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Short story
Is a work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting—usually between 20
minutes to an hour. There is no maximum length, but the average short story is 1,000
to 7,500 words, with some outliers reaching 10,000 or 15,000 words
A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single
sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the
intent of evoking a single effect or mood.
The elements of short story: character, setting, conflict, plot and theme

Setting:
The time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting. For
some stories the setting is very important, while for others it is not. There are several
aspects of a story's setting to consider when examining how setting contributes to a
story (some, or all, may be present in a story):
-Place: geographical location. Where is the action of the story taking place?
-Time: When is the story taking place? (historical period, time of day, year,
etc………
-Weather conditions: Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc………
-Social conditions: What is the daily life of the character's like? Does the
story contain local colour (writing that focuses on the
speech, dress, mannerisms, customs, etc. of a particular
place)?
- Mood or atmosphere: What feeling is created at the beginning of the
story? Is it bright and cheerful or dark and frightening?
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- CHARACTER
There are two meanings for the word character:
- The person in a work of fiction.
- The characteristics of a person.
1. Persons in a work of fiction Antagonist and Protagonist
Short stories use few characters. One character is clearly central to the story
with all major events having some importance to this character he/she is the
PROTAGONIST. The person (or force) that opposes the main character is called
the ANTAGONIST.

2. The Characteristics of a Person

In order for a story to seem real to the reader its characters must seem real.
Characterization is the information the author gives the reader about the characters
themselves. The author may reveal a character in several ways:
- Through direct statements by the author/narrator (Direct Characterization)
His/her physical appearance
What he/she says, thinks, feels and dreams
What he/she does or does not do
What others say about him/her and how others react to him/her
Characters are convincing if they are: consistent, motivated, and lifelike
(resemble real people)
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Types of Characters
Rounded Characters: many-sided and complex personalities that you would expect
of actual human beings.
Flat Characters: personalities that are presented only briefly and not in depth.
Dynamic: many-sided personalities that change, for better or worse, by the end of the
story.
Static - These characters are often stereotypes, have one or two characteristics that
never change that are emphasized e.g. brilliant detective, drunk, scrooge,
cruel stepmother, etc.

- PLOT
The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his or her basic idea. It is
the sequence of events in a story or play. The plot is a planned, logical series of
events having a beginning, middle, and end. The short story usually has one plot so
it can be read in one sitting. There are five essential parts of plot:

Plot Structure
Most stories follow a similar plot structure that includes the following elements.
Introduction
- Establishes setting and atmosphere
- Introduces important characters
Initiating Incident
 This is the first incident that will generate much of the conflict in the story
 It does not have to be a large or obviously important event, but its effects will
help shape the rest of the story
 This incident marks the beginning of a rise in conflict and action
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Rising Action
 After the initiating incident, a series of other events propels the story
and conflict builds
 The rising action is marked by this series of events and conflict
 Rising action keeps the audience interested and moves the story
towards the climax
Climax
 The climax occurs when the action is at its highest point
 This is the most exciting part of the story

Dénouement(conclusion) :
 The Dénouement comes immediately after the climax
 It is the brief period during which outstanding conflicts are resolved and loose
ends are tied
 The Dénouement answers questions that may remain after the climax

CONFLICT
Conflict is essential to plot. Without conflict there is no plot. It is the opposition
of forces which ties one incident to another and makes the plot move. Conflict is not
merely limited to open arguments, rather it is any form of opposition that faces the
main character. Within a short story there may be only one central struggle, or there
may be one dominant struggle with many minor ones.
The conflict refers to the fight or the struggle between the various characters or forces
in the story. It is actually what gives fuel to the story and influences its plot. Without
the conflict, there will be no story. Usually, the conflict starts in any short story with
the raising action reaching the climax and it ends in a certain result (resolution).
Conflicts are either internal or external, the basic types of conflict in fiction
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have been commonly codified as "man against man", "man against society", "man
against nature", and "man against self." In each case, "man" is universal and refers to
women as well.

RESOLUTION: The resolution is the end of the story. It focuses on how the conflict is
ultimately resolved.

 Are the closing sentences significant? How does the end relate or connect to the
opening?

- The theme :

This element refers to the topic that the writer writes or comments on in his or her writing. he short
story may have more than one theme but there is one to be the main.

The theme is built on a topic, such as death, hope, the American dream, etc. and how the topic
affects the human condition, society, or life. As a reader, focus on what the story is revealing about
the topic. The theme should be expressed as a statement, a general observation about human nature.

