Friday, February 18, 2011

Saki / The Open Window

Cacería nocturna
Paolo Uccello

The Open Window
By Saki

"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.
     "Only her name and address," admitted the caller. He was wondering whether Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An indefinable 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 lost with 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, 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't it?"
     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.
     "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 they look 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."
     "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 any one lose their nerve."
     Romance at short notice was her specialty.





79 comments:

  1. Okay first, when I read this story I was seriously confused! I did not get at first; I had to read it at least two to three times to actually get it! This is what can be extremely helpful if you do not get this story at first! As well, read it CAREFULLY, because you need to make sure you get every point in; and when I mean read carefully I mean pay attention, do not do a real passive reading approach.
    This is just a perfect story. It is pithy,
    sharp and funny. A wonderful evocation of England before the First World War: a time where manners were formal, having to have a 'letter of introduction' before you could visit people socially, and where people had politely make "small talk" for an obligatory half-hour.

    In The Open Window, Saki tells of how the innocence of youth extreme, is questionable. The story revolves around the main character Vera who comes up with stories to say the adults for fun. A "child" of 15 years, with the charm of her innocent and luxuriant imagination, plays to persuade adults; or maybe, as the author hates women, he wants to show us the appalling mind that we, the women have.
    Is difficult to know if adults can notice the difference between children's true and false reports, but in this case is very true that we cannot. She adds a lie to make her story believable and creepy. Her aunt’s husband and brothers never disappeared. It is all a story within a story. Children can easily pull the wool over their parents’ eyes and in this case, we all believed the story. Her specialty was making up interesting life-stories for other people at short notice, and in her innocence, she thought not to hurt anyone. Haha, what is really entertaining is that whole time that Mr. Framton was being conned, the reader is actually being conned by himself or herself!
    This story is a beautifully written. It is one of my favorite short stories because it has so much in it, in so few words. The author knew how to set it up, and he painted it wonderfully. I Loved it.

    Finally, one thing that makes me think is how dangerous children can be when they leave their imagination fly?

    By: Marcela Meneses

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  2. First of all, I admit that I had to read the story three times because I did not understand the ending, the theme, or point of this story. At the beginning, I felt scared because I thought Mr. Nuttle saw three ghosts; but, when I figured out the enigma, I could not stop laughing. I could not imagine how a little girl, who looked so innocent, could tell such a false and perverse story to an older man.

    "The Open Window" gives us a malicious example of how people's appearances can be misleading. Sometimes, we trust people who look naive, kind, and harmless and we forget that there are many wolves dressed in sheep clothing. It's incredible how children, for instance, can change our reality and make us believe in something that only exists in their imagination. When I think of Vera, she reminds me of my five year old nephew. It's difficult to accept it, but he is really good about persuading and manipulating my mom and brother. One day, my nephew told my older brother that I had hit him. Obviously it was not true; I could not hit my nephew. But, he started to cry until he convinced my brother. I tried to deny it, but it was impossible to fight against his "innocent little face" saying "she hit me". I wonder if Dora the Explorer or Backyardigans teaches children how to manipulate adults... how scary!!!

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  4. On this story I have three points to consider.

    First of all, I want to speak about the title, as the last story it was different from what I had thought. When I read the title I thought that it was a love story about a young couple where they had to separated because, he had to travel and move away from his sweetheart; he would promise her to return, the reason which she every evening was waiting him in the window for his return, but he never return because he was die and she never knew it and finally she died in front her window waiting to him. The event in " the open window " story was not as I imagined, even so, it was a very good story; the end of the story made me laugh so much, how Vera invent about the loss of Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and two younger brothers death, and also the reason she keeps the window open and how Mr Nuttle believed her terrible story.

    The second point to speak in this comment is about the lies and even if they come from a child or young, I refer to as the saying goes “children always tell the truth " and in this case Vera lies and manipulates the truth due to the circumstances of her situation but, in this it was an innocent lie in comparison to others that we have seen in real life, where children words involve false declarations that it can take a person in prison or to cause a calamity.

    The third and last point to mention is the illness that Mr. Nuttle was suffering and that "to come at just the right time" to Vera to her story looked real in the Mr. Nuttle’s mind, I think that in this moment the nerves played a bad moment to Mr. Nuttle.

    Finally, In this story the most overawed part was when men come through the fog and begin to talk to Mrs. Sappelton. As they talk casually about their hunting trip, Framton becomes scared. Framton becomes crazy, and quickly runs from the house. Nobody can understand why and only Vera knows the truth but, fast she invents a story about Mr. Nutle’s behavior. It is the reason for the phrase “Romance at short notice was her specialty.” This quote described to Vera like a faster inventing.

    by Veronica

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  5. Once I read “The open window” I remembered some of the tales written by Julio Cortazar. Even if the themes boarded by Cortazar and Saki are much different, after reading both of them I had the very same feeling: the author tricked me during the story.
    Another thing I remembered after having read “The open window” was a Shakespeare’s quote: “Love all. Trust a few. Do harm to none” I think this counsel would be very useful for Mr. Nuttel and Vera. Taking into account Mr. Nuttel’s difficulty to get along with people, it would be good to “trust a few” of them. If he had followed this advice and if he hadn’t trusted what a stranger said, then he hadn’t risked his life in the runaway from Mrs. Sappleton’s house. On the other hand, it would be good for people like Vera to put into practice the last part of Shakespeare’s advice: Do harm to none. It is essential to clarify that it is possible to “harm” someone physically and psychologically. So, you can harm someone with your words, just as Vera did to Mr Nuttel. She altered a man who was suffering of the nerves. She risked his life just because she liked making up stories.
    To sum up, I would like to say that even if I had the strange sensation of being tricked, I enjoyed the reading and further I learned a moral for my life.

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  6. The whole enviroment of the tale made me thing of a possibility that I was in front of another horror tale. The setting, the plot, and the reaction of Mr. Nuttel were creating a delicious time to take those papers and read it accompained by a couple of candles, a tomb near to a swamp, and Gobblins all around enjoying those creepy and gloomy words; but, suddenly, Vera's creativity destroyed all of the dark beauty inside Saki's wrtiting by made understand how evil and liar could be a human being.
    Taking her innocence as a lethal weapon and her woman mysticism in that battlefield could create a macabre stronghold where thoughts are stronger than reality and the weaks can easily get lost inside that labyrinth believing that everything was real.
    Sadly, there are lot of people, nowadays, who use this particularity to trick the world just for a few minutes of laughting.

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  7. The Open Window
    At the beginning of the Reading when I read the title, The Open Window, ” there was a clear feeling which came to my mind. And it was the idea of a mysterious story that a family lived in an isolated farm. Also I thought that the open window that had just been mentioned will be the main scenario in which all the facts will occur.
    Once I read the tale I didn’t realize, that all was a completely invention Vera told to Mrs Framtom. But it was at the second time when I read it carefully and I understood that all the tragedy she told him was just product of her imagination.
    This story achieved to confuse me at all. But for me, it was interesting and amusing because it caught my attention all the time. And it also created me a doubt if this adolescent called Vera, had some values that the story showed about her at the beginning because for me she caused an embarrassing situation to Mrs Framtom.
    Finally, what I can conclude from this short story is that “Children are not so naïve as we think”.

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  8. Every time I read a story I feel different emotions: happiness, intrigue, or fear. Just as I cannot avoid making a comparison with another story that I have read before. But in this case, when I was reading the beginning of The Open Window, a deep sadness enveloped me. I was really concentrated, trying to understand the Vera’s story until I read the following lines: “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…” “Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do”. In that precise moment, those words echoed in my mind connecting me with this plot part. Then, I could avoid remembering those people who wait everyday for a signal, an answer, something that contains information about where they could find their relatives.

    However, what a surprise when I realized that all was a lie, a terrible lie! I think Vera was a machiavellian girl with an enough conviction power and imagination, in such way she deceived me as well for a moment.

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  9. The open window is a very funny story which I didn’t understand at the first reading. It was difficult to me to catch the idea of what was happening inside the story; on one hand because it just started with a dialogue between two people of whom I knew nothing; and, on the other hand, because the girl was a good liar who had everything well prepared and made no mistake when telling her story.
    I think she was a clever girl who thought quickly and told everything what came to her mind, but the thing that makes her tale interesting is that she carefully linked the imagination to the real facts, and she was able to jump from the reality to the fiction without leaving any doubt.
    Vera’s role in the story is what called my attention, she has a power to convince people, she looks trustable but she isn’t, and she seems an older woman who can change a conversation easily .
    There is one part in which the girl asks Framton, -"Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?", - "Only her name and address", immediately he answers. Here, we can analyze that Vera wanted to be sure that Mr Nuttel didn’t know her aunt’s life for she to tell her mischievous story. Now, I realize that She was analyzing the environment, for then to start enjoying her malicious plans.
    The other important aspect is that everybody believes everything she says. Even, when the men arrive, they think Vera’s story is true "he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery…” .It means that her family didn’t know her, they kept thinking she was an innocent little girl.
    For me, Vera was not a mad or a bad girl, she was just enjoying the greatness of her imagination and astuteness.

    By: Claudia Rincón

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  10. The open window is that kind of story that makes me feel insecure when I’m reading, because I get the impression the author is hiding something, but I’m not sure what it is.

    When I began reading this story I didn´t understand it, and that made me feel frustrated. I thought it was maybe because I wasn’t concentrated, but the second time I read, I understood that the story was quite tricky, and I realized that the last line was the key to understand it; It’s was awesome and I just said to myself what a liar girl!

    In my opinion, the open window has been one of the most interesting stories that I have ever read. The story it’s a little ironic on how the role were changed, I mean, a spoiled girl who could cheat a sweet old man with no problem. On the other hand, it’s obvious how people is changing in every generation; children are more and more disrespectful and spoiled. As moral, the adults should pay attention of children’s behavior in order to set them limits on time.
    Yaneth Rocio Vera Rincon

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  11. When I read the little, I thought this story spoke about a person who had lost all his/her opportunities but there was still one only opportunity in his/her life, so I thought “the Open Window” was like saying “there is still something to keep walking”

    On the other hand, I would like to describe the personality of the young lady, that’s to say, how she was, how she behaved with people and the personality of Mr. Framton and how he was affected by her:

    • Miss Vera was a manipulator girl of thirteen years old who did not care the consequences of her bad actions, she was not a well educated person or polite although she feigned being it, it is sure that she wanted to call the attention of the visitors.

    • Mr. Framton was a nervous man whose only purpose was to rest in a house in the middle of the forest. He sinned believing Miss Vera was a sweet girl interested in telling him what in that house was happening by telling him lies.

    Finally, I can deny I felt misled when I realized it was a totally lie what she had told to Mr. Framton and rather than helping him she provoked Mr. Framton became mad and ran away.

