The Open Window

Hector Hugh Munro, or H. H. Munro, wrote under the pen name Saki. Saki was born in Burma to Charles Augustus Munro and Mary Frances Mercer in 1870. When Saki was just two years old, his mother was killed, and Saki and his two older siblings were sent back to England to be raised by their maiden aunts, Charlotte and Augusta. These aunts raised the three children in a strict, puritanical household. Many of Saki’s works feature an aunt archetype—often strict and unable to control the children they are raising due to their inability to relate to and understand them. The aunts in his stories are also often victims of the children’s mischief, like Mrs. Sappleton in “The Open Window,” who unknowingly became the protagonist in her niece’s tragedy, causing her visitor to flee the home in fright.

Saki, like his father, became part of the Indian Imperial Police and moved to Burma, but fevers caused him to leave the post after a short time. He then moved to London and became a writer. Initially, he worked as a journalist and published under his given name. However, he soon forayed into