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Definition of Satire
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of satire, but satirists can take... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians... read full definition
Satire
Explanation and Analysis—Edwardian Decorum:
Saki does a great deal of satirizing in "The Open Window." Writing from a period of social change in Britain, he makes fun of the traditional decorum practiced by the Edwardian leisure class. He reveals the meaninglessness of this excessive decorum by setting Mr. Nuttel's neurotic internal monologue up against Vera's clever hoax. In his acute concern for propriety, the helpless Mr. Nuttel finds himself discouraged, silenced, and ultimately scared away. The layers of etiquette he attempts to observe prevent him from behaving like a sane and sensible person. Vera, a teenager, represents a force of change in the contrived world of adults.
An important element of Saki's satire is humor. In addition to using humor to mock his characters, humor is an important way to get his reader on his side. For example, Mr. Nuttel's silly name, pathetic thought patterns, and shallow character development prevent the reader from sympathizing with him. Even the third-person narrator's tone vis-à-vis Mr. Nuttel occasionally verges on scornful, such as when he is described as "[labouring] under the tolerably wide-spread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one's ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure." Similarly, Mr. Nuttel's flight upon seeing the men and believing they are ghosts is described with a comedic edge: "Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall-door, the gravel drive, and the front gate were dimly noted stages in his headlong retreat." All of these elements make him ripe for ridicule, especially when compared with his foil Vera.
Unlike Mr. Nuttel, Vera's function is not to be made fun of by Saki and the reader, but instead to chastise the pretensions, neuroses, and stilted conversations of the other characters. By serving as the only perceptive character and by behaving much more naturally than her company, she acts as a sort of satirist herself. Like Saki, she regards the structures of the stiff social world around her with amusement and disdain. Her contempt for the adult world, as well as her remarkable ability to control it, suggests a desire to be part of a society that is structured by a new set of mores.
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