Lumber Room by Saki
Stupidity, moral degradation, hypocrisy and ambition boomerang on the person who emits them in a hostile manner.
Analyse the above statement while looking at the character of the Aunt.
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ReplyDeleteThe story Lumber Room by Saki shows how people who are mean, proud and unfair often face problems because of their own bad actions. In the story, Nicholas is a smart boy and his aunt is a strict woman who tries to control him without understanding him. This story teaches us that being unfair and proud does not help anyone, and sometimes those who try to punish others unfairly get punished themselves.
The aunt is not clever. She tries to trick Nicholas by not letting him to go to the fun trip, thinking he would feel sad. But Nicholas is smart boy.
“You often try to do things which you are told not to do, now you are in disgrace , and you are not to go into the garden.”
This shows that she doesn’t understand the children well. And aunt underestimates Nicholas’s intelligence. She even falls into the rainwater tank and cannot get out. This shows stupidity of the aunt.
Aunt does not treat kindly. She lies to Nicholas about the trip being cancelled just to punish him. This is not honest. She also tries to show that she is always right even when she is wrong.
“The tighter she locked the door ,the more Nicholas was determined to enter”
Her focus on punishment rather than understanding reveals her lack of moral grounding.
The aunt wants the children to follow rules but she herself break them. She punishes Nicholas unjustly for something he didn’t do.
“It was her habit whenever one of the children told a story which she was not prepared to believe to take prompt action by way of punishment”
Nicholas is blamed for putting a frog in his soup bowl which he truthfully rejects yet she punishes him anyway.
She wants to appear as a wise and strict guardian but she doesn’t really know how to handle children. She doesn’t listen Nicholas and in the end she is stuck in the water tank calling for help while Nicholas enjoys exploring the lumber room.
“She was a woman of few ideas with immense powers of concentration”
Her single minded ambition to enforce discipline leads her into the rain water tank from which she cannot escape.
The Aunt is unfair, proud, and unkind to Nicholas. She tries to control him with lies and punishments. But in the end, her own bad behavior makes her look foolish. Saki uses humor to show that when people treat others badly, it can backfire on them.