Analysis of the text « The lumber room» by Hector Munro

Macro-componential analysis
The text under analysis belongs to the belles-letter FS. The substyle of it is an
emotive prose.
The text is written by an outstanding British novelist and a short – story
writer Hector Munro. Also he is better known for his pseudonym Saki. He satirized
things that he hated. He often used black humour language in his stories. It is a
form of humor that regards human suffering as absurd rather than pitiable, or that
considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic.

The author takes the position of an observer. He follows the events along
with the reader. The narrator is omniscient and unobtrusive as he doesn’t interfere
and doesn’t show his opinion.

The author presents the story in the third person narration. The advantage is an
objectivity of the narration. The disadvantage is that narration lacks emotions. The
narrative is revealed exclusively through the eyes of Nicholas. This allows the
reader to access the situation and the characters in an objective

The title of the text is « The lumber room ». It disorients the reader towards
the perception of the text but it gives the artistic detail. The title of the story doesn't
tell the reader much about the message of the story, it is hard to guess at first, what
the lumber-room has to do with the meaning of this literary work of art.
The theme of the text is about relationship between two generations: a little
boy Nickolas and his aunt.
The author writes about an intelligent child called Nicolas and his tyrannical
aunt who is portrayed as a dumb wit, strict lady who is in charge of children. One
day she punished him. Her idea of punishing was to send other children on an
expedition while the child «in disgrace should stay at home». That day Nicolas
sneaked in the house from aunt's view and entered the lumber room.
 The text under analysis easily falls into the following logical parts. Every part
may be entitled.
The 1st logical part can be entitled as « The Frog»
The key words and word combinations for this part are: a special treat,
sands at Jagborough, Nicholas, he was in disgrace, bread-and-milk, a frog in
it, оlder and wiser and better people, he was not to talk nonsense, the dramatic part
of the incident, put it there himself, to stay at home.
The 2nd logical part can be entitled as « Tyrannical aunt » The key words and
word combinations for this part are :expedition , habit, to improvise something,
offender would be rigorously debarred,  а few decent tears, by his girl-cousin, why
didn't he tell me they were hurting, you weren't listening.
“The Gooseberry Garden” can be the title for the next part. The key words
and word combinations for this part are: gooseberry garden, you are in disgrace, an
expression of considerable obstinacy, but she spent an hour or two in trivial
gardening operations, with immense powers of concentration, the aunt's watchful
eye.
The 4th logical part can be entitled « Inside the Lumber Room». The key
words and word combinations for this part are: slipped back into the house , a plan,
a chair in the library, a fat, important-looking key, instrument which kept the
mysteries of the lumber-room, for aunts and such-like privileged persons, practised
with the key of the schoolroom door, it was large and dimly lit, a storehouse of
unimagined treasures, wonderful things for the eye to feast on, a piece of framed
tapestry, the details of the tapestry picture,а man, dressed in the hunting costume, a
stag , four galloping wolves were coming, many golden minutes, other objects of
delight and interest .
«The water tank» can be the title for the next part. The key words and word
combinations for this part are: the voice of his aunt, rather hopeless search for him,
a shriek, he crept from the room, "Who's calling?", voice doesn't sound like aunt's,
