Tatiana Pavlova

2 ATM, IV year
Text Analysis
The Lumber Room
(by H.Munro)

The text under analysis is written by an outstanding British novelist and short story
writer Hector Munro. Hector Hugh Munro (December 18, 1870 November 13,
1916), better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and
sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is
considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and
Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged
narratives. Saki's world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of
Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles
of nature. Nature generally wins in the end.
Owing to the death of his mother and his father's absence abroad he was brought
up during his childhood, with his elder brother and sister, by a grandmother and
two aunts. It seems probable that their stem and unsympathetic methods account
for Munros strong dislike of anything that smacks of the conventional and the
self-righteous. He satirized things that he hated. Munro was killed on the French
front during the first world war.
In her Biography of Saki Munros sister writes: One of Munros aunts, Augusta,
was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious, a
moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive
disposition. Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of children.
The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.
The story tells about a little orphan Nicholas who was trusted to his tyrannical and
dull-witted aunt. One day Nicholas was in disgrace, so he duped his Aunt into
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believing that he was somehow trying to get into the gooseberry garden, but
instead had no intention of doing so but did sneak into the Lumber Room. There a
tremendous picture of a hunter and a stag opened to him. Soon his aunt tried to
look for the boy and slipped into the rain-water tank. She asked Nicholas to fetch
her a ladder but the boy pretended not to understand her, he said that she was the
Evil One.
The story presents extremely topical subjects. Actually, the whole novel can be
divided into two parts: Childs world and Adults world. The author seems to be
suggesting that adulthood causes one to lose all sense of fun, imagination.
Adults become obsessed with insignificant trivialities, like the Aunt which is
obsessed about punishing and nitpicking on the children. Children in Munros
stories are very imaginative. Nicholas imagines the whole story behind the
tapestry while the Aunt comes out with boring stories and ideas like a circus or
going to the beach. She tries to convince Nicholas about the fun of a trip to the
beach, of circus, but lacks the imagination to sound convincing. She describes the
beach outing as beautiful and glorious but cannot say in detail how it will be
beautiful or glorious because she is not creative. As for the Lumber room, it is
symbolic of fun and imagination of the childs world which is definitely lacking in
the adult world. It emphasizes the destruction of life that adulthood and pride can
bring. The Aunts world is full of warped priorities. She puts punishment and
withholding of enjoyment as more important than getting to know and molding the
lives of the children. She keeps all the beautiful and creative things of the house
locked away in a lumber-room so as not to spoil them but in doing so, the purpose
of the objects which is to beauty the house, is lost, leaving the house dull and
colourless.
The excerpt is homogeneous. The story is narrated in the 3rd person. This allows
the reader to access the situation and the characters in an unbiased and objective
manner. This is especially so because the characters are complex, having both
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positive and negative viewpoints. The third person point of view is impersonal
which fits the impersonal atmosphere of the household.
The text can be divided into several parts:
The exposition, in which we learn about little Nicholas, his cousins
and his strict aunt. Nicholas got into his aunts disgrace. So his
cousins were to be taken to Jagborough sands that afternoon and he
was to stay at home. The Aunt was absolutely sure that the boy was
determined to get into the gooseberry garden because I have told
him he is not to.
The complication, when Nicholas got into an unknown land of
lumber-room. Forbidden fruit is sweet and truly the lumber-room is
described as a storehouse of unimagined treasure. Every single item
brings life and imagination to Nicholas and is symbolic of what the
adult of real world lacks. He often pictured to himself what the
lumber-room was like, since that was the region that was so
carefully sealed from youthful eyes. The tapestry brings to life
imagination and fantasy within Nicholas, the interesting pots and
candlesticks bring an aesthetic quality, visual beauty which stirs up
his creative mind; and lastly a large square book full of coloured
pictures of birds. And such birds! They allow Nicholas to learn in a
fun and exciting way.
The climax of the text. While the boy was admiring the colouring of
a mandarin duck, the voice of his aunt came from the gooseberry
garden. She got slipped into the rain-water tank and couldnt go out.
She demanded from the boy to bring her a ladder, but he said her
voice didnt sound like his aunts. You may be the Evil One tempting
me to be disobedient. Justice must be done. The Aunt tasted the fruit
of her own punishment on the children. She is accused of falling

from grace, of lying to Nicholas about jam and thus termed the Evil
One. She feels what it is like to be condemned.
The denouncement. The Aunt is furious and enforces in the house.
She maintained the frozen muteness of one who has suffered
undignified and unmerited detention in a rain-water tank for thirtyfive minutes. Nicholas was also silent, in the absorption of an
enchanting picture of a hunter and a stag.
The plot is ordered chronologically, each episode is given with more and more
emphasis. The authors choice of vocabulary and stylistic devices is admirable.
The author uses a large variety of stylistic devices, such as epithets, which can be
divided into two categories: those, which are related to Childs world (grim
chuckle, alleged frog, unknown land, stale delight, mere material pleasure, bare
and cheerless, thickly growing vegetation) and the one, which depicts a Grownups world lacking any clear thinking (frivolous ground, veriest nonsense,
considerable obstinacy, trivial gardening operation, unauthorized intrusion). They
help the author to emphasize a deep dissension between generations, to convey a
thrilling power of childs creative mind. There are a lot of metaphors (often
sustained) in the story: a circus of unrivalled merit and uncounted elephants (to lay
stress on the Aunts narrow-mindness), the flawlessness of the reasoning, selfimposed sentry-duty (characterizes the Aunt as a very strict person), art of fitting
keys into keyholes and turning locks, region that was so carefully sealed from
youthful eyes, many golden minutes of a ridiculously short range. With the help of
these stylistic means the offer unfolds a theme in which stupidity, moral
degradation, hypocrisy and ambition play their sorry parts.
There are some similes in the text: Bobby wont enjoy himself much, and he wont
race much either; the aunt-by-assertion (The author uses Nicholas own word
choice to show that he does not accept his aunts authority over him. This also may
be a subtle criticism of Nicholas rebellious attitude.); and some periphrases: the