Narrative point of view:

a) Internal Narration (First-person Narration): In this type of narration the
narrator uses "I" to refer to himself/herself. The narrator here is a character in
the story but not necessarily the protagonist. This narrative point of view allows
for a very personal touch in the story telling.

b) Limited Narration (the 3rd person point of view): the narrator is not a
character in the story but looks at things only through the eyes of a single
character. In this type of narration the writer uses names or he, she, they...

7- Tone: Tone refers to the author's mood and manner of expression in a

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literary work. The tone can be serious, humorous, satirical, sympathetic, ironic
and so on. For the one who wants to look for tone, he (or she) must read with
ears as well as eyes.
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The Open Window

Hector Hugh Munro (SAKI) Biography :
Saki, whose real name was Hector Hugh Munro, was born at the height of
English Imperialism in Akyab, Burma, on December 18, 1870, to British parents,
Charles Augustus and Mary Frances Munro. His father was a colonel in the British
military. Following the death of his mother, he was sent back to Devon, England,
where he lived with his grandmother and aunts. In 1887, his father returned to
England after retiring and subsequently traveled throughout Europe with his
children. Saki returned briefly to Burma in 1893 as a police functionary but returned
to England due to his poor health. He turned to writing and became a foreign
correspondent, traveling in Eastern Europe and France, from 1902 to 1909, writing
for The Morning Post. With illustrator Francis Carruthers Gould, Saki collaborated
on a successful series of political cartoons. His unusual pseudonym comes from the
name of a character in Edward Fitzgerald's translation of The Rubaiyat, a long poem
by twelfth-century Persian writer Omar Khayyam. Saki is most widely known as a
satirist of the English ruling classes, and his best known short story is "The Open
Window." He is also famous for the character Reginald, who appears in a number
of his short stories. However, though he is primarily known for his short fiction,
including the volumes Reginald (1904), Reginald in Russia (1910) and Beasts and
Super-Beasts (1914), he was also a novelist and playwright and the author of two
works of nonfiction, including the historical The Rise of the Russian Empire. When
World War I began, Saki joined the British military as an enlisted man, though due
to his high social rank and education, he could have enlisted as an officer or worked
for military intelligence. Indeed, he refused several offers of commission. He died
in action in France on November 14, 1916 (Wilson, 197: 171).
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The Open Window (Text)

"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. Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a
succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which
he was supposed to be undergoing.

"I know how it will be," his sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to
this rural retreat; "you will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul,
and your nerves will be worse than ever from moping.I shall just give you letters of
introduction to all the people I know there.
Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice."

Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he was presenting
one of the letters of introduction came into the nice division.

"Do you know many of the people round here?" asked the niece, when she
judged that they had had sufficient silent communion.

"Hardly a soul," said Framton. "My sister was staying here, at the
rectory, you know, some four years ago, and she gave me letters of
introduction to some of the people here."

He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret.

"Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?" pursued the self-
possessed young lady.
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"Only her name and address," admitted the caller. He was wondering whether
Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An undefinable something
about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.

"Her great tragedy happened just three years ago," said the child; "that would be
since your sister's time."

"Her tragedy?" asked Framton; somehow in this restful country spot tragedies
seemed out of place.

"You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October
afternoon," said the niece, indicating a large French window that opened on to a
lawn.

"It is quite warm for the time of the year," said Framton; "but has that window
got anything to do with the tragedy?"

"Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her husband and her two
young brothers went off for their day's shooting. They never came back. In
crossing the moor to their favourite snipe-shooting ground they were all three
engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It had been that dreadful wet summer, you
know, and places that were safe in other years gave way suddenly without
warning. Their bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it."
Here the child's voice lost its self- possessed note and became falteringly human.
"Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little
brown spaniel that was lostwith them, and walk in at that window just as they used
to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor
dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white
waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing 'Bertie,
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why do you bound?' as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her
nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quiet evenings like this, I almost get a
creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that window - "

She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt
bustled into the room with a whirl of apologies for being late in making her
appearance.

"I hope Vera has been amusing you?" she said.

"She has been very interesting," said Framton.
"I hope you don't mind the open window," said Mrs. Sappleton briskly; "my
husband and brothers will be home directly from shooting, and they always come
in this way. They've been out for snipe in the marshes today, so they'll make a fine
mess over my poor carpets. So like you menfolk, isn'tit?"