the rain-water tank, the Evil, strawberry jam for tea, an unusual sense of luxury, a
kitchenmaid.
 The last logical part can be entitled « Keeping silent ». The key words and
word combinations for this part are: tea that evening, a fearsome silence, no sands
to play on, the aunt had overlooked, Bobby's boots, the aunt maintained the frozen
muteness, has much to think about , huntsman would escape with his hounds while
the wolves feasted on the stricken stag.
As for the setting, it involves the place of the events. As for the time, the time
isn’t mentioned. It is said that events take place since morning till evening.
As for the place, according to the text the family lives somewhere near
Jagborough. They live in an upper middle class (suggested by the horsedrawn
carriage, with a library and a lumber room with rare items) house. The action
moves around different locations in the house: the dining room, the gooseberry
garden and the lumber room.
Author uses proper names: Nicholas, Bobby, Jagborough.
The author also uses the words united by the sphere of application: disgrace,
sin, disgraceful, depravity, to fall from grace (religious words), skilled, to shift
from favorable ground, expedition, trivial gardening operations, germinated, self-
imposed, sorties (military words).
All these help to create an appropriate atmosphere, because the setting places
the characters into realistic environment.
The text is written in neutral style. But the author used the elements of
colloquial style:
-ph. verbs: look for, get over, come up, sit down, come out.
-direct address: Nicholas! Nicholas!, Devil
-contractions: couldn’t, she’ll, won’t
-elliptical sentences: why not?, because you are in disgrace, me
-parenthesis: as a matter of fact, however, presently.
The atmosphere of the text is homogeneous and it is maintained by
humourous key ( the mood of the little boy) and neutral key (the mood of adults -
dull and boring). The emotionally – colored and picture-making words are:
 the frog in bread-and-milk, was in disgrace, on the seemingly frivolous
ground, there could not possibly be, not to talk nonsense, described with much
detail, the coloration and marking, really was a frog, the sin of taking a frog , to
be profoundly in error, the utmost assurance, with the insistence of a skilled
tactitian, hastily invented, the Jagborough expedition, in order to impress the
delights, he had justly forfeited by his disgraceful conduct,her habit, be rigorously
debarred, sinned collectively, were suddenly informed, a circus of unrivalled merit
and uncounted elephants, for their depravity, afternoon, racing about, won't enjoy
himself much, ,with a grim chuckle, tell you important things, could keep a
watchful eye on the two doors , forbidden paradise, a woman of few ideas, with
immense power of concentration, would keep her on selfimposed sentry-duty ,
unauthorized intrusion, the art of fitting keys into keyholes and turning locks, a
stale delight, a mere material pleasure, a storehouse of unimagined treasure, a
living breathing story, man dressed in the hunting costume of some remote period,
had just transfixed a stag with an arrow, a feeding stag, and the two spotted dogs,
many golden minutes, engaged in energetic and rather hopeless search, no use
trying to hide there, "Me," slipped into the rain-water tank “I was told I wasn't to
go”, "you may be the Evil”, “the Evil One tempts me”, “I'm not going to yield”, "
you are the Evil One and not aunt," gleefully; " she said there wasn't any.” “Oh,
Devil, you have sold yourself!", with childish discernment, in a fearsome silence,
the tide had been at its highest, was silent, in the absorption, the huntsman would
escape with his hounds while the wolves feasted on the stricken stag.
There are following characters in the text

