Esme Flashcards
by H.H. Munro (SAKI) — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: Esme
Who is telling the hunting story within "Esme"?
The Baroness tells the story to Clovis, who initially claims all hunting stories are the same.
Why are the Baroness and her husband still living together despite being unhappy?
Neither can afford to give the other a separate allowance. As the Baroness notes, poverty keeps together more homes than it breaks up.
How do the Baroness and Constance first encounter the hyena?
After losing the hounds during a fox hunt, they push through a hedge and find a small group of hounds in a hollow chasing a creature that is clearly not a fox.
Why do the hounds abandon the hyena?
The hounds had broken away from the pack following an alien scent and did not know how to handle this unfamiliar quarry. They seize the distant sound of a horn as an excuse to leave.
What does the hyena do to the Romani child picking blackberries?
The hyena seizes the child in its jaws and carries it off. When it bounds into thick bushes, the wailing rises to a shriek and then stops, strongly implying the child is killed.
How does the hyena die?
It is struck and killed by a passing motorcar after the group emerges onto the high road in the dark.
What does the Baroness tell the motorist about the dead animal?
She claims it was her dog and that it took second place in the puppy class at Birmingham the previous year, completely concealing that it was a hyena.
How does Saki characterize Constance Broddle?
She is described as a strapping, florid girl who goes well with autumn scenery, constantly asks questions, and is compared to a beetroot on two occasions.
What role does Clovis play in "Esme"?
Clovis serves as the skeptical audience for the Baroness's story, offering sardonic interruptions and predicting the conventional elements of a hunting tale.
What does the Baroness's behavior throughout the story reveal about her character?
She is witty, coolly pragmatic, morally indifferent, and thoroughly self-interested, treating the child's death and the motorist's guilt as opportunities rather than tragedies.
Who is Lord Pabham and why is he mentioned?
Lord Pabham is the owner of the private park from which the hyena presumably escaped. He never reports the loss because a previous escaped animal cost him heavily in livestock compensation claims.
Why does the motorist feel so guilty about hitting the animal?
He keeps dogs himself and assumes Esme was a valuable pet. His guilt drives him to bury the animal immediately and later send the Baroness a diamond brooch as reparation.
How does "Esme" satirize upper-class morality?
The Baroness shows zero concern for the dead child but great resourcefulness in profiting from the hyena's death, exposing the moral vacuum beneath Edwardian social polish.
What role does self-preservation play as a theme in "Esme"?
Every party in the story prioritizes self-interest: the Baroness conceals the truth, Lord Pabham hides his loss, and the Romani family stays silent, showing how self-preservation overrides justice.
How does the story explore the theme of storytelling and truth?
The frame narrative with Clovis highlights how stories are shaped and controlled. The Baroness is an unreliable narrator who selectively edits her tale for maximum entertainment and minimum accountability.
What commentary does the story make about class and disposability?
The Romani child's death is treated as a minor inconvenience, while an animal's death earns a diamond brooch. This contrast underscores how Edwardian society valued people differently based on class.
What is the frame narrative structure of "Esme" and why is it important?
Clovis and the Baroness create a story-within-a-story frame. This distances the reader from the horrific events and allows the Baroness to control what is revealed, reinforcing the theme of concealment.
How does Saki use understatement in "Esme"?
The most horrific event, the child's death, is conveyed obliquely: "the wail rose to a shriek and then stopped altogether." The Baroness then notes she always hurries over this part.
Identify the use of dramatic irony when the Baroness says "You have killed my Esme."
The motorist believes he has killed a beloved pet dog, while the reader knows it is actually an escaped hyena that just killed a child. The Baroness exploits his ignorance for profit.
What is the effect of comparing Constance to a beetroot twice in the story?
The recurring beetroot simile is a comic motif that deflates Constance's dramatic self-image. First she looks "as pale as a beetroot that has suddenly heard bad news," later "like an albino beetroot."
What does "lugubrious" mean as used in "a drone of lugubrious music floating in our ears"?
Lugubrious means mournful or gloomy. Here it describes the wailing of the child being carried by the hyena, which the Baroness euphemistically calls "music."
What does "interment" mean in the context of "hasty roadside interments"?
Interment means burial. The narrator wryly observes that the motorist's chauffeur has a spade ready, suggesting roadside burials of struck animals are a routine occurrence.
What does "reparation" mean when the motorist offers to make reparation?
Reparation means compensation for a wrong or injury. The motorist wants to make amends for killing what he believes was the Baroness's valuable dog.
Who says "In Heaven's name, what are they hunting?" and what is the significance?
Constance says this when they discover the hounds chasing a creature far larger than a fox. It marks the turning point from an ordinary hunt story into Saki's characteristic dark absurdity.
What does the Baroness mean by "whatever else he may be, I doubt if he's ravening at the present moment"?
After the hyena has presumably eaten the child, the Baroness coolly notes it is unlikely to be hungry now. The dark humor lies in her treating a child's death as a matter of the animal's appetite.
What is revealed by the Baroness's final line about having "no proof" the hyena belonged to Lord Pabham?
It shows her legalistic cunning. By questioning ownership, she justifies keeping the brooch entirely for herself and denying Constance any share of the proceeds from selling it.