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  12. As soon as I read the title, “The open window” I thought that it was going to be a story plenty of emotions, maybe a person trying to evoke those memories of ancient times that always put a smile in our face. I do not know why but that came to my mind, perhaps for the symbolism that exists between an open window and the past and the homesickness.
    Anyway, I must admit that “the open window” absolutely kept my attention, besides I love those stories that have a path and you think how it is going to follow, but at the end they suddenly change. That is what happens with this story, I was tricked by the author by thinking all the time about a haunted house, that never really existed, I mean how would you know that the whole plot of the story was product of the agile imagination a young little mean girl?
    That girl Vera is such a peculiar person, she was so clever by verifying that Mr. Frampton did not know anything about her family, and then, from the nothing she made up a superb story to scare the naïve and totally fragile Mr. Frampton, brilliant!!!
    Vera is amazingly quick and she must have been quite convincible because she also tricked her family by creating another story as inventive as the first one.
    Finally, I think Vera is really funny in a dark-twisted way, but who can blame her? She is just having a little fun. I loved this story

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  13. At the beginning of this short story named “the open window”, I read the title and it seemed to me mysterious, I thought that this open window was the entrance to an ephemeral world, because it was not clear to me at all. Nonetheless, an entire universe came into my mind due to the intrigues that rounded my being about the content of this tale. What wonders there will be inside this enigmatic story I asked myself.

    However, I would only answer my questions in the course of my deep and repeated reading.
    When I was immersing into the abysmal waters of the narrations of this tale, I was living every moment, believing what the young lady was declaring to Mr. Framton without taking care of his nervous condition and besides, deteriorating his health during her absurd story that had to do nothing with the real life. I can infer as well Miss Vera took advantage of the prolix scenario there was at that moment (dignified merit to win an Academy award), I think in one second she planned without fear her devilish story about a wife who stared at the window and waited for her husband and children coming from the forest because once they decided to haunt but they never return.

    I did not ever imagined that this supposed horror story was a complete creativity of a Machiavellian mind whose only target was to disturb and ruin the life of man that needed rest and in deed she succeeded.

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  14. Well, at the first time when I read the story I could not understand it because it is a little confused at the beginning and we have to be focused on it to discover the real plot inside the story that is about the girl who is a lyer. Because if we do not take into account this fact that is the essence, probably we are agree with the situations that are narrated by her to Mr. Framton and the final comment about him and his fear´s dogs.
    Actually, it is a good humor´s story where we identify a kind of personality from childhood and its consequences in the daily life, talking about other ones who are involved or affected by her/his lies that are a product of their invention. Without doubt is that girl the character who gives sense to the story because as you know she is always giving sequence to the whole story with another one very different from the last one.
    In fact, the title should have a double connotation because it is not only the physical window in that large house but the opportunity that she had to tell whatever she wanted about her aunt and Mr. Framton too; then, we have two different points in the same story that refers to “the open window”.

    Thanks, Liseth…

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  15. MARCO ANTONIO TORRESMarch 15, 2011 at 5:00 PM

    Vera's dark humor was the thing that I liked the most of this story. Her mean but inocent way of having fun turns what it seemed to be another horror tale to a seudo-horror tale.
    I think that if novels are like a photo album, tales are just one photograph of it. That is why tales like this, short and straight to the point, are the ones that I enjoy reading the most. Saki does not only succes in catching the readers attention through the whole story but he also surprises us with a sudden and unpredictable twist of events at the end.
    I guess that each one of us were interested in Vera's story as it was Mr. Nuttle himself.

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  16. viviana katerine ruedaMarch 15, 2011 at 5:02 PM

    when I read the title a thought tht it eas a kind of story love, I related it with Romeo and Julieth, but when I started to read the content of the story I imagine myself in a farm with ther character and then the story begins.
    at the beginnig I didn't undertand what had happened so I need to read again I laughted a lot becaus when the story was developed I began to undestant the Vera's role so I thought that she was a mean girl because of the story thta she invented in order to afraid mr Nuttel, I thought thta it was a rela story becasue she was so secure of herself thta it conviced me at all. I thought thta mrs Sappleton was mantally sick but it wasn't, it was the funny joke that Vera told, so when the ending was comming I realized that everything pointed out that the woman was really focused on the husband's arrive and when Mr Nuttel runawy from the house because Sappleton's husband arrive it was really fun, so I noticed that all the principal story was invented by a nauehty girl.

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  17. To begin with, I did like this tale very much, to me horror must be well written and I personally admire people who can take to fearful state and then tell you that it was just fiction, it is like nightmare that you feel relief when you wake up and see that all that was just a dream and you are safe on your bed together with the same people you said good-night the day before.

    The Adventure of a German student had everything I like in fiction: drama, anxiety and real facts from universal history that make you think it really happened to someone, perhaps it also could happen to you as well.

    Teacher Veronica, thank you very much for making us read such as good tale.

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  18. “The Open Window” is one of the most unexpected and bizarre story I’ve ever read before; the way the author mixed different types of elements like horror and humor is magnificent, without mentioning the symbolism he used to describe and satirize the Edwardian society and culture through the characters’ personalities. Also, it’s relevant to say that this story has an external narrator, who is not part of the events in the story. This allows the reader to picture the whole situations from a variety of points of view, what the characters are doing and what they are feeling or thinking.
    Talking about the story itself, I have to say that “Intrigue” was what I felt when I read the tittle, because I wanted to know why this author wrote about an open window, why that window was so special that gave to this spectacular writer the inspiration for making such a good story and the expectations were “This story is going to be interesting, full of mystery with an unusual ending” and certainly it was.
    Briefly, I have to admit that “The Open Window” caught my attention from the very beginning, because I thought something totally different of this story; the content was a huge surprise, a good one, due to when I started to read it, I was so attracted and captivated for it, that I could hardly way for knowing the ending which was not only unpredicted as I already said, it was excellent and out of the regular endings of the stories I’ve read before.

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  19. The open window
    During the first term, we have been reading some very nice short stories in literature class; the last one we read was The Open Window which was the hardest and confusing to read to me since, I had to read it twice and look for the meaning of many new words that I did not know so far. At the beginning, when I first read the tittle I thought it was going to be a lovely and charming story developed in the countryside on shiny days, with some children and happy families living together but, it was totally the opposite because, the story surprised me and the end.
    With the first reading I did not like the story at all because, it seemed to be scaring and a story of horror. This story really played with my mind and made me think and reflect about the characters and the whole story. To be honest, there was a point in which I got angry because I could not understand what the story was about. I truly got to understand the story when my classmates and I were discussing about it up there at the main campus and was there, when I finally understood that the girl was just telling lies to Mr. Framton.
    To conclude, I have to say that this kind of short stories are amazing; despite the fact, that they are obviously short, they give you the chance of getting into the stories and they somehow, awake your interest in them. Reading short stories is very cool because all the events happen very fast and suddenly, an expected fact comes and surprises you.

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  20. The Open Windom
    This story can be a little confusing and sometimes we need to read it twice. However, that is not an excuse to do not read it, because it is an amazing story full of unexpected events. This story makes the reader imagines a totally different story what it really is. But the central character who gives the story its impact is Mrs. Sappleton’s niece, a fifteen years old young girl, who has a warped sense of humor.
    The Open Window is about Frampton Nuttel. Mr. Nuttel heads out to the countryside to calm his nervous illness; he takes along with him a handful of introduction letters his sister had given him. Mr. Nuttel visits the home of Mrs. Sappleton, where meets a young girl, the niece of Mrs. Sappleton, and she proceeds to have some fun at his expense. She explains that on that very day, three years earlier, their family had met with misfortune. The aunt’s husband and her two brothers were swallowed up in the swamp near the moor and were never found. It's further explained that each day the large window is left open in hopes that the missing loved ones will return. The aunt rushes into the main sitting room and just then, outside the open window, Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and two brothers appear, having come back from a recent hunting trip and Mr. Nuttel fled in terror because he thought they were ghost. It is really funny to understand that all was a joke.

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  21. The Open Window? You mean: The Open, Creepy and Extraordinary Window. Ok, at first you may think that there´s nothing extraordinary on a big, old window, when you start reading the story. You are like: “Why is the window for in this story?”, but when Vera our “shelf- possessed” 15 years old female character begins telling the story of her aunt’s “family tragedy”, everything gets clarified. I’ve heard of the fine art of telling lies and believe me, I consider myself a pretty good liar, but this tragic story of dead, missing people, and supposed craziness is beyond everything I’ve ever expected. I really have to cheer Mr. Saki who was able to mock of the Edwardian Society he was so closed to, using the image of a cruel and mean teenager, demonstrating how she takes advantage of the naivety and kindness of young Framton. The Open Window shows the writing style of the author which granted him the title of master of the short stories in England, and that joined with the fact that he loved making fun of the reader,made this story so shocking and so hilarious that the only thing you can do is laugh of Framton’s ingenuity and Vera’s evilness. I loved the part when poor, young Framton runs away from the house, as if he had seen a ghost, and I wondered what could have happened with him. Even though this is not a proper horror story, I enjoyed seen suffering Mr. Nuttel (not in a bad way, of course)and for a moment I thought that Vera would suffer too when the three figures appeared, but no, she was so lucky when Framton left the house that I couldn’t believe her last lie at the end of the story. I don’t know if I’m wrong but I think Saki could have been a good liar, and knowing that The Open Window is the only short story I’ve read from him, it’s possible that besides of having a tremendous talent in writing, he could have had a natural talent for telling lies… Well, it’s a supposition, one can dream right? ... Oh, another thing I just realized is that according to what I read in his biography, he was very misogynistic; it means that he hated women, because as he grew up under the physical punishments of his grandmother and aunts, maybe he wanted us to hate Vera just to see a little bit of his hate for women. Maybe … Again, just another supposition… ¬¬!

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  22. H. H Munro, best known as Saki, is the master of short stories in England, which is his best characteristic around the world. This recognition is due to the high quality of his works, but also, it is important to say that he was one of the writers who criticized the Edwardian government at that time. During his life as a writer, he had the opportunity to express his different thoughts through some meaningful works, which let the reader not only be a part of the story, but also, know and identify the distinctive events and aspects that were presented in English society at that time. For this reason, this analysis is written as a consequence of the reading made of The Open Window, which is one of his best works. The objective of this analysis is to find and understand deeply the different facts that happened through the story and why his writings are acknowledged as satiric ones.