Evil One, the prisoner in the tank. (These devices provide authors irony and
essential clue to the character).
The author also enriches the story with a device of rhetorical question: But did the
huntsman see, what Nicholas saw, that four galloping wolves were coming in his
direction through the wood?; and hyperbole: How did she howl. The following
stylistic devices contribute to the expressiveness of the text.
There are two traits always present in Hector Munros books, which single him out
of commonplace writers, they are irony and witty. The style of writing is satirical
in a humorous way. The author uses a witty tone to mimic characters in order to
subtly criticize them. The criticism is done in a subtle way that is humorous. For
example, Aunt's condescending tone in describing Nicholas prank: disgrace, sin,
and fell from grace. The author is obviously using the Aunts own word choice to
reveal her self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude. This is a subtle criticism of her
arrogance which she is blind to.
The author uses irony to poke fun and criticize the Aunt. For instance, trip to
Jagborough which is meant to spite Nicholas fails. Instead of being a punishment
for the child, it became a treat for him whereas it became a torture to those who
went. The Aunts conception of the paradise. The real paradise is the Lumberroom not the garden. This reveals the irony that the ideal world of an adult is dull
and boring to that of a child.
The story is a remarkable insight into human character. It also reveals Aunts
virtues and vices. In the story the Aunt is represented as a self-righteous and
moralistic person. She uses a hypocritical tone and exaggerates a childs prank
comparing it to a grave sin. She thinks of herself as a wiser - she doesnt like to be
in the wrong. Being cold, lacking of love, she is more concerned with punishing
the children: she keeps jam and goodies away from them, she bars them from the
beautiful places in the house like the garden and lumber-room. Unable to
understand and communicate with children, she is not even aware when her sons

feet was hurt. She dictates their lives for them, insisting on where they should go
for entertainment. It is evident, that the authors sympathy lies with the children.
The ending of the story reveals the authors social comment about the differences
between the world of the child and adult. Though the Aunt is furious, Nicholas is
thinking about the hunter tricking the hounds by using the stag as a bait. It is a
representative of his own life, he is like a hunter able to escape the hound (which
represents his aunt and the dull reality of the adult world) by trickery and
strategizing.
To sum up, the authors style is remarkable for its powerful sweep, brilliant
illustrations and deep psychological analysis. The story reveals he authors great
knowledge of mans inner world. He penetrates into the subtlest windings of the
child heart. Giving the author his due for brilliance of style and a pointed ridicule
of many social vices, such as snobbishness, pretence, self-interest. The authors
attitude towards grown-ups is a little bit cynical. Its quite obvious that when
describing the hard-heartedness and indifference of Adults world he is not
indignant but rather amused. His habitual attitude is that of expecting little or
nothing of his fellow men. His ironical cynicism combined with a keen wit and
power observation affords him effective means of portraying reality without
shrinking before its seamy side. The charm of this story lies in its interesting plot
and exciting situation. At the same time it conveys deep thought, keen observation
and sharpness of characterization. These very qualities assure the author of an
outstanding place in the annals of literature and in the hearts of all who love good
stories.

In my opinion, the story that five themes (only three are important, two are supplementary)
and I describe them succinctly.
1. Power struggle
2. Imagination of a child (Refer previous answer)
3. Curiosity
4. Deduction
5. Irony (Refer Previous answer)
The power struggle is constantly evident between Aunt and Nicholas. If you want to talk
about symbolism, you can compare it with development and orthodox society, science and
religion, and generation gaps between children and parents. There are various evidences of
this power struggle throughout the story.
Imagination of a child is also very evident. Three chief examples are - frog in milk bowl, the
tale in the tapestry, and the Evil One. It is very easy to elaborate on this theme.
Curiosity is what drives the whole story. Very obvious! And so is Deduction. Nicholas has a
keen sense of deduction. He can predict and deduce the aunt's reactions to various things.
We can consider that his attempt to put frog in the milk was to drive cousins away, and the
attempts to get into the garden was a way to keep the aunt away. This would then give him
an opportunity to explore the Lumber Room. Now that is smart. This is also something that
helps him gain reader's affection.
Irony can be seen when the cousins who were supposed to enjoy did not enjoy and Nicholas
enjoyed in his punishment. A greater irony is when adults who are supposed to act mature
take part in petty matters like what the aunt did with Nicholas and children who are
supposed to be immature portray interest in things of detail. Moreover his sense of planning
is also a trait usually shown by adults.
I hope these five things would help you fill up five pages of description. Keep on quoting the
text and act as if it is the most profound piece of literature on the planet. Bring forward
symbolism in everything, at least one.