Dusk

Saki's protagonist, Norman Gortsby, believes that "Dusk, to his mind, was the hour of the defeated." Ironically, given that Norman is out at dusk, Norman is admitting that he, himself, is defeated....

The title "Dusk" and the description of dusk in London have a practical purpose in addition to establishing a scene and a mood. The young con man who sits down beside Gortsby has supposedly been...

This story is about the main character, Norman Gortsby, getting fooled by a con artist. Because of that, the story is really all about someone looking at external circumstances and being deceived...

Since he sits in the shadows of Hyde Park with others of his ilk, Gortsby is in a cynical mood, "heartsore and disillusioned," and inclined to entertain a certain sardonic pleasure as he observes...

The main reason for Saki's setting his story at that specific time and even giving the story the title "Dusk" had to do with the fact that the confidence men could not operate safely in broad...

The fact that the young man who sits by Gortsby is well dressed certainly lends credibility to his story of being on what seems to be a business trip, and his unfamiliarity with London. It also...

The first part of this answer lies in the way that Gortsby imagines the people who come out at the hour of dusk, which, in his mind, is a time for those who have failed in life to emerge. Note how...

Let us remember that this interpretation only is in the mind of the protagonist, Gortsby, who enjoys dusk because of the way that he associates it with "the hour of the defeated." Note what he says...

The cynical Grotsky sits on a bench at twilight in Hyde Park because the scene "harmonised with his present mood." In Grotsky's mind, dusk is the "hour of the defeated." While he watches the...

When the young man finishes his story, admitting that all his trouble started with going out of his hotel to buy the soap, Gortsby turns to him and says, "Of course," said Gortsby slowly, "the weak...

The chief similarity, or the common denominator, between the young con man in Saki's "Dusk" and the elderly con man in Dahl's story "The Umbrella Man" is that both have figured out ways to obtain...

According to the Wikipedia article on Saki, he was a Tory and a reactionary. This means he was probably unsympathetic to the conditions of the poor. No doubt he subscribed to the popular philosophy...

Saki devotes considerable attention to describing one section of the city at dusk. The scene pleased Gortsby and harmonized with his present mood. Dusk, to his mind, was the hour of the defeated....

If a stranger asks us for money on any pretext, our instinct is to say "No." We don't like to part with our money. But we sometimes tell ourselves that we are being too selfish, too negative, too...

To answer this we need to establish very clearly what has made these individuals "unsuccessful" and causes such individuals to wander around at night, "bat-like" as the text describes them. Let us...

After Gortsby's experience with the young man who contends that he has rushed from a hotel that was not the one at which he had planned on staying in order to purchase a cake of soap, Gortsby...

There is not a great deal of evidence in this story for how the society treats the old. We can infer some things from what Gortsby says about the old man early in the story, but we cannot know for...

In the short story "Dusk," the time of day is an appropriate time for tricksters to come out of hiding. As Gortsby sits on a park bench, he encounters two different type of men. The first man is an...

It is important to remember that the significance of dusk is given to the story by Norman Gortsby, who sees in this time of day a symbolism that he finds morosely pleasing to his own state of mind...

My impression of the young man in Saki's "Dusk" is that as a con artist he is a novice. Gortsby may be his very first prospective victim. This apprentice con artist has invented a very good story....

As the story's title indicates, it was dusk--the time right between the ending of the day and dark. Gortsby was a quiet observer of the type of people who come out at dusk. These people often have...

While sitting on the bench at "Dusk," Gortsby thinks depressing thoughts, associating the time of day with defeat and with hiding from others. When the young man sits down next to him, visibly...

What a great and sophisticated question! The best answer that I know of comes from Mary Douglas, the great cultural anthropologist. Her basic point is that dusk is between day and night. It is...

A more specific question would help you to get a better answer... This is the story of Norman Gortsby. He is sitting on a park bench next to a bum. The bum leaves and another man comes up and...

The stranger comes and sits down next to Gortsby on a park bench. He says that he is from out of town and has forgotten which hotel he is in. He says he went out to buy some soap and then forgot...

In the short story "Dusk," the role of light is that things can be seen much more clearly in the light. In the dimness of dusk, things are not as clear. With nightfall approaching, the defeat in...

I don't know that anyone is really contented in this story. I don't think even the con man is content. To me, the real contrast in this story is between people who are basically honest and those...

The truth is that Gortsby relies too much on logic in ascertaining whether the young man is truthful or not, and not enough on his own judgement and intuition. Notice the way in which Gortsby...

It is clear from the description and inner monologue of Norman that he is keenly perceptive of such matters, being able to spot the signs of someone in distress quite clearly. After all, by his own...

Norman Gortsby is the protagonist and narrator of the short story "Dusk" by Saki. Not much is known about Gortsby, such as his life or occupation, other than the fact that he likes to ruminate on...

In "Dusk," there is an hour of defeat. The main character Gortsby sits on a park bench at dusk. He analyzes the men who sit on the park bench next to him. When the older man sits down, he seems...

The trickster in "Dusk" seems to be a sort of apprentice or beginner at his chosen profession. Gortsby listens to his elaborate hard-luck story and then exposes him as a fraud with a single...

In his novella Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck's isolated character of Crooks, who is separated from the other itinerant workers who stay in the bunkhouse, tells Lennie, another character how...

The young man in "Dusk" is an expert at playing on the human emotions. He tests Gortsby's ability to show compassion for his situation. The young man tells a sad story, and it would have worked had...

Let us remember that the description we receive of the people that move around at dusk comes from Norman Gortsby alone, and reflects his own "subtle failure" and his feeling of being unsuccessful...

Norman Gortsby is a rather cynical character who sits in the "gloaming" hour on a bench in London's Hyde Park where others of fallen fortune and hopes walk by. As Gortsby, who has failed in some...

The most interesting feature of "Dusk" is the fact that the young con man poses as a sort of aristocrat rather than a panhandler. Supposedly he has plenty of money but is just in a temporary fix...

What is interesting about both of these excellent short stories is the way that they involve a trickster who attempts to fool the protagonist(s) of the stories. In the case of "Dusk," the...

In her story "Roman Fever," Edith Wharton writes of dusk, "It was the moment when afternoon and evening hang balanced in mid-heaven." And, at this time, Mrs. Slade, one of the two matrons on...

According to the main character Gortsby, the hour of dusk is the hour of defeat for many people. During the hour of dusk, shady characters surface. It is the hour of defeat and those who live...

Saki's short story Dusk signifies that dusk is the hour of the defeated in a couple different ways. First, Norman Gortsby (the protagonist) of the story states very blatantly the fact that only...

In the story "Dusk," the young man is a fraud. He tells a very deceptive story about how he has lost his way back to his hotel. When he sits down on the park bench, he has one goal in mind. He is...

Stories like "Dusk" and "The Umbrella Man" owe their existence to the great American genius Edgar Allan Poe, who published an essay titled "Diddling" in 1850. "Diddling" was the term Poe used to...

In the short story "Dusk," it is about the time of day known as dusk. People who live defeated lives wander about at dusk. They fear rejection so dusk is the time of day to take a walk in the park....