1. Nicholas- the main character . Nicholas is a very smart young man who
has planned out this day very carefully. He has a sense of humor.  The
reader finds himself smiling at Nicolas’s ingenuity.  He has a spirited
sense of fun, which the aunt appreciated.
2. Aunt- the secondary character. The Aunt is represented as self-righteous
and strict person. She always is right. The aunt was a religious person, as
 she thought about herself, but really she was not. The aunt took from
religion only what she wanted: sins, strictness.

3. There are the background characters:

Bobby. A child in the same household as Nicholas and the aunt. He is
either Nicholas’s younger brother or his boy-cousin, but the story doesn’t
specify which.
Girl-cousin.Nicholas’s girl-cousin lives in the same household as
Nicholas and the aunt. She scrapes her knee right before the children
leave to the beach and cries. 
Boy-cousin .Nicholas’s cousin who lives in the same household as
Nicholas and the aunt. He goes on the trip to Jagborough with the girl-
cousin and Nicholas’s younger brother.

Conflict of "The Lumber Room" by Saki is external conflict .It is the

stultifying and unnatural conventions of Edwardian England's society vs. the
natural world.
The Edwardian world of this aunt conflicts with the imaginative, free and
unrestricted natural world represented by the creative Nicholas, who defies his
aunt's limitations and dull conventional behavior. 
The form in which the text is written is pictorial (narration with some snippets
of direct speech:  ‘You said there couldn't possibly be a frog in my bread-and-milk;
there was a frog in my bread-and-milk.’ "Will there be strawberry jam for tea?"
asked Nicholas innocently. "Certainly there will be," said the aunt. “Fetch the little
ladder from under the cherry tree", "I was told I wasn't to go into the gooseberry
garden," "Bobby won't enjoy himself much, and he won't race much either," as his
boots “are hurting him. They're too tight." "Now I know that you are the Evil One
and not aunt," shouted Nicholas gleefully; "when we asked aunt for strawberry jam
yesterday she said there wasn't any I know there are four jars of it in the store
cupboard, because I looked, and of course you know it's there, but she doesn't,
because she said there wasn't any. Oh, Devil, you have sold yourself!"
 The view point from which the text is given is polyphonic, different view-
points coexist in the text.
Nicholas:  "Bobby won't enjoy himself much, and he won't race much either”,
"I was told I wasn't to go into the gooseberry garden".,"Your voice doesn't sound
like aunt's," , "you may be the Evil One tempting me to be disobedient. Aunt often
tells me that the Evil One tempts me and that I always yield. This time I'm not
going to yield”, "Now I know that you are the Evil One and not aunt," shouted
Nicholas gleefully; "when we asked aunt for strawberry jam yesterday she said
there wasn't any I know there are four jars of it in the store cupboard, because I
looked, and of course you know it's there, but she doesn't, because she said there
wasn't any. Oh, Devil, you have sold yourself!"
His aunt: "it will be a glorious afternoon for racing about over those beautiful
sands. How they will enjoy themselves!", "Me,… "didn't you hear me? I've been
looking for you in the gooseberry garden, and I've slipped into the rain-water tank.
Luckily there's no water in it, but the sides are slippery and I can't get out. Fetch
the little ladder from under the cherry tree.”, "I told you not to, and now I tell you
that you may,"
As for the elements of presentational sequencing the reader doesn’t come
across of them.
The author uses the straight-line-narrative technique. The narration is ordered
chronologically, each episode is given with more and more emphasis.
The composition consists of exposition, complication, climax and denouement.

In exposition we learn about little Nicholas, his cousins and his strict aunt.
Nicholas got into his aunt’s disgrace. So his cousins were to be taken to
Jagborough sands that afternoon and he was to stay at home. The Aunt was
absolutely sure that the boy was determined to get into the gooseberry garden
because I have told him he is not to.

In complication which is ended by the climax of the story when Nicholas got
into an unknown land of lumber-room. Forbidden fruit is sweet and truly the
lumber-room is described as a storehouse of unimagined treasure. Every single
item brings life and imagination to Nicholas and is symbolic of what the adult of
real world lacks. He often pictured to himself what the lumber-room was like,
since that was the region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes. The
tapestry brings to life imagination and fantasy within Nicholas, the interesting pots
and candlesticks bring an aesthetic quality, visual beauty which stirs up his
creative mind; and lastly a large square book full of coloured pictures of birds. And
such birds! They allow Nicholas to learn in a fun and exciting way.
The climax of the text. While the boy was admiring the colouring of a
mandarin duck, the voice of his aunt came from the gooseberry garden. She got
slipped into the rain-water tank and couldn’t go out. She demanded from the boy to
bring her a ladder, but he said her voice didn’t sound like his aunt’s. You may be
the Evil One tempting me to be disobedient. Justice must be done. The Aunt tasted
the fruit of her own punishment on the children. She feels what it is like to be
condemned.
The denouement of the story. The Aunt is furious and enforces in the house.
She maintained the frozen muteness of one who has suffered undignified and
unmerited detention in a rain-water tank for thirty-five minutes. Nicholas was also
silent, in the absorption of an enchanting picture of a hunter and a stag.

