The Storyteller Short Story

In Saki’s story, “The Storyteller,” a woman is on a train with her nieces and nephew. The children are out of control and are bothersome to a bachelor who is also on the train. The aunt tries to tell a story to the children but they continue to be rowdy. The bachelor decides to step up and tells them a story of his own, in hopes they will settle down and be quiet. The bachelor succeeds by telling them about a girl who is horribly good but in the end is killed by a wolf. In William Carlos Williams story, “The Use of Force,” a doctor has come on a house call to try and diagnose a little girl. Diphtheria has been going around at the girl’s school and in order for the doctor to see if she has it or not, he has to check her throat. The girl tells

In, “The Storyteller,” it says, “The girls and boys were all over the train car. The aunt kept telling the children ‘Don’t,’ while the children kept asking her questions starting with ‘Why’” (Saki 3). Throughout the story the reader sees how bored the children are with being good. In, “The Use of Force,” there is only one girl but she is just as undisciplined as the three in the other story. When the doctor first arrives at the house, he kindly asks Mathilda to open her mouth. It says, “I smiled in my best professional manner and asking for the child’s first name I said, come on, Mathilda, open your mouth and let’s take a look at your throat. Nothing doing” (Williams 1034). Throughout the story, the reader sees how undisciplined Mathilda is and even sees her knock off the glasses of the doctor. Though both stories have undisciplined children, the children act out for different reasons. In, “The Storyteller,” the children are most likely uncontrollable because they probably have never been punished for their actions or the way they speak to their elders. The reader can infer this when the aunt finishes telling the children the story and the children respond, “‘It’s the stupidest story I’ve ever heard,’ said the older of the little girls. ‘I didn’t even listen after the first part because it was so stupid,’ said Cyril” (Saki 6). In the other story, “The Use of Force,” the young girl, Mathilda, is disobedient for another reason. Mathilda is most likely scared to find out if she could die or not, and that is why she refuses to open her mouth for the doctor. Mathilda is clearly not scared of the doctor but is scared of finding out if she is sick. The reader sees this in the text, “Not a move. Even her expression hadn’t changed. Her breathe however was coming faster and faster. Then the battle began” (Williams 1035). Though both these stories have undisciplined children, they act out for different