The Open Window Summary in English by Saki

July 10, 2020 by Prasanna

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Open Window Summary in English by Saki

The Open Window by Saki About the Author

Author Name	Saki
Born	18 December 1870, Sittwe, Myanmar (Burma)
Nickname	H. H. Munro
Full name	Hector Hugh Munro

The Open Window Summary by Saki

The Open Window Summary in English

The narrator, Framton Nuttel had some nervous disorder. He needed complete rest and no mental excitement. He was advised to settle in the country for cure. When he was peparing to migrate to the country his sister gave him a few letters of introduction to all the people. She knew these. One was addressed to Mrs. Sappleton.

Framton called her house. He knew nobody else there. Mrs. Sappleton was upstairs. Her niece Vera received the stranger. He didn’t know whether Mrs. Sappleton was married or widowed. So the young girl, Vera decided to have some fun. She told him that the great mishap occurred some three years ago. She said that her aunt’s husband with her two young brothers and a dog had gone out for day’s shooting through the window. While crossing the grassland they sank into wet marshy ground. They never returned. Even their dead bodies could not be recovered.

Vera continued with her cooked up story. She said that poor aunt always kept the window open every evening. She thought that the hunting party would come back someday and enter through that window. Her husband carried a white waterproof coat while her youngest brother was in the habit of teasing her by singing “Bertie, why do you bound?’ Framton got frightened.

It was a relief to him when the aunt walked into the room. She hoped that the girl must have been amusing him. She added that the aunt was waiting for her husband and her two brothers to come home anytime. They would enter through the window and spoil her carpets with their muddy boots.

Framton made an effort to turn the talk to some other topic. So he started telling about his ailments. But the aunt’s eyes were constantly turning to the open window and the lawn. She looked feeling bored with his details of illness.

Suddenly she saw the party returning home just in time for tea. Framton also saw through the open window with horror. Three figures were walking towards the window. They all carried guns. One of them recited the song, saying, Bertie, why do you bound?

Framton took them all for ghosts. He collected his hat and stick. He ran out madly. He forced a cyclist run into a hedge.

Vera’s uncle enquired about the stranger. The aunt described him as an extraordinary man Mr. Nuttel, who could only talk about his illneses. Nuttel had perhaps, seen a ghost. But Vera said calmly that the stranger had a horror of dogs. Once the poor fellow had to spend the night in a grave with dogs growling above him.

Vera was good at finding occasions for fun.

The Open Window Summary in Hindi

वर्णनकर्ता फ्रेमटन नटेल को स्नायु संबंधी शिकायत थी। उसे पूरे विश्राम की जरुरत थी, मानसिक उत्तेजना की नहीं। उसे स्थान परिवर्तन करने की सलाह दी गई थी। उसकी बहिन ने उसे कुछ जानकारों को पत्र भी लिखकर दे दिये। एक पत्र था मिसेज सेपिलटन के नाम।

फ्रेमटन मिसेज सेपिल्टन के घर पहुंचा। वह उस गाँव के किसी भी अन्य व्यक्ति को नहीं जानता था। मिसेज सेपिल्टन ऊपर की मंजिल में थी। उनकी भतीजी वेरा ने उनका स्वागत किया। फ्रेमटन को यह भी पता न था कि महिला सधवा है या विधवा। वेरा ने कुछ मजा लेने का विचार किया। उसने उन्हें एक विपदा के बारे में बताया जो तीन वर्ष पूर्व घटी थी। उसकी चाची के पति तथा उसके दो छोटे भाई एक कुत्ता साथ लिये पक्षी शिकार को खिड़की से बाहर निकले थे। घास के मैदान को पार करते समय वे एक गीले दलदल में फँस गये। वे कभी वापिस नहीं लौटे। उनके शव भी नहीं पाये गये।

वेरा ने अपनी काल्पनिक कहानी सुनाना जारी रखी। वह बोली कि बेचारी आंट अब हर शाम खिड़की खुली रखती है। वह सोचती है कि शिकारी दल किसी दिन लौटकर आ जायेंगे और इस खुली खिड़की से प्रवेश करेंगें। उसके पति के हाथ में एक सफेद बरसाती कोट था जब, कि चाची के सबसे छोटे भाई की आदत थी कि गाने की एक पंक्ति गाकर वह बहन को चिढ़ाता रहता था।-बर्टी तुम भागती क्यों हो? फ्रेमटन को कैंपकपी हो गयी।

उसे राहत मिली जब चाची ने कमरे में प्रवेश किया। उन्होंने आशा व्यक्त की कि लड़की वेरा उनका मनोरजन अवश्य कर रही होगी। चाची बोली वह तो अपने पति तथा दोनो भाइयों के घर लौटने की प्रतीक्षा कर रही है। वे खिड़की से ही प्रवेश करेंगे तथा उसके गलीचे को कीचड़ सने जूतों से गंदा कर देंगे।

