I have long been a fan of H.H. Munro (A.K.A. Saki). His caustic humour and fierce intelligence shine through in all his work – he has a peculiar paradoxical blend of civilisation and savagery. This particular story, Sredni Vashtar, is quite typical of his writing. Like many of his stories, it features dark humour, but this time with a macabre twist.
The boy in the story is similar to the one in The Lumber Room – clever, imaginative, isolated and engaged in a quiet war of nerves with a stultifying older relative who has power over him. In both stories, the younger mind prevails.
As you read, pay attention to how Saki manipulates our response to the protagonist, Conradin, and how he makes the ending so effective.
Here, Tom Baker takes a break from battling Daleks and Cybermen, and reads Sredni Vashtar. Enjoy.
As you read this short story, you should notice similarities with the first tale in the IGCSE selection (for 2017/2018 examination). Like Sredni Vashata, this story, The Phoenix, features cruelty, human folly, Natural Justice and a highly barbed sense of humour.
‘Billenium‘ J. G. Ballard, 1961 – (Alternate title: ‘Billennium’) Overpopulation has sensitized everyone to space, including Ward, who measures his ceiling to make sure the upstairs neighbour isn’t pulling a fast one. When he discovers a hidden room and shares it with others, will his generosity mean anything?
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction.
J.G. Ballard was a prominent writer, both of Sci-Fi and ‘mainstream’ literature. This particular short story from the Stories of Ourselves anthology is yet another bleak perspective on human nature. However, the best Sci-Fi is prophetic – this means that it doesn’t so much seek to predict the future as prevent it It is a warning of what might happen if we don’t mend our ways.
The genre is Science-Fiction (sometimes called Speculative Fiction), and the sub-genre is Dystopian Fiction. This type of story is really about the present – it focuses on a social issue/trend and extrapolates its future implications (in this case, over-population). In this sense, it is a literary form of a caricature.
In a similar vein, but much more hard-hitting, is Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room!, which was made into the feature film Soylent Green:
When I was 7 years old, an author came to my school to give a talk. I remember that he said that a good story “must have a beginning, a middle and an end.” At the time, I thought that this was so blindly obvious that it didn’t really need to be said. However, I came to realise that what he meant was that a writer should consciously structure his/her work. This is true of non-fiction as well as fiction.
Does your essay writing resemble a stream of consciousness? If so, then you need to address your structure as a matter of some urgency. Even if you are actually writing in the style of Talking Heads, you will notice that Alan Bennett does, in fact, structure his monologues.
Your structure is the skeleton around which you build the body of your speech, essay, story or whatever. In the case of the short story, the author may pose a question at the start and give his/her verdict at the end. Thus, by referring back to the original premise (without actually repeating) an author can confer upon the story a sense of completeness. This is the purpose of a conclusion – it is not a summary – it simply concludes. Too many oral exams fizzle out at the end, with the student saying, “um…er…that’s about it really.” Nothing screams Lack of Structure at an examiner louder than an oral exam that ends this way. So, before you come to talk or write, decide on the beginning middle and end.
He thought about life. You never really got what you wanted. No matter how you tried you made mistakes and could never get past them. You could never see the sky and the ocean because you were locked in a prison, except that nobody called it a prison.
Oh dear. The Prison. Another short story with a decidedly cynical tone – but this time there is none of the black humour of Sredni Vashtar or The Phoenix. This time, it’s just bleak, bleak, bleak. Fate, historical inevitability or our own natures forms a ‘prison’ – oh, and no good deed goes unpunished.
At IGCSE and IB level, the skill of commentary writing (sometimes called Practical Criticism) is something that students need to develop. Whether writing on a whole text, an excerpt from a text or a poem, there are guidelines to help you.
I often have the feeling that even at the best of times literary criticism is fraudulent… One’s real reaction to a book, when one has a reaction at all, is usually “I like this book” or “I don’t like it”, and what follows is a rationalisation.
– George Orwell
Always focus on the HOW? WHAT? and WHY? questions (not necessarily in this order).
WHAT type of text is it? (Biography, travel writing, narrative etc).
WHAT is the topic and WHAT does the author say to us?
WHAT tone emerges?
HOW does the writer shape his/her work – and to what effect?
WHY? Even though you will spend the bulk of your essay explaining HOW a writer says something, the WHY is the most important question. We can never know what an author “intended” – only what the text says. Nor is there a “hidden meaning.” However, fromthe choices that the author makes and the effects of those choices, we may infer.
The ‘Unseen’ exam
In the ‘unseen’ exam, you should only write about the excerpt on the page – not the rest of the text (unless specifically asked to do so) or irrelevant biographical details of the author.
Don’t expect to find themes in short prose excerpts (or poetry). These generally emerge during the course of a longer work. Instead, ask yourself WHY the examiner has chosen this piece. The answer is that it exemplifies a particular technique. Identify the HOW? WHAT? and WHY? of this technique. Nine times out of ten, something ironic is going on in the text. However, merely labelling is insufficient. If you write, “This text is ironic,” the examiner will, no doubt, write “So what?” Instead, say WHAT the author does, HOW he/she does it and the effect (from which you may infer the WHY). For example, by juxtaposing X with Y, the author(No! Name him/her) Silas Scringestone creates a comical contrast between the two characters, thus implicitly mocking the blah blah blah (you get the idea).
Use a formal register to match the formal nature of the work. While you may not wish to sound like a High Court judge, you should nevertheless avoid abbreviations, slang and colloquial expressions (the most common being kids, guys, cash, smart, kind of, pretty much and gonna).
Do not merely paraphrase – you need to analyse (That’s HOW, WHAT and WHY).
Focus on what the author does – nothow “the readers” feel:
When I read this text, I feel really sorry for Mr Bump. X
Roger Hargreaves makes Mr Bump a sympathetic character, deserving of pity. √
Any reference to yourself or “the readers” is a strong indication that you have your focus back to front.
If you know the author’s name – use it! If you keep saying “the author,” you are effectively telling the examiner that you can’t be bothered to mention his/her name.
…which reminds me… The word “mentions” is not the same as “states,” “cites” or even “says.” It refers to something of no particular importance.
Be concise. Don’t include superfluous words:
The excitement and the happiness that Leila is feeling makes the reader think of her as a girl who worked very hard to get to her goal and when she did, she celebrated because she was really happy. X
Leila was very happy to achieve her goal. √
Make specific comments – not vague ones:
This poem written by insert name here is a poem that gives the reader a thought of the poem. As the reader reads the poem, he/she would get an image of the poem. The reader would be able to imagine a picture of what is going on in the poem. The choice of words that the poet uses makes it easier for the reader to get an image of the poem. X
…is a romantic piece about two estranged lovers who live in different places. √
Use the Present Perfect tense for commentaries. This is not history. Every time you open the book at the same page, Winston Smith is still in Room 101. Even though he is long dead, George Orwell still ‘speaks’ to us through the text. However, Julius Caesar invaded Britain once – he does not still invade today.