    The Open Window presents different particular situations about a family who has a high social status. The main characters are: Framton Nuttel who suffers a nervous illness; Mrs. Sappleton is the owner of the house where is developed the story and at the beginning of it we can imagine that she is widow because of the story who is told by Vera who is her niece. Vera tells a story to Mr. Nuttel which involves the husband and the two young brothers of Mrs. Sappleton. The story is about the disappearance of them, one day when they went off for their day’s shooting, but they did not come back. For this reason, Mrs. Sappleton keeps this window opened, because she has the hope of seeing them walking across the lawn towards the window. Later, Framton and Mrs. Sappleton maintain a conversation about the nervous illness of Framton, but he realizes that all the time Mrs. Sappleton is seeing to the open window waiting for her husband and two brothers. At this time, Framton thinks that she is a little crazy and he asks himself “Why does she wait for someone who probably is dead?”. Some minutes passed, and three men figures appeared, they seemed to be the ones who are disappeared three years ago, it’s to say, the husband and two brothers of Mrs. Sappleton. Framton when he saw those men automatically he was in shock, and he leaves the house without explaining why. Vera invents a story to explain why Framton left the house.

    “Romance at short notice was her speciality”, it is the last phrase of this story and in a nutshell explains the real facts that happened. At the same time, the reader can realize that the author express the satirist in the story, because Vera not only invents the last story about Framton, but also, she thinks up the story about the disappearance of the three men. Until this point, the reader recognizes that the author plays a joke with them.

    To conclude, it is important to mention that we, as readers, can maintain ourselves immerse in the story, and we also can transport our imagination to another situation. Probably, feel the same emotions of the characters and become one of them in order to come true our thoughts of the story.

    WRITTEN BY: CLARA NOELIA VILLAMIZAR COTE

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  23. “THE OPEN WINDOW” A SHORT STORY TO LAUGH

    "The Open Window" is a fantastic short story that narrates a particular situation that happened in a Victorian elegant house, mainly in front of an open French window. One of the main characters is Mr. Framtun Nuttel, a nervous young man who went to Mrs. Sappleton’s house in order to socialize with other people; while he was waiting for her, he was talking to her niece, named Vera, who told him that the French window was opened in October, because of her aunt’s husband, her two brothers and a dog were swallowed up by a swamp three years ago and Mrs. Sappleton hoped that they came back one day. Then Mrs. Sappleton came down and she began talking about her husband and her brothers; in that moment, he thought that she was crazy, but when he turned around his head, he saw three men and a dog, they were Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and her brothers, for this reason he rushed out of the house. The story ends with the three men asking about why he ran away; Vera answered them that he had run away because he was afraid of dogs, but, she didn’t mention that she had made him a bad joke. Having a general idea of this short story, I am going to tell you two reasons why I really loved this story and why I recommend you to read it.
    Firstly, I loved the story because it is a mixture of three styles of writing: terror, fiction and comedy, which make this story interesting and funny, because at the beginning I was frightened when he saw the three men who supposedly were dead, but then when I discovered that it was only a bad joke that Vera made to Mr. Nuttle, I laughed a lot and I could realize that it was very funny and amusing.
    Secondly, I enjoyed the story, because it is not the typical one, in which everything is about love with some tragedies and the regular happy ending; by contrast, it shows a reality which sometimes is performed in TV programs where they prepared a horrifying story in order to frighten people, but it turns out in hilarious situations which people cannot believe.
    To conclude, according to my point of view, I recommend to read this story, because Saki dramatizes here the conflict between reality and imagination, demonstrating how difficult can be to distinguish them. Also, because when readers have the opportunity to read it, they are going to be aware that Mr. Nuttle is not going to be the only victim of the Vera’s joke; as readers, we are going to be the victim of Sakis’s joke too, because at the beginning you are going to think that it is a horror story but at the end you are going to finish laughing, because it was only a joke.

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  24. COMMENT OF THE OPEN WINDOW
    The open window is a very fun short story which I didn’t understand at the first reading. It was difficult to me to catch the idea of what was happening inside the story; on one hand, because it just started with a dialogue between two people of whom I knew nothing; and, on the other hand, because the girl was a good liar who had everything well prepared and she did not make any mistake in telling the scary story to the old and sick man.
    And other aspect I enjoyed the most was the way Vera recreated the whole story by using the open window and the entire environment that surrounded her in the whole setting. Vera was amazingly quick and she must have been quite convincible because she also tricked her family by creating another story as she invented as the first one at the end of the story. Also, it is a good humor´s story where I identified a kind of personality from childhood and its consequences in the daily life, it is one of the most common behavior in an adolescent and they do not care whom are affected by her/his lies that are a product when they let their imagination flies
    Finally, it was a great literary work because of the way the author Saki, narrated the events by using flashbacks and subplots In order that we get confused or we clear up our ideas. Saki used sometimes dialogues between characters to tell us the events and narrates the facts, which gave to the tale a touch of fun and a great interest.
    ENEL ROJAS.

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  25. I still don't understand this story

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  26. OPEN WINDOW
    First of all, in this story the writer, Saki creates suspense in the introduction in order to catch the reader's attention, for this reason, I think that also he used irony and humour to make his story more interesting. For instance, in the introduction when Vera asked about the details, which Nuttle knew about her aunt he said "hardly a soul", it seemed a little bit ironical in two ways as it insinuated Vera that Nuttle was not aware of anything and also it helped her to make a subject for her ghostly story. Moreover, the humour created by the writer helped the story to become more interesting than making it a horror story.
    However, I reconized that I could not understand this story at the first time that I read, but I think that he was indicating the great power of storytelling, giving us all the details specially in the way that the characters are developed and introduced because, I think that it is like key in the way that they are described and presented.

    by Darymar

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  27. THE OPEN WINDOW COMMENT

    When I read the title I never imagined that the story was going to be developed the way it was, I pictured the owner of the house in an emergency and had to get out of the house as fast as she could and for me that had been the reason why the window stayed opened. When I started reading the “Open Window” I truly believed everything that was happening in the story, I never imagined that the young lady was telling a complete lie. I must say that I am not a big fan of this type of tales; however it does not mean that the tale was not interesting. I was really surprised by the way the author started narrating the events, and all the details showed that everything was really happening, (until I finished the tale and realized that the young lady made everything up).
    That is why when readers find out that everything was a lie, we start thinking… how could I not notice it? In my case I said to myself “I should have paid more attention”. In this case I consider that the author played with the readers’ mind but in a really funny way, taking into account that the vocabulary used when narrating seemed to be the appropriate to immerge the readers into a lie that at the beginning seemed to be a true fact. In my opinion this is a really good story but I prefer horror and dark stories because I love the unexpected, I like to imagine what comes next. The fact that the girl tried to scare the poor man, was a little insensitive from her; because he was a really nervous man and he was even shaking when she told him that she was waiting for her husband and her youngest brother that had left three years ago and were never found.
    In real life, sometimes people tried to convince us with lies that seemed to be true. They come up with fake stories in a blink of an eye; there are so many lies in their head that they end up believing them. Finally they become mythomaniacs.

    Susan Cordoba

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  28. The Open Window Themes
    I like so much this short piece of fiction where one can know about a false story told by a girl of fifteen named Vera and who is, for me, the major of majors character in this story since she is who gives the essence of why this story was called “The open window”.
    Talking about the story this is just summarized in one day Mr. Nuttel comes to the country looking for a cure for his nervous condition. First of all, he visits the home of Mrs. Sappleton in order to introduce himself since his sister had written a letter for him about all people in that place; in this house he is intercepted by Vera who tells him a great story of fiction based on a window and which is big lie. Finally, she only makes his nervous condition worse.
    To conclude this comment, I would like to say it is surprising how a girl of fifteen is able to invent this great lie and it is clear that the adults most of time they believe in all what the teenager and children say or tell in whatever moment. However, I believe the author had to write more about Mr. Nuttel’s sister and about his illness how Mr. Nuttel continued with the illness.

    By: Elkin Perneth

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  29. THE OPEN WINDOW
    By Saki

    “This was a really interesting short story” I said when I read it for the second time, the open window played with my mind, I had to read it twice in order to understand better and I also had to look for some unknown words. It caught my attention quickly because it was something unexpected. To me this story is that kind of stories that you have to read till the end, because of the way the author writes, and how the story is having different climax; even thought, it was a little bit difficult to read and understand, because I was confused, I couldn’t understand what was the story about and I was surprised when I read at the end “Romance at short notice was her specialty” I said “All was a lie, Vera is a liar, I could not believe it” and I decided to read again. I never thought it would be developed that way; at the beginning, I was thinking about a different plot, the story of a rich man who lives alone in his mansion, with no family, waiting for something interesting in his life but, when I started reading, it was completely different.
    Before I start taking this literature course, personally I didn’t like that kind of stories, I prefer reading love stories and fantasy stories because I truly love happy endings, but I never thought I would be interesting to read mystery and horror stories, I would like to say that, it is interesting to read them because the author knows how to play with the readers’ mind, but also he makes that the reader imagine a lot of things with a short story and actually you can think in another ending for it.
    As a moral I could say that, a person’s imagination is a lethal weapon if is used in a bad manner, sometimes, we believe what people say no matter what, but the truth is that we don’t know what the real purposes are.

    Sandy liseth cañas carrillo

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  30. This is a story where the creative niece invented a lie that superposed all the expectations. However, the real situation was not understandable until the end of the story, which indicates that the author wanted the reader to analyze the situation before finding the real fact. Also, this kind of ending for the story was really interesting due to the use of black humor by the author’s side.
    I imagine what the main character’s feelings were, his image when going out of Mrs. Sappelton’s house and I can conclude that this recreation transmits many emotions related to be frightened of something, to feel nervousness, to be in a hurry, to feel uncomfortable. Additionally, I felt tricked and surprised due to the intention and the real message that was revealed at the end of the story through using this subtle and little sentence that suggests just a bad joke.
    To my concern, this story is the example about how deceitful people tend to communicate bad things I order to alienate others, and it is a moral to say to ingenuous individuals that they have to corroborate all what others say, taking into account that they cannot react in an impulsive way without any apparent reason.

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  31. I got it the first time! it was funny

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  32. When I saw the title “The open window”, I thought that it would be a story related with loss, plenty of feelings or memories because of the title’s context, considering that sometimes is connected that pattern with a possible hypothesis. However, never came to my mind that this story would play with my imagination. I admit that I was involved with this tale from the beginning until the end after reading it three times, because at the beginning it was a quite difficult to understand it. Anyway, I love this kind of stories that create a wrong expectation at first, but suddenly take an unexpected way that make you happy. I just can say that the open window is an amazing story tale. On the other hand, related with the story, my favorite character was Vera because of her sureness when she began to tell the fake story about her family in a few minutes showing her agile imagination for inventing creepy stories moreover, she was smart by checking out that Frampton did not know anything about her family. Finally, I just can say that I would not like to be in Frampton’s place and a younger girl tricked me.

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  33. “The Open Window” by Saki!!!