फ्रेमटन ने बातचीत का विषय बदलने का प्रयास किया। इसलिये उसने अपनी बीमारी का विवरण देना शुरु कर दिया। पर चाची की दृष्टि निरन्तर खुली खिड़की तथा लॉन की ओर बनी रहती थी। वह फ्रेमटन की बीमारी का विवरण सुनकर ऊब रही थी।

अचानक चाची ने दल को चाय के लिए ठीक समय घर लौटते देखा। फ्रेमटन ने भी खुली खिड़की से बाहर भयभीत दृष्टि से देखा। तीन व्यक्ति खिड़की की ओर आ रहे थे। सबके हाथों में बन्दूकें थी। एक बर्टी वाला गाना भी गा रहा था।

फ्रेमटन को लगा ये तो भूत हैं। उसने अपना हैट तथा छड़ी उठाई। वह बाहर की ओर भाग चला। उसने एक साइकिल चालक को भी डरा दिया जो बाड़ में जा टकराया।

वेरा के अंकल ने उस अजनबी के बारे में पूछताछ की। अंटी से बताया अजीब आदमी था मि० नटेल जो केवल अपनी बीमारी की ही बात करता था। नटेल ने शायद कोई भूत देख लिया था पर वेरा शांत स्वर में बोली कि अजनबी को वास्तव में कुत्ते से डर था। एक बार बेचारे को एक कब्र के अन्दर रात बितानी पड़ी थी और कब्र के ऊपर कुत्ते गुर्राते रहे थे।

वेरा को महारत हासिल थी कि वह मजाक का अवसर पैदा कर लेती थी।

The Open Window Summary and Analysis of The Open Window

Summary

Framton Nuttel is a single man in a new town. His sister has arranged for him to meet several of her acquaintances to prevent him from becoming lonely there. On one such visit, Vera, the 15-year-old niece of Framton’s latest host, Mrs. Sappleton, invites him to sit and wait with her while her aunt readies. As he waits, Framton anxiously thinks about an appropriate way to compliment the young girl while reserving the highest flattery for her aunt. However, before he can decide what to say, Vera breaks the silence and asks Framton whether he knows many people in town.

He admits to being a newcomer who knows “hardly a soul” and explains with a note of exhaustion that he is in the process of visiting all the contacts his sister made in the town four years ago when she worked at the rectory (225). When Vera asks how well he knows her aunt, he confesses that he doesn’t know much about her besides her address and name (225). After answering, Framton wonders to himself whether Mrs. Sappleton is married, and he notes signs of “masculine habitation” in the room (225).

After determining that her aunt is a virtual stranger to Framton, Vera decides to inform him of her aunt’s “great tragedy” which she states occurred three years ago, shortly after Framton’s sister left the town (225). Framton cannot imagine tragedy striking such a calm, country town, but nevertheless listens intently to Vera’s story.

Vera points to a large, open, French-Style window in the room and remarks how odd it is to keep it open on such a warm October afternoon. Curious, Framton asks whether the window relates at all to the tragedy. It does. Vera explains how three years ago her aunt’s husband and two young brothers exited through that window to go snipe-shooting. That summer was especially rainy, and all three of the men drowned in a “bog” while on their hunt (226). Tragically, nobody recovered the bodies; since that day, her aunt has kept the window open during the evening, ever-hopeful that her husband and brothers will one day return, hunting dog in tow, and walk back in through the window. Vera recounts the memories her aunt shared of the hunting trio: Mr. Stapleton’s white raincoat slung over his arm; the sound of her younger brother, Ronnie, teasingly singing to her “Bertie, why do you bound?” (226.) Vera finishes the tragic tale by confessing that on occasion she gets an eerie feeling that the men will actually appear at the window.

Just as Vera finishes her story, Mrs. Stapleton enters. She immediately apologizes for the open window and explains that she’s left it open for her husband and brothers who should soon return from shooting. She expects they’ll dirty her floors with their muddy shoes. Paying very little attention to her guest, Mrs. Stapleton continues to talk about shooting, lamenting how few snipe there are this season and expressing hope that winter will bring a healthy supply of ducks.

Framton listens, aghast at the grimness of the situation. He attempts to shift the conversation away from the hunting expedition, but Mrs. Stapleton cannot be redirected, frequently looking expectantly out the open window as she prattles on about hunting. In a final desperate attempt to shift the conversation, Framton explains the trouble he’s been having with his nerves. Mrs. Stapleton cannot contain her yawn as Framton details the differing medical opinions regarding the proper diet for a man in need of a “nerve cure” (225).

Suddenly, Mrs. Stapleton jumps to attention and excitedly remarks that the hunting party has finally returned. Unbelievingly, Framton looks to Vera, expecting to share with her a look of pity at the depth of Mrs. Stapleton’s delusions. But Vera does not return his gaze. Instead, she looks out, horrified, onto the lawn. Framton quickly turns towards the window and notices the silhouettes of three men, each armed, walking towards the house. One of them has a white coat draped over his arm; following just behind is the silhouette of a small hunting spaniel. The men enter the house and one of them sings out “Bertie why do you bound?”