She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the
prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a
desperate but only partially successful effort to turn the talk on to a less ghastly
topic, he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her
attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and
the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have
paid his visit on this tragic anniversary.

"The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental

excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise,"
announced Framton, who laboured under the tolerably widespread delusion that total
strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one's ailments
and infirmities, their cause and cure. "On the matter of diet they are not so much in
agreement," he continued.
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"No?" said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last
moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attention - but not to what
Framton was saying.

"Here they are at last!" she cried. "Just in time for tea, and don't theylook as if
they were muddy up to the eyes!"

Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to
convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open
window with a dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton
swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction.

In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards
the window, they all carried guns under their arms, and one of them was
additionally burdened with a white coat hung over his shoulders. A tired brown
spaniel kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they neared the house, and then a
hoarse young voice chanted out of the dusk: "I said, Bertie, why do you bound?"

Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall door, the gravel drive,
and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist
coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid imminent collision.

"Here we are, my dear," said the bearer of the white mackintosh, coming in through
the window, "fairly muddy, but most of it's dry. Who was that who bolted out as we
came up?"

"A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel," said Mrs. Sappleton; "could only
talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of goodbye or apology
when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost."
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"I expect it was the spaniel," said the niece calmly; "he told me he had a horror
of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the
Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave
with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to
make anyone lose their nerve."
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The Plot:
"The Open Window" by Saki is a short story about a dual-layered practical joke a
young woman (Vera) plays on an unsuspecting visitor. The plot points can be
broken up according to the plot triangle as follows:
Exposition: The meeting between Vera and Nuttel before telling the story of the
aunt‟s tragedy. Vera is introduced and evaluated. Nuttel is introduced in behavioral
and psychological terms .
Complications: Vera explains the tragedy, and tells Framton that they keep the
window open in memory of Mr. Sappleton. After talking with Vera for a while,
Nuttel is introduced to Mrs. Sappleton. Mrs. Sappleton talks on about her husband
and brothers, who Vera has just explained are dead. Framton believes Mrs.
Sappleton is insane, and tries to avoidthe subject of the husband.
Climax: As the sun begins setting, three figures walk across the lawn and can be
seen from the window.
Resolution: Framton, frightened upon realizing the figures are the ghosts of the
Sappletons, grabs his things and leaves the house to escape the assumed ghosts.
Conclusion: The family thinks Framton is crazy because he ran away, and it is
revealed that the Sappleton "ghosts" are just figments of Vera's "romance at short
notice" (skill at telling stories).

2. Characters
A. 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 is this that
brings Nuttel to her home.
B. Mr. Framton Nuttel: Mr. Framton Nuttel suffers from an undisclosed nervous
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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. 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. Later, when Nuttel looks out the window and sees figures
approaching who match the descriptions of the long-dead hunters in the niece's
story, he suffers a mental breakdown and flees the house.

C. Ronnie: Ronnie is Mrs. Sappleton's younger brother, who, with Mr. Sappleton,
has been away on a hunting expedition.

D. Mr. Sappleton: Mr. Sappleton is Mrs. Sappleton's husband. He has been away
during most of the story on a hunting expedition with Mrs. Sappleton's younger
brother, Ronnie.

E. Mrs. Sappleton: Readers are first led to believe that Mrs. Sappleton is a widow,
keeping vigil for her departed husband and brother, who have disappeared during a
hunting trip. She lives with her young niece.

F. Vera: Vera is the niece of Mrs. Sappleton, the woman to whom Framton Nuttel
plans to give a letter of introduction. She is a teller of tales; a young woman whose
forte is "romance at short notice." She is an exquisite and intuitive actress, equally
skilled at deceit and its concealment. While Nuttel waits with her for Mrs.
Sappleton to appear, Vera relates an elaborate story surrounding a window in the
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room that has been left open. It is this story, of the death of some relatives who
went hunting long ago, that eventually causes Framton Nuttel's breakdown. She
tells Nuttel that the window is left open as a sign of her aunt's hope that the dead
hunters will one day come home and provides a detailed description of the men,
their behavior and attire. After Nuttel flees upon seeing these men return, just as
Vera has described them, Vera invents a story explaining his departure as well. Saki
refers to Vera as "self-possessed," which literally means that she has self-control
and poise. In the context of this story, it is clear that this is the quality that allows
her to lie so well—Vera's self-possession allows her to maintain a cool head and
calm believability while relating the most outlandish of tales.

