illustration of a young girl looking out a window at ghostly figures

The Open Window

by Saki

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Vera's Techniques for Crafting a Realistic Story in "The Open Window"

Summary:

In "The Open Window" by Saki, Vera crafts a believable story by leveraging her self-possession, knowledge of Framton's unfamiliarity with the area, and the visible setting, such as the open window. She uses specific details and emotional cues to lend verisimilitude to her tale about her aunt's supposed delusion, creating a plausible narrative that Framton, unaware, accepts as truth. Vera's confidence stems from knowing Framton's ignorance, allowing her to weave a story that seamlessly blends reality with fiction, ultimately fooling both Framton and the reader.

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What makes Vera's story believable in "The Open Window"?

Evidently Framton Nuttel is sitting facing Vera and her aunt and has his back turned to the open French window when the three hunters arrive outside. 

"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 is already convinced that Mrs. Sappleton is crazy, but he is completely taken in by young Vera. She is obviously a very poised adolescent girl. She is twice described as self-possessed. The most effective part of her deception occurs when she appears to lose this poise and "self-possession."

The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes.
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As told by "very "self-possessed girl," Vera's tale has verisimilitude in Saki's story "The Open Window " because of the confidence with which she tells her story since she realizes after her inquiries that...

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Mr. Framton knows little about her aunt, Mrs. Stappleton.  In addition, Vera makes use of situations that are visible to Framton, such as the open window:

'You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon...'

Weaving her tall tale around the open window, Vera fabricates a tragic reason for the window's state.  In a "falteringly human" voice, Vera says that her uncle and her two cousins went out through that same window three years ago "to a day," but they never came back.  And, their bodies were never recovered.

'Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do.'

Vera shudders and repeats that she imagines this scene as well.  Then, as she walks into the room, Mrs. Stappleton tells Mr. Framton that her husband and sons will soon return from hunting and they will come through the window to avoid getting the carpets muddy and wet.  She "rattles on cheerfully" as Framton notices that her eyes are looking out the window onto the lawn, thus confirming what Vera has told him: the woman yet looks for her family.

When the men enter and walk through the open window with a little brown dog, just as Vera has described, the incident is  much for the emotionally distraught Framton;  so he turns towards the niece with compassion, but Vera's eyes stare out the window in shock as though she is seeing the dead.  The shattered nerves of Framton cannot handle what he believes has happened; he grabs wildly at his stick and runs from the house.

Saki's last line, "Romance at short notice was her specialty" befits Vera perfectly.  For, she can construct a story quickly from of an existing situation and feign emotion perfectly so that her tale has the semblance of truth.

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Vera appears to be a nice young girl who is playing hostess and has no ulterior motive in telling Framton Nuttel her story. She does not present it as a ghost story. She only claims that her aunt believes the three men are still alive and will return through the open window, even though they have been dead for three years. Here is the essential part of Vera's story:

"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. . . . Poor aunt thinks that they will come back some day, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them and walk in at that window just as they used to do."

Vera is preparing Framton to think that Mrs. Sappleton became insane with grief over her tragic loss. No one would suspect that a fifteen-year-old girl would make up such a gruesome tale involving, not just the three men, but her aunt as well.

Vera is described as "a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen" and again as "the self-possessed young lady"--i.e., poised, calm, relaxed, at ease. When Mrs. Sappleton makes her appearance and tells Framton, "I hope you don't mind the open window, my husband and brothers will be home directly from shooting, and they always come in this way," he naturally takes this as proof that the woman is harmless but insane.

She makes him feel more and more uneasy because she keeps talking about "the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the winter." Obviously there is little else to talk about in this dull country setting, and no doubt Mrs. Sappleton thinks that Framton, being a male, will be interested in such a topic, since that is the only topic that interests her husband and her two  brothers.

Vera has heard so much talk about men shooting birds that she is sick of it. That is what inspires her mischief. Framton is sitting facing Mrs. Sappleton and the open window, and Vera is off to one side. Suddenly the aunt says,

"Here they are at last! Just in time for tea, and don't they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!"

Framton turns to look at Vera, who has been so self-possessed.

The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes.

This look of horror on the innocent young face gives her story its ultimate credibility. He turns and sees three men approaching with a little spaniel. All three are carrying guns. Ghosts might be bad enough, but ghosts carrying guns make them terrifying. Framton panics, grabs his stick and hat, and flees the haunted house.

The reader has also been taken in by Vera's story until the very end. The three men are obviously not ghosts but just three tired hunters returning for tea. And Vera makes it clear that she was lying by inventing another story to explain Framton's impulsive exit.

"I expect it was the spaniel . . . . 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."

And the self-possessed Vera is such a good story-teller that she convinces all four adults.

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How does Vera make the story realistic in "The Open Window" by Saki?

The key to this answer is Saki's ironic last sentence:

Romance at short notice was her specialty.

Vera, whose name comes from the Latin word for truth, takes the truth and romanticizes it cleverly into a tall-tale.  But, before she does this, Vera is very shrewd. This "very self-possessed young lady of fifteen, asks Framton,

'Do you know many of the people round here?'
'Hardly a soul,' said Framton.
He made the last statement in a tone of disctinct regret.