    Although I consider the last tale BILL was a great story of drama, this piece of fiction was much more exciting for me since actually I didn’t expected that sudden and surprising ending. As the main character Framton, I also felt tricked by Vera’s false story to such a degree that, once I read it for the first time, I didn’t know if Vera’s story was a lie or actually the 3 hunters were ghosts.

    From this story I can highlight the great and brilliant mind of Hector Hugh Munro to create such a characters with exceptional personalities like the fifteen girl Vera; as the most of the present-day teenagers she is clever, dreamy and a daring person, she has a cruel and ironical sense of humour which uses with Framton no matter the consequences of her actions and doubtless, this is that makes Saki’s tales different from others, he has a particular style to write in which he criticizes the hypocrisy and the prejudiced society of that time, especially in higher classes.

    To conclude, I would like to add that while reading this tale I experimented a rejoicing time as I prefer this kind of literature that doesn’t hide the real problems in the societies and deals with more intrepid topics like the insolence, the black humour and the deception.

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  34. Talking about “The open window” I can say that this imaginary story involved my mind and it made me feel curious in order to understand what the real theme was. With regard to the tittle, I immediately thought in a beautiful and romantic story where a young guy and a young girl fell in love but is impossible for them to be together because the girl came from a poor family and the boy’s parents were not too happy. That is why, he opened the window every day to wait for his ladylove with the objective to state his feeling with the next question: “Will you marry me?”… But what a surprise! The story is completely different starting with the terrific little girl Vera who lies, invents and manipulates the situation. She looks like an innocent girl but is a hussy woman involving the poor Framton with terror and horror despite his situation where the doctors agree in ordering him complete rest, an absence of mental excitement.

    On the other hand, I cannot deny that when I read the story I felt afraid by the way that Vera told the tale and immediately I could imagine it. Without a doubt, I have had the same reaction performed by Framton Nuttel where for him was all purely horrible. If Framton being a man fled of the house, obviously, I as a timid woman I would have cried as a crazy lady because I am a nervous person and I have lived similar awful experiences. For that reason, I try to be calm because God is with me but in that moment is difficult to believe with eyes closed. All in our lives work on our minds. Everything in this world is spiritual. It has been said many times that there is good and bad in everyone.

    Finally, I recommend reading this story because is very fantastic to live all the events happen as in a real life feeling the same emotions. It caught totally my attention.

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  35. "The open window" : such a different story! Throughout its reading I experienced mystery, horror and enjoyment; those feelings did not allow me to perceive a possible ending nor that my brain was being confused by Saki. I have to admit it; I fell into Vera’s lies, but who does not? This girl has a special power to involve her family, Mr. Frampton and even the reader. When my partners were asked to comment on Vera’s attitude (I insist on talking about her because she is definitely the main character from the tale) some said she was a terrible person, others considered her as a real character, even, one friend said she was a heroine! Me? I loved her, why? I am not sure but maybe my classmates were right, I am like her - I am proud of it-.
    As a final remark, I would like to add that stories like this could make us become more serious readers engaged into the authors’ contexts and ideas given their nature of relating lived situations under an own style.

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  36. “The open Window”
    I would say that the story is not an easy one to understand, but if we keep on reading it, it is possible to start creating sense of it. Related to the title it does not give any clue about what is it going to be about, it is totally different what the story has related to what we expected to read.
    On the other hand, I liked the story so much because at the beginning, it seems like a tragic and fearful one but at the end we realized that it is just something already prepared, which transforms it into a funny one. Related to the girl, I would say that she is a good actress and she had a great power to keep hidden all the lies he said.
    As a reflection, this story helps us as students to develop our reading comprehension skill, because we have to be concentrated and also with a wide imagination.

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  37. "The open window"

    Well, Saki shows us an intrigue and a suspense story, in which the reader can feel fear because of the situation about the ghost. Moreover I was astonished because of the niece’s lies, I can't imagine the great capacity of this little girl to invent and to prepare well each situation without mistakes and without having been discovered. Wow, this girl to me was a genius! In addition, I enjoyed so much when I read that Mr. Nuttel can't walk because seemingly he was ill, and when he saw supposedly the ghost he ran away that was fantastic and awesome! Really I was not afraid when I read the story because I love reading this kind of stories. Finally, I think that this kind of tales can do we as readers are within the story taking our minds to remember some funny moments with our friends when we were children and we invented a lot stories and tales to scare them.

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  38. “The open window ” is an interesting story which describes how reality and fantasy, both can create an atmosphere of intrigue from its very beginning to its unpredicted end. Munro has the ability to give the reader a detailed portrayal of every single deed that characters do aimed at catching the reader’s attention. Whether the title is wide open or not, it gives you the change to imagine a plenty of possibilities that makes you believe it is an amazing story to read about.
    I really enjoyed Saki `style not only because of its clear language but the way he presents an authentic perception of how through words well said, you can manipulate someone`s psychology.

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  39. It is a story of mystery and darkness written by Hector Hugh Munro, who published many times under the pen name SAKI. This story is characterized by its brief and solid narration, at the moment of showing the facts. As a main feature, it focuses on a genre of suspense and magic realism in which the objective reality coexists with fantastic elements and uncommon events; it was the narrative tendency in mid- 20TH century.In addition, we can find a climax of this story in its last sentence, when you realize that the story has not been about the return of the three men but about the personality of Vera. The return of the men was a false climax; the real one is the revelation of Vera's propensity to make things up.
    As a conclusion, the writer end up the story with a famous and abrupt phrase, “Romance at short notice was her specialty” here, the narrator is responsible for building such an unexpected ending that exceed our imagination.

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  40. The Open Window

    This Saki’s story involved you in a game playing with your mind inviting you to travel to an altered place. The author knew that what we used to read is sometimes too obvious, that even knowing the title we will know which one will be the end, and he wanted to make the difference from the others stories that we usually read, he was focused on astonishing us, and he really did it, at least with me, due to I was really surprised by the way the author narrated the events, and all the details immersed in such as perfect way.
    Definitely, this story is completely different; even I had to read it more than once, in order to know if I had lost some important details that made me feel a little bit lose.
    It is remarkable the way in which the author managed to trick us through the young girl, in that Vera was a naughty and intelligent girl with us too, she was telling us the same story at the same time, she was tricking us all the time until the end, so if we notice that we could notice that Saki was an awesome author with magic ideas.

    Perhaps, we could think that this story is just a funny one showing us what some naughty girls can do. Nevertheless, this story show us a common event that happen in our real life, in that at times people tried to convince us with lies that seemed to be true, and that is why we have prejudices about many things, ideologies and people.

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  41. "The open window"
    At the beginning of the story I experimented curiosity and mystery what will come with the characters, with the story. I though what Vera was saying to the man was true because it is difficult to imagine a girl of fifteen lying in that way, and I was involved in her lie. She was a witty girl without any self-reproach about the consequences she could provoke, she prepared all, what to say in what way and without being discovered from her aunt or Frampton nobody imaged the girl said to them.
    The author captured reader’s attention through this story since the first letters because we created the images in our mind what is happening and believed all the Vera’s words. For example, I though the mad person in the story was the aunt but at the end I realized the niece was crazy in any way and Frampton was a victim of her cruelty.
    Saki gave us an example of how two opposed things can link up in just one: the innocence of a girl and her cruel imagination in just a person: Vera. I liked the way the author made us to be concentrated in the story believing an event is true and at the end all changed in a different way.
    Fabiola

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  42. “The open window” is an interesting tale, why? Because, we can learn that all of things that a person tell us, they are not always true. It is the case of Vera that was a smart girl with incomparable imagination because in a few minutes she could create an amazing story with a terrible and horror purpose; that was to scare the main character Framtom Nuttel, that the only thing that he wanted, it was to look for a new job. On the other hand, when I read the story, I really thought that the husband and the two brothers of Mrs. Sappleton were “ghosts” and that she had a psychological problem, but it was what I liked the most in this tale because the author Saki created a story that involved us up the point that we as readers thought that it was a real situation.

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  43. Before presenting my point of view and ideas, I want to say that this story was a bit difficult to read, especially for the vocabulary that Saki employed, consequently, I must say that I had to read the story four times in order to understand it.
    “The open window“ is a tale that talks about many topics, for this reason, the first one to be tackled is the reality, it means, the fact that Mr. Nuttel suffers from nerves which can explain his personality and behavior with others. On the other hand, one more point of discussion is the intrigue and the suspense that the author develops in the story through Vera, a young girl of 15 years old who invents a tragedy that contains drama, melancholy, even death. The last thing I want to share comes from my imagination, I wonder how it would have been if Mr. Nuttel had known the real events, I am not a terrorist but I think he would have killed Vera.
    Ending with this short intervention, I am very grateful with the author for giving us the opportunity to read this short story, I enjoyed this tale so much, especially on analyzing how children leave to fly their imagination, creating some interesting and entertaining stories ; this text deserves to be read not only by its narration but also because this tale is a legacy of literature, it exists many short stories around the world; however, not many with cunning and incredible style that Saki uses in his works.

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  44. MARIA ALEXANDRA TORRES
    “The open window” is an interesting tale, because the main feeling that we can observe is irony. It is to say, the dramatic irony when Mr.Nuttle realizes that Sappleton’s husband and brothers are not ghosts. Also the tale is very good, because Saki shows us how the terror and the fright can create imaginations in our mind, for example when Mr. Nuttle believes they are ghosts , when he saw them.
    On the other hand, “The open window” is a mysterious story, because it makes the reader want to know more about the story, for example if Sappleton’s husband and brothers have died during their shooting day. But, at the end: readers realize that is a fictional situation that turns out in a hilarious one based on a lie tld by the young girl.

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  45. this story was very confusing and i cant figure out what the setting of the whole story is?

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  46. I have a project to my college...,
    Can anyone help me???
    I need an alternative climax for this story....
    Its urgent...
    Thankz in advance ...........

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  47. “The open window”

    “The open window” a phrase with many possible meanings, the first thing that came to my mind when I read the title was the word “opportunities” because we are always looking for an open window or door to find the opportunity to show something, to work or obtain a place in the world which makes us helpful and productive people, it is clear my definition was in a figurative way but when I read the story I realized it was totally literary; an open window, it existed, it was a real window: a French one.

    At the beginning of the story, I thought all the information Vera gave Mr. Nuttel was true I believed the story about her aunt’s tragedy, and how her husband and brothers disappeared three years ago without leaving any track, especially because she used face expressions that convince about what she was telling. It was admirable how a little girl could have that great imagination and how she was able to involve the people in her lies or stories, Vera an intelligent girl who invented for her own amusement or maybe because it flowed spontaneously without thinking in the hurt she could provoke.

    I liked the story because I was involved in Vera’s lie, I believed all the story she invented, just at the end I realized the girl was a magnificent liar by maintaining a conversation as natural as possible made it the most real event.

