SREDNI VASHTAR
SREDNI
VASHTAR SUMMARY
Conradin, a ten-year-old
boy whom the doctor has given less than five years to live, is antagonized by
his cousin and guardian, Mrs. De Ropp, who seems to take delight in thwarting
him under the guise of taking care of him. Conradin finds escape in his vivid
imagination and in an unused toolshed, in which he keeps two pets—a Houdan hen,
on which he lavishes affection, and a ferret, which he fears and comes to
venerate as a god.
Conradin
names the ferret Sredni Vashtar and worships the beast as his god, bringing it
flowers in season and celebrating festivals on special occasions, such as when
his cousin suffers from a toothache. When his cousin notices him spending too
much time in the shed, she discovers the Houdan hen and sells it. She is
surprised when Conradin fails to show any emotion at the news, but Conradin
changes his usual worshiping ritual. Instead of chanting Sredni Vashtar’s
praises, he asks an unnamed boon of his god. Every day he repeats his request
for the one wish from the ferret. Mrs. De Ropp, noticing his frequent visits to
the toolshed, concludes that he must have something hidden there, which she
assumes to be guinea pigs. She ransacks his room until she finds the key to the
cage and goes out to the shed.
As
she goes to the shed, Conradin watches her and imagines her triumph over him
and his subsequent declining health under her oppressive care. He does not see
her emerge from the shed for a long time, however, and he begins to hope,
chanting to Sredni Vashtar. Finally, he notices the ferret coming out of the
shed with dark, wet stains around its mouth and throat.
The
maid announces tea and asks Conradin where his cousin is. He tells her that
Mrs. De Ropp has gone to the shed, and the maid goes to announce tea to her.
Conradin calmly butters his toast, relishing every moment as he hears the
scream of the maid and the loud sobs and talk of the kitchen help, followed by
the footsteps of someone carrying a heavy burden. Then he hears the kitchen
help discussing who will tell the young boy the news as he takes another piece
of toast to butter.
SREDNI
VASHTAR THEMES
This short, macabre story
is chilling in its portrayal of the fiendish young boy. Saki takes the boy’s
point of view toward the annoying, officious cousin, who, the boy believes,
delights in tormenting him. The boy lives almost entirely in his imagination.
The real world is that which is ruled by adults such as his cousin, who are
most disagreeable to him. In this aspect, Conradin seems to be a perfectly
normal child at odds with the demands of the cruel outside world. What sets
Conradin apart from other children is his almost pathological escape from
reality and his achieving his revenge through the agency of the wild animal.
What is usually only imaginary to a child is carried to fruition, and the child
relishes it.
Conradin’s
veneration of the ferret comes to take up more and more of his waking hours
after his cousin has sold his beloved hen. It becomes an obsession with him,
and the reader finally comes to understand that he prays that the beast will
kill his cousin. When the ferret actually kills the cousin, the most shocking
thing is the boy’s nonchalant, almost happy acceptance of the event. It is the
boy’s reaction to the killing that takes the story out of the realm of reality.
Although
Conradin’s condition is unusual in that he has been diagnosed as having a short
time to live, he could, to an extent, be perceived as a typical boy escaping in
his imagination from the cold world. Even his adoration of the ferret seems to
differ only in degree from what could be considered normal. Sometimes normal
children imagine killing their adult antagonists, and in this case, it could be
considered accidental that his cousin is killed (although Conradin makes no
effort to warn her, he fully expects her to emerge from the shed victorious, as
she usually does when in conflict with him). However, the realization that his
prayers have been answered and his cold, calm acceptance of the accomplished
fact are shocking.
In
a sense, then, the story can be seen as a child’s fantasy of getting even with
the nonunderstanding world of adults. It is a kind of wish fulfillment of which
many children dream. The horror is that Saki presents it as a reality, and the
boy as fully enjoying the event.
SREDNI
VASHTAR ANALYSIS
STYLE AND TECHNIQUE
All of Saki’s short stories
are very short and to the point, and “Sredni Vashtar” is no exception. Many of
his stories are also as macabre as this one. What distinguishes Saki’s stories
is his ability to capture the feelings and attitudes of children toward their
elders. That he was reared by two aunts, one of whom acted sadistically toward
children, is probably what motivated Saki to fill so many of his stories with
young children and sadistic elder guardians. His purpose is usually achieved by
a quasi-objective narrative stance, in which the narrator interprets events
from the point of view of the young protagonist but pretends to relate events
objectively, as in this story.
The
narrator at the beginning depicts the situation as Conradin views it. To him,
Mrs. De Ropp represents “those three-fifths of the world that are necessary and
disagreeable and real,” while “the other two-fifths, in perpetual antagonism to
the foregoing, were summed up in himself and his imagination.” The fruit trees
in the “dull cheerless garden” are described as being “jealously apart from his
plucking, as though they were rare specimens of their kind blooming in an arid
waste.” It is an adult narrating the perceptions of a child.
Mrs.
De Ropp becomes for the boy the epitome of all that is respectable, and thus
the antithesis of all that he holds dear. When she has sold his beloved hen, he
refuses to let her see how deeply he feels the loss, but he is described as
hating the world as represented chiefly by Mrs. De Ropp. His antipathy takes
the form of his devoting his energies to praying more fervently to his animal
god.
Saki
cleverly omits mentioning the subject of Conradin’s supplication to Sredni
Vashtar, and while the cousin is in the toolshed to get rid of the ferret, the
narrator describes Conradin’s imagining his cruel cousin’s final triumph over
him by extirpating the one creature he so venerates. Then, as Saki obliquely
informs the reader of the demise of the hated guardian, his description of
Conradin calmly eating and enjoying his butter and toast heightens the reader’s
sense of shock.
