Student Question
Is "The Open Window" written in first, second, or third person? How does this help readers understand the story?
Quick answer:
In the short story "The Open Window" by Saki, the author uses the third person point of view. He does this so that late in the story he can shift from the perspective of Framton Nuttel, the niece's victim, to the perspective of Mrs. Sappleton, her niece, and the hunting party. This helps readers better understand the conclusion of the story.
The short story "The Open Window" by Saki tells of a man named Framton Nuttel who has come to a town for a nerve cure. He has been given letters of introduction by his sister and is making the rounds of her acquaintances. While he waits to meet someone named Mrs. Sappleton, her niece sits with him. She tells him a story to explain the nearby open French window. According to the niece, three years before, Mrs. Sappleton's husband and two brothers, along with a dog, went shooting in a bog. They died there, but Mrs. Sappleton keeps the window open thinking that they will return. However, the niece is making up the story; the men return, and Nuttel, thinking that they are ghosts, runs out of the house in terror.
Stories with first person points of view are told from a single perspective using the pronouns "I"...
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or "we." Second person stories are also from a single perspective but use the pronoun "you." Stories with third person points of view use the pronouns "he," "she," and "they" and can be told, if necessary, from the perspective of multiple characters.
The third person viewpoint is the one that Saki uses in "The Open Window." We can see why this is desirable for readers when we understand the progression of the story. We first experience events from Nuttel's perspective because Saki wants to establish the character's insecurity and frayed nerves. It is also important to understand how the niece's fabrication of what happened to the men who have gone hunting causes anxiety and fear to grow in Nuttel. The focus stays on Nuttel's perspective until he sees the men returning, believes that they are ghosts, and runs terrified out of the house. However, then the perspective changes. Saki stays with the people in the house and shows their reaction to Nuttel's flight and also the continuing duplicity of the niece. This helps readers better understand the conclusion. This change in perspective can only be accomplished if the story is told from a third person point of view.