    Fabiola

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  48. THE OPEN WINDOW
    By saki

    “Spectacular”. This is the word that best describes what I think about this short story, taking into account what I consider was the main objective -to arouse feelings and expectations about what would happen because of the niece’s frivolous behavior, that is to say, her way of talking about “the disappearance” of the victims. Actually, the beginning of the story did not captivate me. However, the way in which the author developed the tale leads me to say that it was a “spectacular” story. The irony and the climax were the characteristics that I highlight the most.

    Firstly, the irony is that both the characters in this story take the first impressions of one another. Mr. Nuttle believed what the niece said, and she thought that he would believe what she was going to say to him.

    Alternatively, another irony in "The Open Window" is the open window itself, because when we see an open window that is symbolic of honesty. Yet, it is used to deceive Mr. Nuttle with the story of Mrs. Sappleton's lost husband and brothers who left through the window and never returned. The niece was joking on poor Mr. Nuttle who was "resting" due to some type of mental instability, and he was making a formal visit in order to help the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing. It is further ironic in that everything Mrs. Sappleton remarks about her husband and brothers out hunting is taken differently by Mr. Nuttle. He was horrified at the way she spoke because he believed that they had suffered a tragedy.

    In addition, the climax was the sudden reaction and departure of Mr. Nuttle when the men returned through the window, as well. The niece was able to explain his fight by saying he merely was afraid of the dog while in reality he believed they had come from the afterlife.

    All these reasons are an explanation of why I found this tale a “spectacular” story. Just playing with my imagination was tremendous, since I would never have expected that final.

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  49. Comment about “THE OPEN WINDOW” by Saki

    Firstly, I would like to mention that the first idea that came to my mind with regard to the meaning of the tittle was an unfortunate tragedy suffered by a family, based on the picture on the top of the story. Nonetheless, the original setting of this fact was developed by a man who was in the countryside as a rest cure for his nerves, was talking to a girl. Actually, the plot began when the girl told him that her aunt's husband and two young brothers were drowned in the marshes while out shooting several years ago.

    Taking into account those aspects, this story involves a series of hair-raising and terrific events in which a girl with mental problems caught the attention of a naïve man saying that people who were dead, would come back, and for that reason, she always kept the window open. However, we can find a man that never realized about the world of lies in which he drove around.

    To sum up, we can deduce that in our society, perhaps, we can find the same situation lived by a group of people or simply by a single person that believes everything he/she hears of others but does not keep in mind possible assumptions or lies they are telling him/her, and becomes such as an innocent man or woman, making inappropriate decisions.

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  50. When I read the title, the first thing that came to my head was that this story would be about a magic rare window, but after I saw the image, all my perception changed, so all that I thought was that the story would take place in the time of the industrial revolution or maybe in the the civil war, where some guards went house by house looking for men in order to killed them; next, when I read the first paragraph, I just said what’s going on? Because sincerely I understood nothing, so I had to read it couple of times to be able to understand what the narrator talked about.

    Talking about the story, I realize that this is a very good structured plot because the narrator takes us into a great story that is nothing more than a big lie, and it is so well structured that while you read you never notice that all that happen in the narrative is just a huge lie, and for me it was great, because, after I read all the story, it took me more than 20 minutes to figure out that all was a lie, and finally, I understood what was the story about it.

    To conclude, it is important to highlight the great talent and the wonderful ability of Saki to create and narrate a very good and complete tale in no more than three pages; without forgetting that this plot gives us a great and very useful moral, which I summarize in “never believe everything you hear”.

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  51. Firstly, when I read the title, it did not give me any clue about what it would be about it, actually, my reading expectations were quite low, but after seeing the photography, I tried to picture the relationship between both (photography and title). Thus, I realized that “The Open Window” might be a sort of symbolism or a smart game of words. In my opinion, an open window expresses a lot of recursive ideas, for instance: a great deal of opportunities, new chances in real life; being more explicit “The best is yet to come”.

    Related to the whole story, I can say that it is totally unlike from what I expected. It was very strange;my mind was confused because I never thought that a beautiful teenager would be able to have such a brilliant ideas to confuse people, with his imaginary and amazing stories which were even believed by all of them. With Vera’ stories my imagination was also able to fly away, this young girl who invented an amazing tragedy maybe for entertaining herself or only make others fear, I do not know what was her purpose with that kind of behavior, but I want to say that Vera’s ‘’dark humor’’ was the thing that I liked the most.

    To conclude, I loved the writer´s style because it was a mixture between terror, fiction and comedy, Saki dramatized here the conflict between reality and imagination, putting together all of these smart ingredients that made of the story a brilliant piece of literature. In addition, I want to say that with Vera I learned a huge lesson: we must check the validity of a story before we trust it completely; I have to admit it,sometimes I fell into people’s lies, not before asking myself if people are being honest or by contrast, are lying to me.I really enjoyed my reading time.

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  52. I begin saying that, when I first read the title I imagined such a portal linking to a mysterious place where rare things happened. Curiosity invaded me leading my enthusiastic spirit to discover those strange events and unknown setting. I confess, at the very first paragraph I scanned I got lost, I asked myself, what on Earth! What is the author talking about? Then I re-read twice trying to make sense of this fantastic story. Anyway, I continued overrunning the lines, afterwards with the writer source of subplot I understood the narrative.

    It is curious that a young girl named “Vera” can trick a man with so big and new-born lies. I have to acknowledge that those were not fool inventions, they were well elaborated and the way she acted out was totally convincing. “A person lies every ten minutes of talking”, but we might have a much trained brain to remember all the creations and keep them in a close relation in order to avoid being nabbed. Sometimes people romance some facts with the purpose of bothering friends or for getting benefits, in different situation they are not necessary. But, when we get accustomed to fib, we could become as the “liar shepherd”.

    To finish, although the storyteller is not clear giving a moral, I can infer that teenagers intend to tell lies. Maybe they want to obtain some forbidden things by changing the reality. That is where prohibitions lead them to. I remember myself creating expensive events (in my mind) to get some extra money from my parents when my bill was so tough. That is to say we must corroborate all we hear from no matter who is talking to us. In any moment an unconscious can drive us crazy or just fool by believing in whatever idea s/he builds from his/her crooked imagination.

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  53. “THE OPEN WINDOW”

    I would say that when I read the title I imagined a story of mystery, due to the picture I could admire at the very beginning, I observed in a detailed way the characters and the setting, specially that French open window. Indeed, I was excited because I could envision a story full of strange moments with an unexpected end.

    On the other hand, “The Open Window” written by Saki (H. H. Munro) showed us as readers his brilliance, writing short stories in just some pages and involving us in a misfortune invented by a girl called Vera who had a unique purpose; amuse herself using lies to scare others in this case was Mr. Nuttel, but after a deep reading searching the unknown vocabulary through my dictionary I realized it was an invention. However, I would like to share with you that I believed in Vera’s story too, she really convinced me, but at the same time I felt tricked because it was horrible how a girl was able to invent it in an easy and comfortable way just using an open window and her family.

    To conclude, I learnt from this false tragedy that it is important to be sure about what other people are telling us because of sometimes they can change some things of the tale to terrify without thinking if that could affect or hurt us.

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  54. The Open Window
    Once, i heard from a close friend that life must be taken easy, that nothing must affect us to the point of making us feel scared of living. That life is a long term joke…
    Sometimes, I sit to think about how I should assume my everyday, of how to face all the challenges coming up. I don’t know If taking them as a ‘’joke of life’’ would be a proper way but, I consider it is a ‘’nice tag’’ though.
    Now, If I refer to the writing, the word ‘’prank’’ would certainly be more proper to describe the facts there took place. This is, how the young girl thought it would be ‘’funny’’ to trick this disturbed man without measuring the results of her immature facts.
    Sometimes, we think a bit of fun would be good in order to ‘’make our day’’ but, what if my facts get somebody hurt, what if the consequences are bigger than the deal itself ?
    Life is something that cannot be taken so serious (sometimes), however, no matter what we do, or how we act, we cannot overstep all bounds because, as it is said: ‘’my freedom ends up where others’ begins’’.

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  55. "The open window” by Saki.
    I would say that for me it is an awesome, creepy and exciting story. Furthermore, I have to say that it is really interesting the way that Saki wrote such a nice and complete short story in just 4 pages, it is difficult to understand because the author not only told the tale in a nice way but also he involved me as a reader and I felt victim of the plot.
    With this short story learned bunches of values and also it made me think about how a person independently if is a boy, girl or an adult can betray us in an easy way, for that reason you have to be too selective and classify good your friends, because it is so difficult trusting people without knowing how they an act in front of several circumstances of our life.
    In addition, I have to say that the climax for me was at the end of the tale "Romance at short notice was her specialty." I liked it, because that part contextualized me as a reader and, it was in that moment that I realized the meaning of the story. Saki used a part of irony aspect that makes his story really nice and it was a pleasure for me to read it, the work of Saki attracted my whole attention," The open window” has been one of my favorite tales.
    Nataly Guarin.

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  56. “The Open Window”By: Saki (H.H Munro)

    Before reading all the tale , the title showed me a perspective of a fantasy story , I also observed the image for some minutes and I connected my supposition with the content of the image that I assumed it was in the ancient time because of the clothes that the characters of the picture were wearing. The phrase “the open Window” to my way of thinking was a magical portal because of the people of the image on which some of them were at one side of the window and the other were on the outside as if they were coming, for that I supposed that people who entered through the window something sublime would to happen them.

    Within the pure view of this explanation, I would say I'm impressed by the order of the events , specially by the author’s ability of writing in 2 pages a humorous and entertaining story, I liked the plot and how the creativity of the author involve the reader. I have to confess when I read the story for first time “ Miss Vera” also deceived me, just when I read twice I realized that every line was a big lie.

    To conclude I should tell to you, what were my reactions, I laughed too much by the involvement that I had in the reading of the tale, I never imagined that this author could entail in my mind and make my imagination flies, now I feel as a victim of the lie developed by Miss Vera, the young girl that I consider she was a good storyteller but adding she was a perfect liar and a majestic actress that became this story in a funny one.

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  57. “The Open Window” is a short-story written by Saki, Hector Hugh Munro, a British writer known as a master of short-stories with surprising endings. And this is exactly like this story finishes, with an excellent, funny and astonishing closing impossible to envisage during any moment throughout the reading. Even the title gives the reader a carte blanche to presume the plot. Me, personally, I thought that the tale was about a family who always received different kind of visitors who entered the house using the big window which was always wide opened waiting for the people to go across it. Naturally, I got wrong, as I suppose all my classmates did.