THEMES
Appearance and Reality: Vera, the fifteen years old, appears to be a very sweet girl
while in fact she is very playful since she makes up stories so well, that even her own
aunt falls for them. The reader also believes Vera to an extent. The window is real
whereas Vera's story is imaginative through which Nuttel expected to see three
ghosts coming through the window, so when he saw the men coming towards the
house, he fled.
Deception: Vera deceives Framton Nuttel with her story of her aunt's brothers being
lost in the marsh and never returning. She also deceives her aunt by giving a reason
as to why Nuttel rushed out of the house after seeing the three men telling her aunt
that he fears dogs.
Sanity and Insanity: This short story measures the sanity and insanity of all the
characters. Framton Nuttel is insane to believe Vera without being more observant.
He thinks that Mrs. Sappleton is insane but he is insane for real.
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3. Point of View

"The open Window" is a third-person narrative, meaning that its action is

presented by a narrator who is not himself involved in the story. This allows a
narrator to portray events from a variety of points of view, conveying what all of
the characters are doing and what they are feeling or thinking. For most of the
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story, until he runs from the house, the reader shares Mr. Nuttel's point of view.
Like Mr. Nuttel, the reader is at the mercy of Vera's story. The reader remains,
however, after Mr. Nuttel has fled and thus learns that Vera's story was nothing but
a tall tale. The narrator also provides evaluation of the characters‟ interactions.

4. The Narrator’s style of presenting Vera

Saki presents Vera as self-possessed young lady. By emphasizing her manners

and her young age, Saki encourages the reader to view Vera as credible and
innocent. Then Saki refers to Vera as 'child', emphasizing her supposed
trustworthiness and goodness. When her voice becomes 'falteringly human', readers
may suspect that her story is not entirely true. However, the shift might instead
make the tale more believable, showing that Vera cannot help but be overcome by
the deeply unfortunate truth about her family. Thus, Saki presents a credible, young,
and seemingly innocent child only to reveal her as a deceptive trickster at the story's
end.

5. The narrator and Vera deceive the reader and Nuttel

Saki introduces her only as “a self-possessed young lady.” By emphasizing her

manners and her young age (as well as her gender), Saki encourages the reader to
view Vera as credible and innocent. When her voice becomes “falteringly human,”
readers may suspect that her story is not entirely true. However, the shift might
instead make the tale more believable, showing that Vera cannot help but be
overcome by the deeply unfortunate truth about her family. The description of the
party returning from their hunt recalls the supernatural motif that appears
throughout the story. Not yet sure whether Framton is seeing ghosts, readers
receive no clues from this description. Saki‟s word choice conveys a sense of gloom
and horror and thus resists confirming whether Framton is seeing ghosts or living
people. The men are not described as such but rather are presented as “figures” in
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“deepening twilight,” leaving readers wondering whether Mrs. Sappleton really is
as delusional as Framton thinks.

6. Vera’s Motivation to lie

Vera possesses a strong desire to escape. Vera seeks escape from the adult
world she inhabits through her imagination and storytelling. Like many of Saki‟s
children, Vera is under the watch of the aunt, an imposing figure from whom she
desires escape (and achieves it through imaginative storytelling and trickery). The
window is a representation of this desire to escape. It is a symbolic window to a
different world through which Vera can travel into an alternate reality entirely of
her own making. In this way, Vera‟s tall tales are a means of escapism from life in
the boring, adult world.

