What is the setting of "Dusk" by Saki?

The bulk of the action in this story takes place on a park bench just to the left of Hyde Park Corner in London.   When the characters migrate from this bench, it is only to walk slightly further into the Park.  “It was some thirty past six on an early March evening, and dusk had fallen heavy over the scene,” Saki writes – an apt time of day, considering the title of the story.  The first paragraph is quite descriptive, and sets a scene buried in the half-light of a waning spring day, when the lines between all things blur:

There was a wide emptiness over road and sidewalk, and yet there were many unconsidered figures moving silently through the half-light, or dotted unobtrusively on bench and chair, scarcely to be distinguished from the shadowed gloom in which they sat.

It is within this setting that Norman Gortsby is sitting idly on his park bench, observing the individuals mentioned above with the very same scrutiny they keep their heads down to avoid.  According to Gortsby, “Dusk…was the hour of the defeated.”  And Gortsby considers himself among their ranks, though exactly why eludes the reader.  So, he seeks solace in this half-empty, half-dark, half-dying time of day, among those strangers he presumes to be of a similar mind to himself.

What is the theme of "Dusk" by Saki?

"Dusk" is a short story written by British short story writer and satirist Hector Hugh Munro, most commonly known by his pen name Saki and occasionally known by H. H. Munro. It was originally published in his 1930 collection of short stories titled The Complete Short Stories of Saki.

"Dusk" follows an intelligent and somewhat judgmental and cynical young man named Norman Grotsby, who comes across and is deceived by one, or maybe even two, con artists. There are many socially relevant themes which are represented in the story such as deception, human nature, pessimism, perception, and uncertainty; however, the main theme seems to be the importance and inevitability of fate, as Saki often mocked the overconfident and falsely superior British elites and enjoyed making them 'victims' of fate.

What is the theme of "Dusk" by Saki?

One could argue that the main theme of "Dusk" concerns the dangers of judging a book by its cover. Having observed the massed ranks of the defeated coming and going from his vantage point in the park, Norman Gortsby has come to think of himself as an expert at judging people. He can tell just by looking at them what their life situations are, which gives him a certain smug sense of satisfaction. When the young man rocks up on the bench beside him, he has no reason to think that his supposedly superior ability to read other people has in any way deserted him.

Yet it most certainly has—or perhaps he never really had this ability in the first place. Either way, Gortsby has been made to look a right fool by his prejudging of the young man. The uncomfortable truth is he doesn't know quite as much about other people as he thinks he does. Worse still, he never gets to find out whether the young man was telling him the truth or if he really was a panhandler all along.

What is the theme of "Dusk" by Saki?

The main theme of the short story "Dusk" is the inscrutability of human nature. Despite our best efforts, our conclusions about others are often nothing more than speculative convictions. We know less than we think we do about the motives, impulses, and objectives of our fellow man.

In the story, Norman speculates about the lives of those he comes across. He sees dusk "as the hour of the defeated" and believes that dusk completely hides one's true self from others. He readily admits that he is "heartsore and disillusioned." However, he does not reveal the reasons for his melancholy. Just as dusk hides others' true selves from him, Norman's reticence hides his true motives, impulses, and objectives from us.

Although Norman himself remains largely inscrutable to us, he does not shy away from speculating about the lives of others. He imagines that an old man he sees is "one of the world's lamenters who induce no responsive weeping." Norman theorizes that the old man is probably poor and shown little regard within his home circle.

Norman's reticence is only matched by his conceit. In his encounter with the young man, Norman imagines that he can rightly discern the youth's motives. However, he is soon proven wrong when the young man outsmarts him. So, the main theme of the short story is the inscrutability of human nature: we know less than we think about what compels others to act the way they do.

What is the the theme of the story "Dusk" by Saki (H. H. Munro)?

To me, the main theme of this story is that people are not able to really know what is in the hearts of the other people that they meet.  I think that this is why the story is entitled "Dusk" -- because people see other people as if it is dusk.  The others' motives are only seen in dim light and we cannot be sure of what they are.

This ties in to the idea of deception.  In this story, the young man deceives Gortsby.  He is able to do this because Gortsby (like all people) cannot see into the hearts of other people.  Gortsby is not suspicious enough of the young man and so he is fooled when he finds the bar of soap.

So a theme of the story is deception -- Gortsby can be deceived because he, like all people, lives in a kind of dusk when it comes to reading other people's motives.

Explain or paraphrase the story "Dusk" by Saki.

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 feeds Gortsby a story about why he needs some money.  Gortsby does not believe him and the man leaves.  After the man leaves, Gortsby finds a bar of soap on the ground near where the man had been.  This makes the man's story seem true so Gortsby chases him down and gives him the soap and some money.  Gortsby goes back and sits down, at which point the bum comes back looking for the bar of soap that he had dropped.  Gortsby has been defrauded...

The story shows how hard it is for people to understand what is in the hearts of other people.