Autor and Munro, as an outsider himself -- a sickly boy born of Scottish parents in Bu rma, raised by maiden aunts, shuttled

off to boarding school at the age of twelv e when he'd never been away from home before -- undoubtedly felt the brunt of th e Victorian's hatred of the outsider most keenly. That sense of 'otherness' is w onderfully conveyed in this quirky but dark tale. Hector Munro (1870 to 1916) writing under the pen name of Saki is considered a master of the very short story (under 5 pages)and is often mentioned as an Engli sh O Henry. Saki was born in Burma (I prefer the old name) in 1870 where his f ather was serving as inspector general for the Burmese police. Burma was part of the British Empire at that time. At age two Saki is sent back to England to be raised by his grandmother when his mother died as a result of an incident wi th a cow. His father later retired to England and he and Saki appeared to have had an amiable relationship as perhaps indicated by Saki also joining the offic e of the Burmese police inspector at age 23.

FIGURES

One literary device used in the story is symbolism. The open window symbolizes, we think at first, the disappearance of the men and their longed-for return. Another device is called the frame narrative, or story within a story. The frami ng story is Mr. Nuttel's visit to the Sappletons. The story set within that fram e is the sad tale of the missing hunters told to him by the niece. Irony is another literary device that is well used in this story. Mr. Nuttel fee ls sorry for Mrs. Sappleton and thinks she is in denial of her husband's death. However, it is Nuttel who becomes the object of pity at the end of the story whe n he runs away in fear.

Additionally, most of the narrative, the framed story, is in the form of a talltale. That is, it is a fabricated narrative that describes people and events in an exaggerated form. Vera uses the husband of Mrs. Stappleton and her brothers , who are real, but creates a fantastical story around them. She exaggerates th e importance of the open window by making it the passage to a tale of tragic los s. Another literary device employed is connotation. The use of the open window wit h which to frame the tall-tale deludes the listener, Framton Nuttel, into believ ing the story because the openness of the window itself connotes lack of decepti on and candor. Of course, Vera's name also connotes honesty and candor as it is a derivative of the Latin word for truth, veritas. Structure 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 th is narrative frame is the second story, that told by Mrs. Sappleton's...

The Open Window by Hector Hugh Munro, who is better known by the pseudonym Saki, i s an ironic short story. Letters of introduction, formal visits, and polite conv ersation with total strangers are revealed as empty and trite in The Open Window. It is a thematic mockery on the principles of social etiquette. The Open Window by Saki is the short story of Vera, a very self-possessed young l ady of fifteen who, using her vivid imagination, plays a prank on Frampton Nuttel , a man undergoing a nerve cure.