How does the writer effectively portray Conradin's feelings in "Sredni Vashtar"?

In this, one of Saki's most enigmatic short stories, Conradin is a child who is emotionally neglected, not just because he is an orphan, but also because his guardian and cousin, Mrs. De Ropp, is clearly tired of him. Conradin is also sickly.

Conradin was ten years old, and the doctor had pronounced his professional opinion that the boy would not live another five years.

This basically shows that his life, as short as it is and will be, has been a pretty rotten deal for him.

The author effectively portrays Conradin's feelings by illustrating the way that he visualized life, as a whole. Basically, Conradin sees very little positive in his life and, as a result, he resorts to his imagination to make something out of what he does see. In Conradin's world

...three-fifths of the world [...] are necessary and disagreeable and real; the other two-fifths, in perpetual antagonism to the foregoing, were summed up in himself and his imagination.

Another way that the author effectively conveys the emotions of the boy is by presenting his situation. His life is extremely lonely, boring, and isolated. He needs his imagination essentially in order not to go insane...but, does he?

When he singlehandedly transforms the reality of religious worship, the only thing he does in common with his cousin, into his own version, he is basically showing signs that something is not well in his mind. The use of the ferret as a symbol of adoration shows a misplaced need for hope, and a misguided hunger for faith.

It is one thing to use the imagination to create one's own gods and angels. It is a very different thing to replace the gods and angels with substitutes that clearly do not possess any powers. This is how Conradin shows that he has lost all hope in the world around him and, as a result, he will replace and switch everything all around.

All of this is done through both direct and indirect characterization. In the direct characterization, Saki describes these emotions exactly as they occur in Conradin's life. In indirect characterization, he illustrates the child's feelings through his actions.

The author also conveys effectively the climactic moment when Mrs. De Ropp enters the hutch to retrieve Conradin's "god," which she believes could be guinea pigs.

...he knew as he prayed that he did not believe. He knew that the Woman would come out presently with that pursed smile he loathed so well on her face, and that in an hour or two the gardener would carry away his wonderful god, a god no longer, but a simple brown ferret in a hutch.

Saki describes in detail the emotions of the child by evoking his past with the cousin, one in which she would always punish him for his actions and feel "victorious" about it. He just wanted one victory for himself before everything is over. If life as it is happens to be unbearable, and death is his only other option; why also take away his only vestige of hope, the only thing he could be truly in control of?

And he knew that the Woman, would triumph always as she triumphed now, and that he would grow ever more sickly under her pestering and domineering and superior wisdom, till one day nothing would matter much more with him, and the doctor would be proved right.

It is during this moment of desperation, that climax of what there is to come, that Conradin releases his grip and chants desperately for something to go his way, for his "god" to do something for him.

And in the sting and misery of his defeat, he began to chant loudly and defiantly the hymn of his threatened idol.

This shows that Saki uses the third person point of view as omniscient and subjective. He goes in and out of the emotions of the character, particularly those of the child. He presents us with the "context" of his life: one of loneliness, neglect, and hopelessness. To this, he adds that his character has one shred of hope in his ferret pet. Having this one object removed from Conradin evokes in the reader fear and anger. The cathartic ending then brings everything to a full circle and, through a tragedy, we almost find relief for Conradin. All this, while tragic, is an effective way to vicariously take the reader through the emotions of a very sad kid.

What feelings does Saki evoke about Conradin in "Sredni Vashtar"?

By portraying Conradin's aunt as a domineering and suffocating presence in his life, Saki causes us to sympathize with the protagonist. Additionally, since Conradin's life is one of unmitigated "dullness," we are further receptive of his efforts to remedy his dismal situation.

One of these days Conradin supposed he would succumb to the mastering pressure of wearisome necessary things--such as illnesses and coddling restrictions and drawn-out dullness. Without his imagination, which was rampant under the spur of loneliness, he would have succumbed long ago.

In the story, Saki describes Mrs. De Ropp as insufferably self-righteous. Her only purpose in life seems to be that of depriving Conradin joy.

Mrs. De Ropp would never, in her honestest moments, have confessed to herself that she disliked Conradin, though she might have been dimly aware that thwarting him ``for his good'' was a duty which she did not find particularly irksome.

