Have you ever thought you were crazy because you’ve seen ghost or was freaked out by a scary story? Mr. Nuttel goes through this in the story, "The Open Window" by H.H. Munro. The ironic satire displayed in the story shows that the weak are easily manipulated. Through Vera's consistent lying and wonderful acting skills, she leads Mr. Nuttel to believe a lie that she only made up under pressure. Which leaves Mr. Nuttel frightened and literally fleeing for his life.
First, through verbal irony of Vera's name, her name means "truth" in Latin, her name is ironic because she does nothing but lies; she never once tells the truth. In the end of the story, the audience is the questioning whether or not Mrs. Sappleton’s brother and husband are ghost, coming through the open window, or if they are indeed real. Even after she knows that the truth might come out in her story, she continues to lie and keep her story going. SAKI states, "She broke off with a
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Rumors get spread all the time, just as lies get told in order to find amusement in watching someone believe what was told. People can get what they want in telling lies, and in this case, this is exactly what Vera is doing. Mr. Nuttel is gullible and easily persuaded. Vera notices that on first meeting him she can mess with him and she plays into his weakness. It's strange because young women are normally stereotyped into weak and easily gullible, however the roles have switched and the man, Mr. Nuttel, is the weak and gullible one. Also, during the time of the story, the men are always shown as having the upper hand and being able to easily manipulate the women into believing anything they want them to. Mr. Nuttel is a nervous man and is believed to be a hypochondriac. He believes that anything and everything is wrong with him, so why wouldn’t he believe the lie Vera has told him? SAKI uses Mr. Nuttel to expand his ironic satire through the