    I cannot mention just one aspect that I had loved the most about “The Open Window” because it was highly captivating from the very beginning, hence I will mention a list of things I found outstanding once I understood the story (as I have to admit that I did not get it until the second reading). Firstly, Vera, the main character, when talking of her it is absolutely necessary to congratulate Saki because being able to create such a persona with such a personality it is an achievement of huge creativity. Secondly, as I just mentioned it, Vera’s personality as she is shown as a sociable girl who just wanted to talk a little with the poor stranger who was a bundle of nerves but it is just in the end when we realize that in fact she was a bad teenager who loved making up stories and playing jokes on others. Thirdly, Vera’s tremendous ingenuity to take advantage of the man’s situation and invent a tale that she knew it was going to be perfect if she wanted to blow up his nerves. Fourthly, the sudden alteration of the story genre since it starts being a “paranormal” short story to become in a hilarious one (at least for me it was). In Fifth place and as I gave my opinion in class, the possibility which gave Saki of finding another background to the tale where Mrs. Sappleton and Vera were accomplices in playing that joke on Mr. Nuttel so that he did not rest in the countryside. Finally, the names’ meaning that Saki used with the characters: Mr. Nuttel and Vera, where “Nuttel” comes from the word “nuts” which means crazy; and “Vera” which comes from the word “veracity” that means truthfulness, and in this case the writer played with the girl’s name ironically giving it to a persona with a quite deceitful identity.

    To sum up, I want to say that “The Open Window” succeed at making part of my list of “Favorites Tales” I have read due to the diverse aspects that made catch my attention during the reading and also that caused that curiosity of analyzing deeply every aspect of it as the second background and the reason why some characters had those names. It is a story that I would recommend to any person who is interested in reading and in having an entertaining time as I had it.

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  58. The title of this tale did not tell me to much when I started to read it. At the beginning, I was kind of confused because all the unknown vocabulary it contained, so I had to read it twice for understanding what was the story about, and other twice for figuring out the tale’s sense. I recognize it was rather hard because of the language style the author used, but I also admit once I understood the story I died of laughing. “The open window” is for me, the kind of story I like reading because it mixes humor and horror, these two aspects I always take them into account, not just for reading but for watching movies as well. It is not very common to find girls who love everything about dread stuffs, like me, who have always been interested in paranormal things. This tale made me feel a little bit as if I were inside the story.

    Otherwise, talking about the story itself, I give a big applause to Vera, she has such an incredible imagination and ability to act or… lie?? I do not judge her behavior facing Mr. Nuttel, maybe she was just entertaining her mind and her ability to invent anecdotes, maybe it was merely a coincidence that Mr. Nuttel arrived when she had decided to practice her talent using a dread topic. I am not justifying this girl, but I find that poor man was so naïve for trusting on all her ideas, even if she was very astute, Mr Nuttel was not a child neither for being tricked. This girl has a promising future in Hollywood clearly.

    Finally, I agree that “Saki” is definitely a master of literature. I would like to read more about his short-stories. I really liked too much because of the effect it caused on me. The feelings author wanted to transmit I felt them and for me that is the main purpose.

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  59. ‘The open window’ is a short story written by Hector Hugh Munro, best known by his pen name: Saki. A story about a nervous man who has to come to the countryside to rest due to his health problems, he goes to visit one of his neighbors and while he is waiting Mrs. Sappleton, he is having a conversation with the lady's niece who makes him a terrible prank, an unexpected ending that will surprise the reader. The first time I read the title, I thought it was going to be a fantasy story about the adventures of the main character when crossing a magic open window, a story surrounded by secrets and spells.

    There were many aspects that I really loved from the story. First, the description of the characters as well as the tone printed in their dialogues, it allowed me to have in my mind a picture of them and gave me a signal to be ready for the unimaginable twist of the story; for example, at the beginning of the story, Mrs. Sappleton’s niece said: “Then you know practically nothing about my aunt? - pursued the self-possessed young lady”; it was a relevant statement to prepare the reader for an astonishing ending. I got it with the first reading and I thought it was perfect; Saki did a great job, his creativity and humor was reflected throughout the story. Second, the subtle changes of the genre, the story started such as a horror one as Vera told Mr. Nuttel the terrible tragedy that happened in her family, then it changed to a humorous story as Mr. Nuttel ran away frightened because of Vera’s joke. Third, I was fascinated by the way the author finished the short story: “Romance at short notice was her specialty”, this line presented Vera as a mischievous young girl and revealed that she had tricked Mr. Nuttel.

    Personally, I enjoy reading this kind of stories because it allows me to see beyond the simple characters’ lives, it lets examine the story from a complete perspective as there is a wide range of secrets aspects inside the story; for instance, Vera’s hidden intentions; therefore, is quite interesting to read a story that has the power of catching your attention from the very beginning, and make the reader analyze it deeply. Finally, I appreciate the author’s compromise to the story, Saki really was able to transmit the characters’ feelings and emotions; now, I understand why he is called the master of short stories in Britain, he is worthy of such an important title.

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  60. Firstly, when I read the title, the first thought that came to my mind was that someone was waiting for somebody and thus, the person looked through the open window. Maybe that is a simple expectation but the title was clear and also the image given by the tale gave us that clue. In addition to the expectation, I could imagine that this story was going to be gloomy.

    According to the story, this is about a man who wants to know a woman because he thinks of knowing people could help him to cast aside the depression, but when he arrives to Mrs. Sapplenton’s house, her beautiful niece told him a terrible tragedy; then, he finds out that a great misfortune has happened three years ago where had been involved the husband, the brothers and the dog of this smart woman in an October afternoon, thus, the woman kept an open window to wait for them. Knowing that they could not come back, that day they did it and this crazy man ran away without realising that the gorgeous lady had invented the story only to tease him.

    As we have seen, this story tries to drive us mad at the first time, but when we concentrate ourselves and try to read it again; we can notice that the tale itself gives us some clues to hit the target ending without going to the final part of the story. Saki played with our minds but only some of the readers could guess if the tragedy told by Vera was a true story or not. I arrive to the conclusion that the author not only wanted to tell a creepy and untrue story, but he wanted to show that when you bother somebody, this person could make your life a mess with some simple words. Consequently, I loved this tale and I could read it time and time again.

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  61. Nixon Florez

    Saki describes “The Open Window’s story” as the basic human mocking nature in which wit and imagination and also intelligence make fun of the innocence and ignorance of other demonstrating that the upper minds are feared by the inferior ones.
    It is noticeable how the author plays with two ages and their characteristics and differences. Firstly, Mr. Framton who is searching friendship and someone to chat with and whose sufferings and age only subject him into reality, honesty in words and facts and a relief in his decline period. Likewise Vera’s family members who are involved in Vera’s fantasy and later on are victims of her ingenuity when depicting a different and horrific story about Mr. Framton. Secondly, Vera whose imagination and creativity grounded on real facts let her orally forms her own literature and abilities to recount a lie as a truth or real fact as a fantasy or even create a legend. While reading I could perceive that the author lived in a strict and society of habit that functioned on absurd ways and protocols. But Saki criticizes these aspects of that world, nay; “The Open Window” is a critic of that non-sense and absurd society whose change only can be got by taking things more amusing and not believing everything is told.
    Finally, I would like to state that this British writer has made of “The Open Window” he open window a fantastic and ingenious work that criticizes absurdity and people’s innocence without criteria to cast doubt on everything around.

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  62. The Open Window
    At the very beginning when I read the title I immediately thought that it was a horror story, I got an idea about the book, since an open window can be another dimension, in which everything can happen Consequently, those elements motivate and capture the reader to go deeper into the reading.
    Mr. Nuttel is a man who is forced to move to another town due to his mental illness with a letter of introduction of his sister, in order to take a rest, to get better. This plot moves towards an unreal story told by Vera, an English lady, who uses her imagination to create romances all the time. The day he arrives finds this girl who relates to Mr. Nuttel the terrifying tragedy about her family. He listens very carefully and believes every word this young woman says, he seems convinced and petrified about it. Afterwards, Mrs. Sappleton come into the house, and tells this man that her husband and young brothers are coming after hunting in the forest. Mr. Framton does not understand anything, when he sees three men outside walking to the house, when suddenly, he gets away completely scared and mentally disturbed without any reason.
    In other words, I can infer that the author made a good job writing this book, I also consider that Munro had a lot of creativity and cleverness at writing, due to the settings, the features of each character, because they were accurately created. Another point to take into account, is that we as readers can perceive the author’s personality, the way he writes, the way he puts their characters on scene and their function in the narration. To conclude, I think that “The Open Window” is an unusual but fascinating work, owing to the sequence of events, settings and also the flashbacks that catch the reader’s attention.

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  63. At the beginning of this story called “The Open Window”, I read the title and it seemed romantic to me, I thought that it was the way that two lovers saw themselves, secretly. I imagined that the girl let the window opened so her lover could enter at night. Maybe because of their parents’ prohibition. However, when I began reading, all I had in mind about the story had changed completely. First, “The Open Window” was not romantic, it was more like a comedy. Second, the beginning was confusing, I could not understand it until I had read the whole story and connect all the events given by the author. Finally, the story did not have a happy ending, here in “The Open Window” the “villain” was the winner. Vera who was a liar, able to create a story in seconds, stayed innocent in front of her family after she had told a false story to Mr. Nuttel about why the window was open.

    On the other hand, I cannot deny I liked “The Open Window”. I really loved Vera’s character. Initially, Saki showed us Vera as an innocent girl, unable to do anything evil. I believed she was like a glass, very transparent. However, taking into account her behavior against Mr. Nuttel and her ability to make up stories, she is as dangerous as a double-edged sword. We did not know what expect about her. Although, Vera, the joker and actress, is considered as the villain in the story, she represents what I am not. When I try to lie in something I am so evident. People realize whether I am lying or not because of my expressions, gestures, etc. I consider that the story would not be the same without Vera, for me nothing would have sense. She was the key to the story’s development.

    As a final remark, this story opens our eyes about what we think and expect of people just because of their physical appearance. We cannot believe everything we hear. In addition, Saki is a genius writer, I really enjoyed his style and how he shows reality in a funny way. Moreover, I like the way he engaged and played with us as readers. I would never have expected that ending.

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  64. "The Open Window" by Saki, is a short and confusing story about a young man, Framton Nuttel, who was sent to the country to recover from a nervous breakdown. He, with only a letter of introduction in his hands, decided to visit a woman named Mrs. Sappleton with whom his sister once stayed, and he is greeted by the woman’s young niece. After the niece learned that Mr. Nuttel hardly knew anything about her family or the neighborhood, the young decided to make a terrible prank, in which she related a terrifying story, which initially for the reader did not have anything of mystery until reading the end. The first time I read the title I thought I have understood it, I knew something was behind the open window, perhaps a story with a lot of meaning, but I never expected to find such a confusing and unexpected story, and I had to read it a second time to understand it completely.

