H. H. Munro (Saki)
Saki-A Brief Biography
• Hector Hugh Munro, better known by the pen name Saki,
was born in Burma.
• Munro’s reputation as a writer rests on his short stories
which satirize the social conventions, cruelty and
foolishness of the Edwardian era.
• Munro’s stories, with twist endings, are often compared
to the stories of O.Henry. However, his stories are not
innocent
or
sentimental,
but
mix
wit
with
outrageousness, humour with seemingly justified malice.
Brief Introduction to “Sredni Vashtar”
• “Sredni Vashtar” is a story concerning a 10-year-old boy
called Conradin, who lives with his strict cousin and
guardian, Mrs. De Ropp. Conradin rebels against her
and invents a new religion for himself, which centres
around idolising a polecat-ferret he calls Sredni Vashtar;
a vengeful and merciless god. Conradin keeps the
polecat hidden in a cage in the garden shed, and
worships the idol in secret. In the end, Mrs. De Ropp is
killed by the ferret while investigating the tool-shed,
apparently to the pleasure of the child.
Question 1
• Conradin is believed to have only five
more years to live. What is significant
about this detail?
Answer 1
• Conradin is allocated to the category of
the weak and the ill. Plus he is only ten
years old, he is the object of oppression
and control. The fact that his guardian
accepts the doctor’s opinion readily
reflects her cruel and dominating nature.
Question 2
• In the first two paragraphs how many
times is Conradin’s imagination metioned?
What can we learn about the relationship
between the boy and his guardian?
Answer 2
• Conradin’s imagination is mentioned three times in the
first two paragraphs:
1) Mrs. De Ropp was Conradin’s cousin and guardian,
and in his eyes she represented those three-fifths of the
world that are necessary and disagreeable and real; the
other two-fifths, in perpetual antagonism to the
foregoing, were summed up in himself and his
imagination.
– To Conradin, Mrs. De Ropp represents the real world
which is unpleasant. He finds comfort in his
imaginative world. Obviously, he does not like Mrs. De
Ropp.
2) Without his imagination, which was rampant under the
spur of loneliness, he would have succumbed long ago.
– From this sentence we can learn the boy is very
lonely and imagination is his only comfort and solace.
3) …from the realm of his imagination she was locked outan unclean thing, which should find no entrance.
– We learn that Mrs. De Ropp derives pleasure from
merely getting an upper hand of the boy, who in turn
hates her with “a desperate sincerity”, and reduces
her to “an unclean thing”, forbidden to his imaginative
world.
Question 3
• Read the descriptions below and find out
all the words with religious connotations.
In which sense is Conradin’s religion a
parody of his cousin’s religion for
example?
Answer 3
• The words that have religious connotations are worship
(v.), mystic (adj.) and ceremonials, shrine, offering,
festivals. (n.)
• Conradin’s religion is obviously a parody of the
traditional religion. His offerings are bright-colored, “red
flowers” and “scarlet berries”, for his god stresses “the
fierce impatient side of things”. For big festivals the
offering will be nutmeg, which has to be stolen. His
three-day celebration is his cousin’s acute toothache. All
these show that the boy invents his own religion to
protect himself from, and revenge against his cousin.
Question 4
• How did Conradin react after his hen was
sold? How did he react when offered toast
as a compensation? Did Mrs. De Ropp
expect such reaction? If you were Mrs. De
Ropp, how would you feel?
Answer 4
• Conradin did not show his anger or sorrow.
Instead, he hid his feelings. When offered toast
in the afternoon tea, he did not touch it at all. To
Mrs. De Ropp’s remark “I thought you liked
toast”, he only replied “sometimes”.
• All these were contrary to Mrs. De Ropp’s
expectation. She was used to rebuking him, to
preying on his vulnerability. Now she must feel
shocked, injured and very angry.
Question 5
• Do you like the ending of the story? In
which sense is it ironical?
Answer 5
• The ending is ironical because while people
assume that the boy would be devastated by the
death of his cousin, he is serenely celebrating
his freedom.