7. The structure of the "Open Window".

The most remarkable of Saki's devices in ' The Open Window" is his construction
of the story's narrative. The structure of the story is actually that of a story-within-
a-story. The larger "frame" narrative is that of Mr. Nuttel's arrival at Mrs.
Sappleton's house for the purpose of introducing himself to her. Within this
narrative frame is the second story, that told by Mrs. Sappleton's niece. The story
thus has a tripartite structure. The first part begins with the meeting between Vera
and Framton. The second part starts with the entrance of the aunt and the dialogue
with her guest. The third part comprises the return of the hunting party and how the
visitor flees. The narrator employs flashback to divide these three parts, interrupting
the present with a story-within-story inspired by the girl's imagined past. The end is
surprising when the reader discovers that Vera is a liar.
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8. Saki's satire in "The Open Window".
Saki's stories frequently satirize and subvert the order of the Edwardian upper-
middle class world of which Saki was a part. In this story, he does so by troubling
and transforming the rural and calm setting of the formal house visit. Vera's story
imbues the otherwise mannered and bourgeois scene with a grim tale of death and
delusion. The supernatural theme invades and transforms the otherwise calm
Edwardian sitting room. As the men approach the house, they are described in
horror-inducing language; they are three figures that appear in the deepening
twilight and noiselessly approach the house like phantoms.
9. The Symbols in the Open Window
Adult characters are frequently satirized in Saki‟s stories. In naming his adult
characters in “The Open Window,” Saki highlights their fragility: The „Nut‟ in
„Nuttel‟ implies that he is “nutty” or mentally unstable; the „Sap‟ in „Sappleton‟
connotes foolishness and gullibility. The only child in the story, Vera, exploits
their adult fragility for her entertainment and fools both of them through her
youthful imagination. The window is at once a symbol of the aunt‟s hope that her
husband and brothers will return and a symbol of Vera‟s expansive imagination.
Vera uses the window as a means to escape the boring, adult world and re-imagine
a more fantastical reality. The window comes to symbolize Mrs. Sappleton's
anguish and heartbreak at the loss of her husband and brothers. Later when the
truth is revealed, the window symbolizes the very deceit itself.

10. Irony in "The Open Window".

1. Verbal Irony

A. Vera‟s name is a play on the word 'veracity', meaning 'truth'. Ironically, she is the
trickster of the story, always spinning a new tale to her audience.
B. She has been very interesting" Mr. Nuttel says. In fact, he means that he learnt
something interesting about her, about her supposed madness.

2. Situational Irony
A. (against our expectation): in Saki‟s time girls were frequently portrayed as
trustworthy and honest people. It is thus ironic that he chooses a female character to
play the role of trickster and storyteller in “The Open Window.”
B. (Against his expectation): Framton retreats to the countryside in order to recover
from a bout of nerves. Ironically, the countryside only adds to his anxiety and
Framton is thrown into another nervous fit when he believes he has seen ghosts.
c. The whole story is built on situational irony. The reader, like Mr Nuttel believes in
Vera's story till the end; the reader is misled, deceived. He/she doesn't know what
has actually happened until the end. The situation becomes ironical in retrospect
when the reader actually understood what has really happened.
D. " I hope Vera has been amusing you" (in fact Mr Nuttel is not amused)
E. " The doctors agree in ordering complete rest, an absence of mental excitement,
and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise". In fact the
reverse is going to take place.

3. Dramatic Irony
A. "One would think he had seen a ghost". The ghosts were real people. Moreover
Mrs. Sappleton was not aware at all of what was really happening.

11.Themes in 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 the 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.
A. Appearances and Reality
It is no surprise that Mrs. Sappleton's niece tells a story that is easy to believe.
She begins with an object in plain view, an open window, and proceeds from there.
The window is obviously open, but for the reasons for its being open the reader is
completely at the mercy of Mrs. Sappleton's niece, at least while she tells her story.
The open window becomes a symbol within this story-within-a-story, and its
appearance becomes its reality. When Mr. Nuttel (and the reader) are presented
with a contrary reality at the end of the story, the result is a tension between
appearance and reality that needs to be resolved: Which is real? Can they both be
real?
B. Deception
Were it not for deception, this story could not happen. The action and irony of
the story revolve around the apparent deception that Mrs. Sappleton's niece
practices. It remains to be seen, however, whether this deception is a harmless
prank or the result of a sinister disposition. If the niece's deception is cruel, then the
reader must question the motives behind the deception practiced by all tellers of
stories, including Saki himself.

C. Sanity and Insanity

'The Open Window'' shows just how fine the line can be between sanity and
insanity. Mr. Nuttel's susceptibility to deceit is no different from that of the reader
of the story. Yet Mr. Nuttel is insane, and the reader, presumably, is not. In order to
maintain this distinction, Saki forces his reader to consider the nature of insanity and
its causes.
1. What was your reaction to Vera and Nuttel?
2. Why does Nuttel visit Mrs. Sappleton?
3. What do you think Vera notices as they sit in silence and wait for Mrs. Sappleton?
4. What does Vera ask Nuttel to break the silence?
5. Do you think she asks this question because she is curious or do you think she has
another motive? Explain.
6. What is Vera's reaction to the appearance of the three men returning from the
moor? How do you think this contributed to Nuttel's reaction?
7. In analyzing Vera's behaviour, what might you conclude about her motives?