    This is a story whose purpose is to show the everyday deception that people are exposed to, and sometimes for being naive they fall without realizing. The moral value that lies behind each line tells us that we should never believe anything that we hear without a clear evidence or make sure beforehand. Besides, we must re-check the information and this will avoid us from being deceived. Undoubtedly, this story is a sarcastic one to people who easily believe in anything from anybody.

    Personally, I had fun reading these stories because it allowed me to have a deeper insight, and a critical analysis of the things that actually happen and cannot be seen with the naked eye. I admit that before I had finished reading, I believed in what Vera had said, and I expected a completely different ending, but I understood that this type of changes in the story are the ones that make them more attractive to the reader. After meeting not only the story but also the reader's life, I can say that the name given to Saki as “the master of short stories” is undoubtedly worthy of him.

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  65. “The Open Window” by Saki is a story about a guy named Framton Nuttel, who apparently has moved to the countryside on his doctor´s advice in order to effect a cure for a condition from which he suffers. Turns out that his sister has lived in the area and has given him some letters of introduction to his new neighbors. One of them is Mrs. Sappleton, but he is first met by her niece, Vera, who talks to him while her aunt arrives. When Vera finds out that Mr. Nuttel knows nothing about her aunt, she tells a story about Mr. Sappleton and his two brothers in law, how they died and why the window is always open. She characterized her aunt as a mentally disturbed widow that hopes that her men enter someday through that window again as they used to. At the end, the three men in fact arrived and Mr. Nuttel leaves the house terrified, thinking that they were ghosts but the truth is that Vera made up the whole story and again makes up another one to explain Mr. Nuttel´s behavior and why he has left that way.

    This is a very interesting short story, in which we realize how the author plays with us, the readers. At the beginning I thought it was a horror story, and in fact, it kind of scared me when reading, but then it came to my mind that it was a funny story instead. Although none of the characters laughs, it is part of what is funny. Vera not only has a vivid imagination and a mischievous nature, but she has a wild sense of humor. I could imagine her face at the end of the story, just like in the video, with that innocent smile of hers that is more creepy than cute! I know that when Vera was telling the story, she should have been laughing on the inside. Actually, she may be having a very hard time to keep from laughing out loud, because I do not think she expected that Mr. Nuttel was going to fall for that.

    I really liked this story, and I find it very different from what I have read before. It gave me a throwback to my childhood, in which we did lots of things out of creativity and innocence. Sometimes I made up stories, not as extreme as Vera´s, but in the same mischievous way, so people believe in what I was saying. Though Vera is not as innocent as one would think, I consider this is her way to amuse herself. She does not seem to have many friends, if any, and she has to do her best to avoid boredom. Vera is a good actress and a good story-teller too. She must have been planning to fake that look of "dazed horror" from the very beginning, because she knew what was going to happen. I even think she might have told the same story to another visitor before. I just hope I never meet anyone like her in my entire life.

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  66. “The Open Window”

    This story presents an unexpected denouement to come. So, it is about a young lady named Vera who lives in her aunt’s house, Mrs. Sappleton. Briefly, she uses her imagination and astuteness to create romances and upset someone’s sensibility. Then, one day she receives a new guest (victim): Mr. Nuttel who constantly suffers nerves episodes and who decides to go to a retreat and rest because of an order of his doctor. He came into this house by a letter of introduction from his sister but he only knows the name and the address of the hostess: Mrs. Sappleton. So, when he arrives he finds Vera, who takes advantage of his situation, and she begins to dream up a tragedy and horror story about her aunt’s husband and family. So, Mr Nuttel came into her game, taking him to a total immersion of an intense panic until he has to run out of the house at the end.

    When reading, the author’s cleverness is evident, because we as readers got inside the story and he plays with our sensitivity and makes us feel the same as any of the characters. Besides, he gives particular aspects to each one of them that readers find hard to identify the main character.

    Another point I would like to emphasise, is the fact he has been influenced by others authors, for example, we can appreciate in the reading that the main character is a fifteen young lady with a ridiculous creative ability to improvise unreal tales. So, as we know he has written comedy version of “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll and probably Vera was inspired in Alice who also was a teenage girl who used to dream about an unreal world in her mind (dreams).

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  67. "The Open Window" written by the British writer Saki. The first thing I thought when I read the title was I suppose to know what it is about: it is relating to a house with a window where you can see everything, and you can know what is happening around them; but when I looked in detail the image, my perspective changed ; I thought it was a big picture but in high definition because of its dimensions and the people who were in there, they were looking at it; Anyway, none of the expectations that I thought about the story were accurate.
    Regarding to the story, it is amazing how the author plays with two characters and their characteristics and differences; where the difference of ages and personalities make the plot of the story more interesting. The attitude is "Vera" who seems to be innocent, but actually it was not, because she knew the situation of Mr. Nuttel) instead of providing an aid to heal or improve his health, what she did was to manipulate his thoughts and emotions, since, she can persuade him about the reality of a story that never happened and to run away terrified from that place. Moreover, Mr. Nuttel was a serious and old man, who is betrayed by his mind and his nerves, he was afraid, and thought to have confirmed what Vera was saying was true, but he did not look for the means to corroborate it, so, he preferred to run away before things could get worse.
    For me, the story was good, because it is not as predictable as I thought; furthermore, when one knows about the life of the author and mostly about his childhood, one can deduce that this situation could have lived, but it distorts some information and modifies the characters; I also think it is a way in which the author criticizes these aspects of the world in which he lived. Differently, this story caused me fear, as I discovered the ease of some people to invent and lie to others and also made me laugh as I perceived in the story a naïve old man.

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  68. "The Open Window"

    It is a short story written by Saki that took place in an English home room which turns around three main characters Mr. Nuttel, who suffers a nervous illness; Mrs. Sappleton; and Miss Vera who is a 15 years old lady and Ms. Sappleton’s niece.

    Mr. Nuttel arrived with a letter of introduction, written down by his sister, to Sappleton’s rural house in order to socialize with them. When he finally arrived to their house he met Miss Vera. He asked about her aunt. She took advantage of his ignorance about her family and told him that there was a tragic story about her aunt’s brothers and husband who had been killed in a shooting accident. Then, Mr. Nuttel was curious about the open French window. She explained him that the window was all time open, being that her aunt always thought that they would come home soon. Suddenly, when she finished of telling this story difficult to believe, Mrs. Sappleton placed next to Mr. Nuttle and told him that her husband and brothers were about to come home. He thought, she was deranged and tried to distract her in order to get out of that house as soon as possible. She insisted they were coming and pointed out the window through which some silhouettes of three men and a dog were coming close. Mr. Nuttel thought they were ghosts, got scared and finally run away. And the end, Mrs. Sappleton asked to her niece why he had run away to which Miss. Vera replied “because he is scared of dogs”.

    At the very beginning, when I read the title of the story and saw the image of it, I thought that it was a touching story about a charitable family, with lots of money who helped people in need by giving them food and shelter. Furthermore, I think that it is a catching and interesting story. Nevertheless, I think it is a little bit difficult to understand at the first time because of its complexity. I had to read this story three times in order to understand it in an appropriate way but at the end, I realized that it was an interesting story.

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  69. “The open window” is a story which does not present a chronological order because there are some flashbacks. However, these flashbacks enhance the story leading the reader to imagine each secondary event which is related to the plot. The story is about two characters, a fifteen-year-old girl called Vera and a man named Framton Nuttel. They are so different: she is an adolescent girl, member of the family, and he is a man about middle age who visits them. She invents a story about “The open window” with the purpose of frightening Mr, Nuttel and he believes it.
    In considering "The Open Window" it is really important to take into account that this is a funny story in which the characters do not laugh but that each physical movement and facial expression give a comical sense to the story. Clearly, Vera had a mischievous essence and an untamed sense of humor because she is who gives meaning to the story. In my view, she is very creative and has a great imagination and skill to act and to persuade people because Nuttel’s reaction was surprising. However, Vera had to do the best effort to avoid laughing in front of Nuttel and her aunt and not to be discovered.
    It is one of the most interesting works that I have read because one is scared as we are reading the story but at the end when we understand it, we do deep breathing and laugh. In other words, as Mr. Framton Nuttel was cheated by Vera, so were we. For me, the moral is that we must not believe all what people say especially if we do not know them because we could look ridiculous or be laughed at. It is essential to think before acting.

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  70. “The open window” written by Saky is a short story that revolves around three main characters: Mr. Nuttel, Miss Vera, and Mr. Sappleton. Mr. Nuttel was a man who decided to visit Mr. Sappleton’s house as he wanted to go to a place where he could rest, avoid mental excitement, or anything in the nature of violent physical exercise. When he finally arrived to the house, he met Mr. Sappleton’s niece, Vera, an apparently lovely child that was waiting for her aunt. During his wait, Vera started doing questions to the old man about his visit in order to take advantage of his ignorance and have fun at his expense for a while.
    At that moment, Vera started talking about the reasons why a big window in the middle of the living-room had its doors opened, and invented a horror story in which her aunt’s husband, her two brothers and their dog have died in a shooting day. Vera, using every detail of the customs of the family made the naïve man believe that all of them were dead, and her poor aunt, was a little crazy. Due to her lost, she used to leave the window opened with the hope of their return. That day, precisely at that moment, the three men and their dog were coming back of a shooting journey, and the poor Mr. Nuttel thought they were coming back from the dead. This fact scared him to death and made him run away from the house without knowing the truth.
    This story was a meaningful experience to me. First, I admire the author’s wisdom to write such a perfect story; second, it is just amazing the way the author play with the readers. Personally, I felt like a fool because this story sent chills to my spine while I was reading it for the first time, and even I had to read it again because I felt that something was wrong with it. It is curious the way everything fits perfectly, the characters’ personality, the description of the context and the image of course. This is a short story, but it does not really matter because the author provides to the readers the amount of specific information necessary to contextualize, understand, distract and amuse themselves. It was just awesome!

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  71. 'THE OPEN WINDOW'

    ‘The open window’ is a short story written by Hector Hugh Munro, ‘Saki’. A story about a man with health problems who has to come to the countryside to rest and to have a quiet life. He goes to visit one of his neighbors that was recommended by his sister. In the first visit, while he is waiting for Mrs. Sappleton, he has a conversation with the lady's niece who makes him an incredible prank, and he believes all like an innocent boy; besides, this story has an unexpected ending that will surprise the reader. The first time, I read the title, I imagined, a fantasy story about the adventures, secrets, spells and other dimension with fantastic creatures and monsters crossing a magic open window.