At that moment, Framton grabs his belongings and bolts out of the house, narrowly escaping a collision with a passing cyclist on the street.

One of the men, presumably Mr. Stapleton, asks Mrs. Stapleton about Framton’s quick exit. She explains that the fleeing man is named Mr. Nuttel and wonders why he looked as though “he had seen a ghost” (227).

Just then, Vera interjects that it must have been the dog that frightened Framton. She then tells a short, extravagant story detailing Framton’s supposed deep phobia of dogs stemming from an awful incident in which a pack of dogs chased him through a South Asian cemetery and forced him to hide away all night in a freshly-dug grave.

Analysis

The story has a tripartite structure: the first part beginning with the conversation between Vera and Framton, the second with the entrance of the aunt, and the third with the return of the hunting party (Peltzie 703). Saki employs flashback to divide these three parts, interrupting the present with a story-within-a-story inspired by Vera’s imagined past. Like many of Saki’s stories, “The Open Window” features a surprise ending when the reader discovers that Vera, whose name signifies veracity (i.e. truth), is ironically anything but truthful (Marcus 4).

Just as Vera tricks Framton, so Saki tricks readers by leading them to believe that Vera is a credible storyteller. He does this in part by making Vera a young girl. In Saki’s time it was rare for a woman to be portrayed as “cunning” or “conniving” (Gibson 170-171). Rather, women and girls were frequently cast as the more trustworthy characters, whereas men and boys were the rascals. By casting the troublemaker as female in his story, Saki counters stereotypes about the proper way for young women to behave (Gibson 161).

Though this story does cast a girl as troublemaker, Vera’s brand of troublemaking is distinct from that of Saki’s male characters in other stories. She relies on her imagination to execute pranks whereas Saki’s boy characters usually rely on destruction or aggression (Byrne 195). Saki’s characterization of Vera also provides some clues to the careful reader about Vera’s true nature. Chief among them is his characterization of Vera as a storyteller whose specialty is “[r]omance at short notice” (Saki 227; Gibson 159). Critics have often understood Vera to be a representation of Saki himself and a “personification of narrative ‘authority’” (Gibson 159).

The Open Window Summary

Framton Nuttel is visiting the quiet English countryside in the hope of curing his nerves. Upon arriving at Mrs. Sappleton ’s home, he is greeted by her self-assured 15-year-old niece named Vera . Mr. Nuttel searches in vain for the proper greeting for a teenage girl, while privately lamenting that these meetings with strangers, arranged by his sister , likely won’t do him any good. Vera proceeds to ask her guest about his knowledge of the area and learns that Mr. Nuttel knows “next to nothing” about her aunt. Vera then points out a large, open window , and launches into a story about Mrs. Sappleton’s “great tragedy.”

Vera tells Mr. Nuttel that three years ago Mrs. Sappleton’s husband, two brothers, and spaniel left through that window for a hunting trip, during which they were all “engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog.” Vera includes specific details about the outing that all ground her tale, such as the white raincoat one man was wearing and how her uncle Ronnie sang “Bertie, why do you bound?” to tease his sister. Now, Vera says, her aunt keeps the window open because she believes the men will still come home. Vera adds that on quiet evenings, she gets a “creepy feeling” that the dead men will indeed walk through the window.

Just then Mrs. Sappleton enters the room, much to Mr. Nuttel’s relief, and asks her guest whether Vera has been amusing him. She proceeds to apologize for the open window, remarking that her husband and brothers enter the house that way after hunting trips to avoid dirtying the carpet. Mr. Nuttel grows horrified by her cheerful rambling about hunting, and attempts to change the subject by discussing his illness and various cures. He notices that Mrs. Sappleton’s eyes keep wandering toward the window, and considers it an “unfortunate coincidence” to have visited on such a tragic anniversary. Mrs. Sappleton barely stifles a yawn before “brightening to attention” to something outside.

Mrs. Sappleton excitedly remarks that her brother and husband have arrived just in time for tea. For a moment Mr. Nuttel pities her delusion, before catching a look of terror on Vera’s face. Turning to look out the window himself, he sees three men and a dog walking across the yard, one with a white raincoat slung over his arm and another singing “Bertie, why do you bound?”—just as in Vera’s story. Terrified, Mr. Nuttel sprints out of the house and down the driveway.

The men enter the home and the one with the white coat asks Mrs. Sappleton who the man running past was. She responds that he was a “most extraordinary gentleman,” who left without saying goodbye, in such a hurry that “one would think he had seen a ghost.”

Immediately Vera explains that Mr. Nuttel ran off because of the spaniel, adding that he is scared of dogs due to a traumatic incident in India. The story concludes with the line, “romance at short notice was her specialty.”