Getting started
At the end of part 1, the niece breaks off "with a little shudder". Framton now believes that he is sitting in a house of grief, next to a window that waits for three dead men. Compare your prediction with what really happens.
Auf Deutsch: Lies Teil 2 zuerst ganz durch, ohne Wörter nachzuschlagen. Erst beim zweiten Lesen klärst du Einzelheiten. Prüfe dann deine Vorhersage aus Lektion 1.
Before reading: vocabulary
| word | meaning |
|---|---|
| to bustle | to move quickly and busily |
| briskly | quickly, in a lively way |
| scarcity | lack, when there is not enough of something |
| ghastly | terrible, horrible |
| ailments, infirmities | illnesses, weaknesses |
| delusion | a false belief |
| twilight, dusk | the time when it gets dark in the evening |
| headlong retreat | a very fast escape |
| mackintosh | a raincoat (= waterproof coat) |
| to bolt | to run away suddenly |
| pariah dogs | wild street dogs |
| at short notice | quickly, without time to prepare |
The text: part 2
Saki: The Open Window (1914), paragraphs 16 to 30
(16) 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.
(17) “I hope Vera has been amusing you?” she said.
(18) “She has been very interesting,” said Framton.
(19) “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 to-day, so they’ll make a fine mess over my poor carpets. So like you men-folk, isn’t it?”
(20) 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.
(21) “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.
(22) “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.
(23) “Here they are at last!” she cried. “Just in time for tea, and don’t they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!”
(24) 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 dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction.
(25) 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?”
(26) 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 an imminent collision.
(27) “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?”
(28) “A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,” said Mrs. Sappleton; “could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of good-bye or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost.”
(29) “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.”
(30) Romance at short notice was her speciality.
Source: Saki, Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914), text from Project Gutenberg, public domain. Paragraph 16 continues the original paragraph that was split for the division into two parts (paragraphs 15 and 16).
Explanation
The twist
The ending turns everything upside down. The three men are not ghosts. They are alive and come home from shooting, exactly as Mrs Sappleton said. The "tragedy" in part 1 was invented by the niece. Framton, who believed her, thinks he is seeing ghosts and runs away in panic.
Then the niece invents a second story at once: she tells the family that Framton is afraid of dogs because of a terrible night in India. The last sentence explains everything: Romance at short notice was her speciality. Here romance does not mean love. It means invented, exciting stories.
Auf Deutsch: Eine überraschende Wendung am Ende heißt twist oder surprise ending. Sie zwingt dich, die ganze Geschichte noch einmal neu zu lesen.
Rereading part 1
After the twist, many details in part 1 get a new meaning:
- The niece asks if Framton knows anything about her aunt (paragraph 8). Now we understand why: she wants to be sure that he cannot check her story.
- She uses details she knows from daily life: the coat, the spaniel, the song. That is why her lie sounds so real.
- Her "little shudder" (paragraph 15) is acting.
Dramatic irony
In paragraphs 19 to 23 the reader knows something that Mrs Sappleton does not know: Framton believes her husband and brothers are dead. That is why her cheerful talk about the shooting sounds "purely horrible" to him. When the reader (or the audience) knows more than a character in the story, this is called dramatic irony.
Examples
Example 1: A summary of the whole story
The short story "The Open Window" by Saki, published in 1914, is about a nervous man who is tricked by a fifteen-year-old girl. Framton Nuttel visits Mrs Sappleton in the country. While he is waiting, her niece Vera tells him that her aunt's husband and brothers died three years ago and that her aunt still waits for them at the open window. When the men return from shooting, Framton thinks he is seeing ghosts and runs away. Vera then explains his escape with another invented story.
The first sentence (the topic sentence) names title, author, year, text type and the main idea. The rest follows the plot in the simple present.
Example 2: The same scene from two views
Mrs Sappleton's words in paragraph 19, "my husband and brothers will be home directly from shooting", mean two different things:
- For Mrs Sappleton and the reader after the twist: a normal remark about an ordinary day.
- For Framton: proof that the poor woman is mad with grief.
Rule
A twist is a surprising ending that changes the meaning of the whole story. After a twist, reread the beginning and look for clues. Dramatic irony: one person knows more than another, which creates tension or humour.
Exercises
Grundlagen
- Put the events of the whole story in the correct order. a) Framton runs away. b) The niece tells the story of the tragedy. c) The men come back across the lawn. d) Mrs Sappleton comes into the room. e) The niece invents a story about dogs. f) Framton arrives at the house.
- Explain the meaning of romance in the last sentence of the story.
Weiter
- Find two clues in part 1 that the niece is lying. Explain what they show.
- Why does Mrs Sappleton's cheerful talk seem "purely horrible" to Framton (paragraph 20)? Explain with the term dramatic irony.
Knobeln
- Write a summary of the whole story (100 to 120 words). Start with a topic sentence. Do not use direct quotations.
- Was your prediction from lesson 1 right? Write three sentences about what you expected and what surprised you.
Lösungen
- f, b, d, c, a, e
- Romance here means invented stories full of adventure and drama, not a love story. The niece likes to make up exciting stories quickly, whenever she has a chance.
- For example: She asks whether Framton knows anything about her aunt (paragraph 8). This shows she wants to be sure he cannot check her story. She uses everyday details that the family will repeat later (coat, spaniel, song), which makes the lie believable and prepares the shock.
- Framton believes the men are dead. When Mrs Sappleton talks about them coming home for tea, he thinks she is in denial or mad with grief. The reader has heard Vera's story too, but Mrs Sappleton does not know what Framton has been told. Because one character knows more than another, the scene is full of dramatic irony.
- Expected: topic sentence with title, author, year, text type and main idea; the main events in chronological order in the simple present; the twist and the niece's second invented story; no quotations and no personal opinion.
- For example: I expected the aunt to behave strangely, but I did not expect the men to come back alive. The second lie about the dogs surprised me most. Vera invents it so quickly and calmly.