9/21/2023 0 Comments Storyteller synonymThe aunt seems to believe that disciplining children is the most important thing, and she clearly does not value fostering the children's natural curiosity. The major question asked by this story is about the responsibility of adults with regard to children's upbringing. This has the effect of focusing the reader on the plot and moral of the short story, rather than the characters and their relationships. In addition, the reader doesn't know any facts about why the children are with their aunt or where they are going. Because the reader knows as many, perhaps even more, details about the story within the story, the reader's focus is split between the two parts of the story. The reader knows only the names of one of the train-riders (one of the children), though the man on the train gives the name of the child in the story. The author, Saki, makes an interesting choice by not providing much information about the characters of the story. The children ask the man whether there were sheep in the park and the man gives an immediate, interesting answer: there were no sheep because the Queen had a dream that the Prince would be killed by either a clock or a sheep, so she banned both in the park and the palace. One day, the prince of the country heard about how good Bertha was and decided to let her walk in his park, which was normally reserved for adults, once a week. The man goes on to say that Bertha had gotten a lot of medals for being good and she wore them proudly, letting them make noises as she walked around town. When the older girl asks if Bertha was pretty, the man replies that she was not pretty, but she was "horribly good" (5), which the children find a fascinating and enjoyable phrase. got good grades in school, and was polite to everyone" (4). He describes how good she was, saying, "She ate food that was good for her. In the man's story, there is a little girl named Bertha. The man begins to tell his own story about a girl who was good. The aunt tells him that it is hard to tell a story for children and he sets out to prove her wrong by telling a story of his own. Suddenly, the man speaks, saying to the aunt, "You don't seem to be a very good storyteller" (4). The children interrupt the story to ask more curious, humorous questions such as "Would they have saved her if she hadn't been good?" (3), which the aunt is again unable to answer well. The little girl made a lot of friends and these people save her from a wild bull because she is good. The aunt begins to tell a story about "a little girl who was good" (3). The aunt calls over the children to tell them a story, and they sit down begrudgingly because they don't think she is a good storyteller. The younger of the two girls begins to recite the same line of a poem over and over loudly, annoying the man further. In return, the aunt decides that he is a "mean, unfriendly man" (2). The man in the train car is annoyed by the children and scowls at all of them. The aunt does not have good answers to these questions, which both she and the children see. The children are especially fond of asking questions beginning with "Why?" (2). The children are rambunctious, and though the prim woman tries to control them, they refuse to sit still and quiet down. One hot day, a woman rides the train with three young children - her two nieces and nephew.
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