After a while Conradin's absorption in the tool-shed began to attract the notice of his guardian. "It is not good for him to be pottering down there in all weathers,'' she promptly decided, and at breakfast one morning she announced that the Houdan hen had been sold and taken away overnight.

"What are you keeping in that locked hutch?'' she asked. "I believe it's guinea-pigs. I'll have them all cleared away.''

As can be seen, any innocent and enjoyable pursuit of Conradin's immediately comes under the suspicion of Mrs. De Ropp. Her religion is predicated on maintaining a proper appearance of respectability at all times. As such, any departure from the norm is scrupulously and mercilessly punished.

In the story, Conradin has to hide his "secret and fearful" joys from his guardian. His prized polecat ferret, Sredni Vashtar, is chief among his possessions, and he does everything he can to shield it from Mrs. De Ropp's gaze. During private moments, he uses his imagination to conjure up a fantastic world ordered by a new religion he has created, one predicated on the "fierce impatient side of things."

Thus, from his portrayal of Conradin's cheerless existence, Saki causes us to feel great sympathy towards his protagonist.

How does the writer depict Conradin's search for freedom in "Sredni Vashtar"?

Hello! To answer your question, Saki uses a few literary devices to bring out the feeling of Conradin being oppressed and in search of freedom. I describe the two most prevalent devices below.

Imagery and polysyndeton (this is the deliberate use of more than one conjunction) are twin tools used to paint a sense of suffocating oppression. Conradin's cousin, Mrs. de Ropp is described as 'representing three fifths of the world that is necessary and disagreeable and real' in Conradin's life, while Conradin is left with only two-fifths for himself and his own imagination, and even that is in 'perpetual antagonism' to the world Mrs. de Ropp represents. Conradin's life is one of perpetual internal conflict. He is pictured as an inward rebel: it's the only way he can maintain some semblance of self, identity, and autonomy in his severely micro-managed life. Despite this, he fears

... that he would grow ever more sickly under her pestering and domineering and superior wisdom...

He chooses to 'worship' in his own way, refusing to attend the insipid church services his cousin favors. He calls his guardian's church services 'an alien rite in the House of Rimmon.' His own worship is replete with images of idol worship:

Every Thursday, in the dim and musty silence of the tool-shed, he worshipped with mystic and elaborate ceremonial before the wooden hutch where dwelt Sredni Vashtar, the great ferret. Red flowers in their season and scarlet berries in the winter-time were offered at his shrine, for he was a god who laid some special stress on the fierce impatient side of things, as opposed to the Woman's religion, which, as far as Conradin could observe, went to great lengths in the contrary direction. And on great festivals powdered nutmeg was strewn in front of his hutch, an important feature of the offering being that the nutmeg had to be stolen.

This polecat-ferret god is a heathen god of violence. His worshippers indulge in ruthless and vindictive celebrations when an enemy suffers (in this case, Conradin celebrates for three days when the aptly dubbed Woman, Conradin's guardian, suffers from a toothache). This imagery of primitive idol worship, complete with sacrificial offerings and celebrations of vengeance, represent Conradin's rebellion and his quest for freedom against the oppressive tyranny of his guardian. Mrs. de Ropps' self-righteous coddling is confining and suffocating to Conradin, but she is oblivious to any insensitivity on her part. When she sells the hen, she imagines she is doing Conradin a favor.

With her short-sighted eyes she peered at Conradin, waiting for an outbreak of rage and sorrow, which she was ready to rebuke with a flow of excellent precepts and reasoning.

While we do not know what 'boon' Conradin asks of his god, we recognize the defiant hymn of an avid worshipper who worships a god he knows will administer retributive judgment in due time.

Sredni Vashtar went forth,

His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white.

His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death.

Sredni Vashtar the Beautiful.

Saki describes the serene worshipper enjoying his food with a sinister calmness, indulging in a sickeningly sensuous decadence: ' ...during the toasting of it and the buttering of it with much butter and the slow enjoyment of eating it...' When the author alludes to the death of Conradin's guardian at the hands of the inimical polecat-ferret god, the shocking imagery is complete; the worshipper is satisfied. He has been avenged.

Hope this helps!