Micro-componential analysis

The author used to a lot of stylistic devices in order to show inner world of
main characters.
In the story the Aunt is represented as self-righteous and strict person. She
always is right. This can be proved by the epithets used by the author: frivolous
ground, considerable obstinacy, unauthorized intrusion.
The aunt was a religious person, as she thought about herself, but really she
was not. A religious person loves people around her, understands that only love,
trust and kindness can help the upbringing but the aunt took from religion only
what she wanted: sins, strictness. To show this the author unfolds the specifying
words characterizing Aunt’s speech: religious words (disgrace, sin, disgraceful,
depravity, to fall from grace); and her actions and attitude towards children:
military words (skilled, to shift from favorable ground, expedition, trivial
gardening operations, germinated, self-imposed, sorties, wriggle).
To prove that the aunt thinks of herself as a wiser and that she doesn’t like to
be in a wrong the author uses her own words in represented speech: “there could
not be a frog in his bread-and-milk and that he was not to talk nonsense”.
Being cold, drily, lacking of love she is more concerned with punishing the
children: she keeps jam and goodies away from them; she bars children from the
beautiful places in the house like the garden and lumber-room. Unable to
understand and communicate with children she is not even aware of the tightness
of her son’s boots. She dictates their lives for them, insisting on where they should
go for entertainment.
The author has a critical and very often ironic attitude to aunt underlining her
narrow-mindedness with the help of oxymoron “a woman of few ideas” and
metaphor “had leapt to the conclusion”; her unimaginativeness using zeugma “a
circus of unrivalled merit and uncounted elephants”. The author calls the
gooseberry garden “forbidden paradise” unfolding a biblical allusion strengthening
ironic effect.
In the story Nickolas is presented as a very imaginative, curious and vivacious
child. It can be proved by the usage of a great variety of colorful epithets:
wonderful things, a living breathing story, instant attention, undreamed-of
creatures. Everything in the world was new and interesting for him. The author
shows it with the help of metaphors: “mysteries of the lumber-room”, “an
unknown land”, “ a whole portrait gallery of undreamed – of creatures”.
Sometimes Nicholas’ innocent feelings of delight appear in the text through
the represented speech: “And such birds!”
However it is reasonable to mention that Nickolas possesses not only positive
traits of character. Sometimes we can see sarcasm in his words which is
represented through the black humour: “How did she howl” – said Nickolas
cheerfully (he said about his cousin - sister); “There was an unusual sense of
luxury in being able to talk to an aunt as though one was talking to the Evil One”
(about his aunt); and bathos “as she was scrambling”. Nickolas makes fun of
hunter’s skills in archery, the author shows it with irony “all one knew about his
skill in shooting was that he could hit a large stag at a ridiculously short range”.
Nickolas is quite cruel to animals. We can notice it when he imagines the scene
“when the huntsmen would escape while the wolves feasted on the stricken stag”.
The author uses the specifying word here to underline the fact that Nickolas had no
sympathy at that moment.
He is quite reasonable and sly child. When he leaves the lumber-room the
author unfolds the succession of actions. The author enumerates his actions one by
one. It seems that Nickolas had thought over them before in order his aunt did not
notice his presence in this place. What is more important Nickolas doesn’t want to
get into the gooseberry garden but wants to make his aunt believe he wants to. The
author uses paradox “As a matter of fact he had no intention of trying to get into
the gooseberry garden, but it was extremely convenient for him that his aunt
should believe that he had”.
He is stubborn and mischievous but in spite of all these characteristics the
author is in favour of Nickolas with his imaginativeness, directness and innocence.
They can be seen in zeugma the author unfolds: “he felt perfectly capable of being
in disgrace and in a gooseberry garden at the same moment”.
As this story is about middle – class people it is written in the literary style.
The bookish words are prevailing: wholesome, frivolous ground, possibly,
nonsense, nevertheless, veriest nonsense, the coloration and marking, the alleged
frog, the dramatic part, the incident, the whole affair, the mind, the utmost
assurance, the insistence, unwarranted stretch of imagination. However the Aunt
tried to bring up children in strict, military and religious way so there are
specifying words in the text. They are military words: skilled, to shift from
favorable ground, expedition, trivial gardening operations, germinated, self-
imposed, sorties, wriggle; and religious words: disgrace, sin, disgraceful,
depravity, to fall from grace.
On the example of the story the author attaches our attention to different
worlds of children and adults. The Child’s World is wonderful, imaginative, it is
full of fantasies and dreams. It is a wonderful period in people’s life and adults
should respect children and treat them in a proper way.
So, the story reveals he author’s great knowledge of man’s inner world. His
ironical cynicism combined with a keen wit reveal a terrible situation in this house
- cold, heartless and strict aunt and innocent children who are bursting with
imagination. The charm of this story lies in its exciting plot and funny situations.
At the same time it conveys deep thought, keen observation and sharpness of
characterization.
In conclusion I’d like to say that the language of the text is quite easy to
understand. The author’s choice of vocabulary is rich. The style of writing is
satirical.

The idea of the text is to show a contrast between the world of an adult and a
child. That adults are not always very intelligent when dealing with children.
Nicholas's aunt tells him that there can't possibly be a frog in his food when there
actually is one. She tells him she knows he's in the gooseberry garden when he
isn't. She tells him there's no strawberry jam when really there was some.
So the story shows adults being too certain and not believing the kids. And it
shows adults trying too hard to impose discipline. And it shows adults telling
falsehoods to try to control the children. All of these together point out that adults
err when they try to have too much control and when they do not take their
children seriously.