In our lives, there are always intentions to justify our actions. Simply put, why do we have to attend English classes when we can already speak and write? Obviously, the reason is to master the skills of writing a good argument, which we expect to learn in English classes. The bottom line here is that everything we do has a purpose. This applies even to different genres of literature; in the ghost stories genre, authors attempt to scare, teach moral lessons or entertain through their writings. Every ghost story has its own significant purpose. As for the ghost story, “The Open Window”, Saki deliberately replaces ghosts with a human character, who manipulates truths in order to prove the ultimate danger of the unpredictability of human behavior.
In a ghost story, as the genre itself suggests, readers would expect the presence of a ghost especially since the author includes tropes of a conventional ghost story. In “The Open Window”, Saki uses the isolation element when he mentions that one of the main characters Framton migrated to a rural retreat (595), which can be assumed to be a secluded area. This is a common cliché that one would suppose in a ghost story. Also, the “ghost” incident that scared Framton occurred at twilight, which is a trope as well because ghosts normally appear when it gets dark. This increases the believability of the story as a ghost story.
However, Saki deliberately replaces the ghosts with a human character, who manipulates truths instead. Despite all the tropes, there was no ghost in the story actually. Vera, the lying human character decided to make up a story about her “dead” uncle and aunt’s brothers, who would walk through this large French window, which was always kept open (595). It was said, “Ro...
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...readers understand that ghost stories cannot be trusted. This is crucial because it is dangerous for readers to innocently believe in everything they see or read. Saki’s purpose of replacing ghosts with a human character, who manipulates truths to prove the ultimate danger of the unpredictability of human behavior was evident throughout his story “The Open Window”. Even though it was only a short story, Saki managed to convey his purpose well, thus making this story a meaningful read.
Works Cited
Goldstein, Diane E. “Scientific Rationalism and Supernatural Experience Narratives.”
Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore. Ed. Diane E. Goldstein, Sylvia Ann Grider, and Jeannie Banks Thomas. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2007.
60-78.
Saki. “The Open Window.” The Big Book of Ghost Stories. Ed. Otto Penzler. New
York: Vintage Books, 2012. 594-597.
Chinese culture has many interpretations ghosts. One way they are seen as is people who have disgraced their family or country. An example of this in the novel is Maxine's aunt. She is considered a ghost because she disgraced her family by having a baby outside of marriage. They call her "Ghost! Dead ghost! Ghost! You have never been born." (Kinston 14) She drowns herself in the well to become one of the most feared ghost, the Shui Gui or watery ghost. These ghosts are said to be waiting for their victims, to pull them into the water to take the drowned ones place. In the novel another example of what the Chinese consider ghosts are American people. Sometimes they feel haunted by this unfamiliar culture, just as a ghost would haunt. "But America has been full of machines and ghosts- Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-and-Dime Ghosts." (Kong 96) These examples are American people of any ethnicity. They are called ghosts because the Chinese are not familiar with the culture. Another example of the unfamiliarity is when, "Her husband looked like one of the ghosts passing the car wind...
One night, around 1:00 a.m., my roommates and I were sitting in the common room, and I asked the group if they knew of a compelling ghost story. My one roommate, a 20 year old from Pennsylvania, said she had heard a ghost story at the summer sleep-away camp she had attended when she was younger. She heard the story around a campfire in the woods of Camp Tonikanee, which is in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. She described her story as one that the counselors would tell the campers to convince them the camp was haunted.
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...just another person who wants to be friends and not think the ghost will hurt them or that there is anything scary about it. The tale capitalizes on the fact that an adult would be uneasy thinking that a child can play with a ghost without thinking twice, and even more uneasy that a child can see what they cannot, since adults are supposed to be wiser and more able to explain things. The imagination of a child, which can create some astonishing things, is a scary entity.
The Mammoth Book of Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories ed. Richard Dalby Carroll & Graf Publishers 1995.
we later find out that the ghost is in the other room. The ghost is
There’s this really small highway town in New Mexico called Cimarron, and it’s small now but in the late 19th century it was a bustling crossroads for all sorts of people – gold speculators, ranchers, oilmen, and especially those vagrant characters, like Billy the Kid, seeking refuge from whatever lawman was on his tail. In Cimarron is this hotel, the Santa Fe Hotel, and they say that this place is the most haunted hotel still in operation, in the west. The lights flicker on and off, and people, visitors just say they encounter really weird things – like if you go in this one room, you might see a woman out of the corner of your eye, sitting on the windowsill and looking out for someone. And when you turn to face her, she disappears, but all of a sudden you smell a subtle waft of strawberry-scented perfume. Weird – yet you still not sure if this is true? Sounds sketchy, I know. Oh – I should say this hotel is haunted because 23 people have been shot to death in the hotel, either from a bar-fight or card-game or something. Well I went to stay at the hotel for a night, before I headed on to a nearby Boy Scout camp. I went with my troop, and we all got our own rooms. Guess what room I got – the strawbe...
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In the movie, the ghost first appears to be a statue. He brings about no feelings of horror in the viewer. This sets the viewer up for grave disappointment as in the play it is s...
ghost in the story is the last ghost as the story is after all meant
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The definition of the “ghost” is a shadow which wandering among or haunting other people. The villagers called her aunt a ghost because they are scared of her behavior. The life that they know had been attacked. Kingston uses the harsh responses of the villagers indirectly exposes her aunt ‘s challenge to the society.
"Types Of Hauntings." Into the Afterlife Paranormal. Into The Afterlife Paranormal, 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.