When Vera ascertains that Framton is ignorant of the Stappleton family or anyone connected to him, she realizes that she can easily fabricate a story which the nervous and ill at ease Framton will accept in his apparent desire to know about people as his tone is one of "distinct regret."

As she weaves her tale of Mrs. Stappleton's "great tragedy," Vera pieces together the forthcoming events with the fictional events that she creates, centering them around the open window, an object that, with its openness, suggests honesty. To add to the effect of tragedy, Vera dramatically breaks off "with a little shudder" just as Mrs. Stappleton arrives, mentioning the forthcoming return of her husband and son.

Mrs. Stappleton's yawning disregard for Framton's feelings as he "announces" his condition and need seems to underscore Vera's suggestion that Mrs. Stappleton is delusionary.  Then, when the men arrive and Mrs. Stappleton does just as Vera has predicted, Framton looks at Vera with "sympathetic comprehension."  However, Vera dramaticizes the moment by staring "with dazed horror in her eyes," thus making it seem as if she has just seen ghosts, an action that frightens the already mentally excited Framton.

Clearly, Vera's penchant and practiced talent for the romantic--the exaggerated  and disquieting events, the mysterious atmosphere, the tragic milieu--along with her understanding of her aunt's supercilious nature and the vulnerability of her listener, Mr. Framton, are what contribute "at short notice" to the realism of this narrative. 

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This is one of the great "surprise ending" stories of all time, in my opinion.  The surprised depends on Vera's ability to make Nuttel believe that she is telling the truth.  I think that she makes the story realistic by her use of little details.

As she tells Nuttel the story of the men who supposedly died while out hunting, she puts in lots of details that make the story more convincing.  She talks about how that year had been extra rainy.  She talks about the dog and the white coat that her uncle would carry.

In addition, she makes the story realistic by being a good actress.  Most particularly, she seems to be emotionally affected by talking about the death of her uncle.

Here the child’s voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human.
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How does Vera use reality to shape her story in "The Open Window"?

Vera may be adept at making up vivid stories on the spot, but she knows that if she's going to play a trick on the unsuspecting Framton Nuttel, she's going to have to incorporate an element of truth in her latest tale. Otherwise, there's every chance that he might figure out that he's the subject of an elaborate prank.

Vera knows that her uncle and his brothers-in-law have gone out for the day on a hunting expedition and will soon return home. What's more, she knows that they will walk right through the French window in the drawing room, thoughtfully left open for them by Mrs. Sappleton, Vera's aunt.

On the basis of these facts, Vera is able to construct a very imaginative yet at the same time strangely plausible ghost story. She tells Framton that her uncle and his brothers-in-law died in a tragic drowning accident out on the moors during a hunting expedition three years ago that very day.

This means that when the men return—as Vera knows full well they will do at any moment—the hapless Framton will think that they're ghosts and will therefore end up being scared out of his wits. What makes Vera's story all the more effective is the fact that it's based on a semblance of reality.

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What gives Vera the confidence to fabricate her story in "The Open Window" by Saki?

In "The Open Window," Vera gains the confidence to fabricate her tale about her aunt's brothers and husband after Framton Nuttel says he knows "[H]ardly a soul" in the area. 

When Framton first arrives at the Stappleton's house, he finds himself talking to Vera, a girl of fifteen, who is the niece of Mrs. Stappleton and a "self-possessed young lady." She asks Framton if he knows many people in the area, and Framton replies,

"Hardly a soul. . . 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."

"Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?" the girl asks.

"Only her name and address."

With the knowledge that Framton Nuttel will not know what is true and what is not, Vera spins a tale of how Mrs. Stappleton suffered the tragic loss of the male members of her family, and now delusionally believes they will return. Knowing Mrs. Stappleton will watch for her husband and her brothers to return through the open window, Vera hopes to play a practical joke on Mr. Nuttel.

Vera's ruse works so well at blurring the lines between what is imaginary and what is real that when Mr. Stappleton, his sons, and the dog return, Framton Nuttel flees in terror, and Vera's joke is complete.

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If the tragedy Vera intends to tell Framton Nuttel had actually happened, it would certainly have been known about and talked of all over the county. She has to establish that Framton is a complete stranger to the area; otherwise, he might wonder why he never heard anything about the incident. If Vera's aunt had been driven insane by the gruesome tragedy, that would also be the talk of the families for years. Vera first has to establish that Framton knows nothing of any consequence. She does this by asking him two leading questions:

 "Do you know many of the people round here?"
"Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?"

Framton's answers to these two questions give Vera the assurance she needs to go ahead with her story. His sister stayed at the rectory some four years ago, and the tragedy Vera describes supposedly occurred about three years ago. Framton's sister is presumably not very well informed herself. She would not have given her brother a letter of introduction to the Sappletons if she had heard Mrs. Sappleton was crazy. Framton's sister shows her own ignorance of the people in the area when she tells her brother:

"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."

Saki invents the question-and-answer dialogue between Vera and her visitor in order to inform the reader that Framton is the perfect victim for Vera's prank.

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