    There were some interesting aspects in the story. First, when the author shows two contrasts. The audacity of a 15-year old girl to persuade, and the innocence of a man to be convinced by a young lady, for this reason, 'Saki' did an excellent job, due to he reflected his creativity and humor throughout the story. Second, how the story changes the plot, because it begins with the tragic story told by young lady and it ends with the humorous reaction of Mister Nuttel to Vera's joke. Finally, the way how the author finished the short story: “Romance at short notice was her specialty”, this line presented Vera as a mischievous young girl and revealed that she had tricked Mr. Nuttel.

    Personally, I love this story, because the author was able to transmit the characters’ feelings and emotions, and also, because 'Saki' got my attention, due to during the story I always was to the expectation for knowing the end.


    By Camilo Andres Casadiegos NIz

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  72. ‘’The Open Window’’ written by Saki, narrates the story of Framton Nuttel, a nervous and introvert man who has moved to the country in the hope of recuperating from a nervous breakdown. Shortly after his arrival, he resolves to visit Mrs. Sappleton, one of his neighbors, as he thinks it would keep his mind occupied during the healing process. However, while he is waiting for her to come downstairs, Vera (her young niece) confesses him that they kept the window open because her aunt's husband and her two brothers went on a hunting trip from which they never returned and she believes they will come in through that window at any moment. A few minutes later, Mrs. Sappleton shows up and announces the prompt arrival of her husband and brothers, fact that makes him believe that she suffers some form of mental disorder. However, to his horror, Mrs. Sappleton announces the arrival of her husband and brothers, and as a result, he runs away in terror with the certainty that he has experimented a paranormal event. Only at the end of the story, the reader realizes that Vera had deceived Mr. Nuttel since "romance at short notice was her specialty’’.

    When analyzing "The Open Window" I could notice a certain mixture of humor, satire and most importantly irony, which is presented throughout the entire story. On the one hand, there is a stark contrast between Vera’s personality (outgoing, confident, imaginative) and Mr. Nuttel’s one (shy, nervous, uninventive). On the other hand, it is also ironic that Mr. Nuttel had traveled to the countryside in search of peace and tranquility, but he ends up finding exactly the opposite. Another ironic situation is Vera's name which means "truth", a characteristic that is opposed to her real personality.

    Personally, this tale grabbed my interest from the very beginning as every single detail was carefully crafted and organized in such a way that the different events of the story are full of meaning and they smoothly transition between each other. Finally, I highly recommend it to suspense and mystery lovers.

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  73. “The Open Window” is a short story that unclothes Saki’s special talent for creating characters. First, there is a snarky young girl with a knack for spinning real facts at short notice and an ease for talking, who quickly creates on minutiae twisted and convincing romances with horrific effects. Then, we have a quirky nerve patient old man who comes to a village which he knows quite nothing about for the advice of his doctor.

    In outline, Mr. Nuttel went to mingle with Mrs. Sappleton, who he merely knew. He is let with Mrs. Sappleton’s niece named Vera, who he waited with until he could forgather with her aunt. The young lady perceived in Mr. Nuttel an object for one of her stories, as she was quick to determine that he distinguished nobody from the locality and thus she was unfettered to exploit her wit to make up a hardship that batted her aunt to scare the dung out of Mr.Nuttel for her proper beguilement. Vera stated that Mr. Sappleton, his two younger siblings and a canine exited the window on one occasion, disappearing and being quaffed by an obstreperous terrain or that is how she made it looked. When Mrs. Sappleton winded up to the rendezvous with Mr. Nuttel she emanated an optimist aura and ensured that her family would soon return, blowing the old man’s mind out space. Finally, the men and the mutt indeed came back, therein, Mr. Nuttel dashed out the door by which Vera fooled her family by tossing off another tale with calmly equanimity to untangle the man’s swift escape.

    “The Open Window” may seem a simple story, but is full of cleverness, which makes it a must read. Saki compiled reality and imagination, by exposing how a dexterous story-teller could do to one’s sanity, and the difficult it is to distinguish between reality and the unbelievable. Readers should aboard this narrative with sharp eyes due to the author’s use of language rams that can lead to a state of numbness being deception and the worst rundown the only option.

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  74. The Open Window

    As soon as I read the title, I imagined this story would be based on a romantic situation, in which a man often visited his lover, but he could not come into the home, so he must go to the window which was located at the back, where she was waiting for him. There, they talked about their future plans as a couple. In order to verify my suppositions about this story I started to read. However, I got completely lost because there was a lot of unknown vocabulary and it was difficult to understand. For that reason, I must read twice more to be able to comprehend what the author was talking about. Then, I could realize that what I thought and what the story really told was completely different.

    In “The open window”, the author tells the story mixing reality and fantasy to catch reader’s attention. That was shown through Vera’s intervention when she invented an astonishing story about her aunt’s tragedy in order to surprise Mr. Nuttel, who innocently listened to what she was saying and got immediately startled. In this way, Vera’s imagination lets us see something that is too common and frequent in our lives; lies. People use to lie to withhold important information, to excuse for something wrong, to avoid losing some right or position, to have a better image, or even to manipulate or confuse other person as the case that happened in this dazzling story, without thinking of the consequences that it can bring about. We can not say what was the true intention of Vera, but something is truly sure, Mr. Nuttel got scared of all the things he heard in that moment.

    As a conclusion, this story makes us reflect about how a person can seem to be good at first time, but she really hides something inside her. We must deeply know a person before believing in her words, because we can be victims of trickery or a lie that can affect us in a great deal. Thus, we must not entrust all we hear, but we have to verify if that is true or false, and in that way we are going to know with what kind of person we are related to.

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  75. “The Open Window” by Saki is a short story about a nervous young man called Framton Nuttlel, who has moved to the country for his health. This man seeks to be known and accepted in his new neighborhood and his sister helps him through some letters of introduction. However, he falls into the game of a little neighbor called Vera, who has a vivid imagination and a naughty nature. The theme of this story is dishonesty; while the moral value of this is never believe in something that you heard without clear evidence.
    In outline, Mr. Nuttlel goes to visit Mrs Stapleton, and while he is waiting for her to come down, he is entertained by Vera, her fifteen-year-old niece, who takes advantage of this situation creating a story about “The open window” with the aim Mr. Nuttel believes in it. She explains him that the French window is kept open because her aunt's husband and her brothers were killed in a shooting accident three years ago, and Mrs. Stapleton believes they will come back one day. Subsequently, Mrs. Stapleton comes down and she talks about her husband and brothers, and how they are going to come back. Suddenly, Mr. Nuttel sees them walking towards the window, he thinks he is seeing ghosts, and runs away while Vera invents another false story justifying the reason of this situation. In my view, this is a short but an amazing and original story. I have to accept that when I read it for the first time; I could not understand many details about it. Nevertheless, when I caught the sense of the whole story, I loved it due to the mixture of mystery and humor that is possible to find in it.
    “The Open Window” is a brilliant story because not only provides a good tone but also gives an unpredictable plot. We may think the story in some way, but at the end it turns out to be different than we originally thought. Finally, I appreciate how the author also gives us a lesson about not believe everything others tell us.

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  78. “The Open Window” by Saki, is an astonishing and incredible short story which illustrates how adult people sometimes are fooled by the sagacity of children. The story is all about Mr. Nuttel, a man who was having some nervousness troubles, then he decided to look for a retreat recommended by his sister in order to follow the doctors’ instructions: being calm and avoiding mental excitement. Therefore, when he arrived at Mrs. Sappleton´s house, a fifteen year old girl, named Vera, starts a conversation with him and she fooled him by telling him that Mrs. Sappleton’s husband died three years ago while a snipe shooting, accompanied by his two brothers in law, and a spaniel. She also told him that her aunt (Mrs. Sappleton) always kept the window open because she waited for them after the shooting every evening. Suddenly, Mrs. Sappleton maked her appearance and greet Mr. Nuttel, she began to talk about the arrival of her husband and her brothers but Mr. Nuttel ignored what she was referring to by talking about his illness; unexpectedly, the three people they were talking about appeared, causing fear and horror to Mr. Nuttel as he left the house immediately; then Vera explained the hurry of Mr. Nuttel to get out of that place by saying that Mr. Nuttel was afraid of the spaniel because he had horror of dogs.


    The argument of this story is surprising, because the author shows the irony of being fooled by people we do not expect to, for example the character of Vera, (even her name is an element of irony, because in Latin origin it means "true") who took advantage of Mr Nuttel because he did not know anything about her aunt´s life, and she started to play with him, maybe she did not know the reason why Mr. Nuttel was there, she just found amusing to scared him, without knowing the consequences that episode may cause to Mr. Nuttel’s health. Thus, Vera was just a young girl who loved telling “romances” where Mr. Nuttel was another victim, and at the end he suffered what he was trying to avoid, and that is another example of irony that the author used and the irony which the whole story was about.


    Personally, I really liked this short tale, because I think readers may have two different reactions: knowing that Vera was a liar and laugh because of her prank or being Mr. Nuttel at the time he watched the three figures coming to the open window; thus, at first reading I felt like Mr Nuttel, I get scared and the images that were coming to my mind gave me skeevies, but then, I realized that Vera was lying all the time. That is the reason why I love the story, because it has an unpredictable denouement and the last line explains everything.

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  79. The Open Window
    This story describes the facts that occur in a little town of England. The main characters are: a 15 years old girl; lady Vera Sappleton, her aunt and a man, Mr. Framton, the one who suffers of a nervous breakdown. This story begins with the arrival of this gentleman at Vera's home, he gives her a letter, in which he introduces himself, also his origin, where he comes from, and his relatives. So, he is received by lady Sappleton who realizes that he knows nothing about her neighbors, and neither about her aunt, so she decides to invent a horror story to terrify him.
    This young woman has a big astuteness; she creates a tragedy, in which her aunt loses her husband, her two brothers and her dog. They allegedly died in a bog of ground, in a shooting day three years ago, actually, she explains him that each dusk their spirits appear in front of the window. The man, listens to this tale, it was so much her honesty and security that he believed all her lies, then, he was completely scared and trembling, he could not control himself. Suddenly, her aunt goes down to the bathroom, she asks him, if he is not getting bored with the conversation of her niece. The man answers her that the girl is so interesting, but he really does not want to keep on talking about this event, I can say that this part is the funniest of the story, because Mr. Framton is naïve, since, lady Vera, in a short time, create a story so perfect and convincing that actually, some people could believe it.
    In fact, at the end of the story, the appearance of the aunt’s husband with her two brothers and her dog helps to confirm what Vera said to him, that everything was real. Without any exit, the man needed to leave Vera’s home, so he escaped without saying good bye.
    Finally, I can affirm, the imagination of human beings does not have limits, for this reason, I believe that is better to live alone, that with this kind of neighbors. I also can say that it is really difficult to trust on people, they can be persuasive and manipulate minds with their stories and in some cases use those abilities to steal material things from you.

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