H.H. Munro's The Open Window Lecture Notes

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the key characters, historical context, and plot details of H.H. Munro's "The Open Window."

Saki

The pen name of H.H. Munro, the author who wrote "The Open Window."

1911

The year in which the short story "The Open Window" was authored during the Edwardian period.

Frampton Nuttel

A single man who moves to a country town to cure a "nervous condition" and is the protagonist of the story.

Vera

Mrs. Sappleton's fifteen-year-old niece described as confident and self-possessed, who tricks Nuttel with her storytelling.

Edwardian sitting room

The traditional setting that Saki subverts with macabre imagery and a surprise ending.

Snipe shooting

The specific activity Vera claims her aunt's husband and two young brothers were doing when they disappeared through the window three years ago.

Bog

The location where Vera claims the three men drowned and their bodies were never recovered.

Ronnie

Mrs. Sappleton's younger brother who sings the line "Birdie, why do you bound?"

Ganges River

The location in India where Vera claims a pack of dogs chased Frampton Nuttel into a freshly dug grave in a cemetery.

Mrs. Sappleton

The woman Frampton Nuttel visits, whose husband and brothers return from hunting at the end of the story.