Sredni Vashtar Flashcards
by H.H. Munro (SAKI) — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: Sredni Vashtar
What has the doctor predicted about Conradin at the start of the story?
The doctor has pronounced that ten-year-old Conradin will not live another five years.
Where does Conradin create his secret world of worship and imagination?
In a disused tool-shed in a forgotten corner of the garden, almost hidden behind a dismal shrubbery.
How did Conradin acquire the polecat-ferret?
A friendly butcher-boy smuggled it into the tool-shed, cage and all, in exchange for a long-secreted hoard of small silver coins.
What does Mrs. De Ropp do with the Houdan hen, and how does Conradin respond?
She has it sold and taken away overnight. Conradin says nothing, showing only a white, set face rather than the outburst she expected.
What is the one prayer Conradin repeatedly asks of Sredni Vashtar?
"Do one thing for me, Sredni Vashtar." He never specifies the request, reasoning that a god must already know what is needed.
How does Mrs. De Ropp discover the ferret in the hutch?
She ransacks Conradin's bedroom until she finds the carefully hidden key, then marches down to the shed to open the locked hutch.
What is Conradin doing when the household discovers Mrs. De Ropp's fate?
He is calmly toasting bread, buttering it with much butter, and slowly eating it while listening to the screaming and commotion beyond the dining-room door.
How does Conradin mentally divide the world into two parts?
Three-fifths of the world is "necessary and disagreeable and real," represented by Mrs. De Ropp. The other two-fifths consists of himself and his imagination, in perpetual antagonism to the rest.
What private name does Conradin use for Mrs. De Ropp, and why is it significant?
He calls her "the Woman," a dehumanizing label that reflects his deep hatred and reduces her to a symbolic force of oppression rather than a person.
How does Mrs. De Ropp justify her treatment of Conradin?
She frames her constant thwarting of him as being "for his good," a duty she does not find particularly irksome, while never admitting to herself that she dislikes him.
What role does the Houdan hen play in Conradin's emotional life?
The ragged-plumaged hen receives the affection Conradin has scarcely any other outlet for, serving as a companion in his secret refuge before Mrs. De Ropp has it sold.
Why does Conradin decide the Houdan hen is an Anabaptist?
He has no idea what an Anabaptist is but privately hopes it is something "dashing and not very respectable," since Mrs. De Ropp is his model for everything respectable and detestable.
How does the story contrast Conradin's private religion with Mrs. De Ropp's church religion?
Sredni Vashtar represents fierceness, impatience, and primal power, while Mrs. De Ropp's church religion embodies restraint and respectability -- "great lengths in the contrary direction."
What does Conradin's toast-making at the end reveal about the story's view of childhood?
It reveals that children can harbor feelings far darker and more complex than adults assume, showing Conradin's quiet triumph rather than the grief the household expects him to feel.
How does the story portray the power dynamic between guardian and child?
Mrs. De Ropp holds absolute material power, controlling Conradin's possessions, movements, and diet. Conradin's only counter-power is his imagination and secret inner life, which she can never access.
What commentary does Saki make about "doing things for someone's own good"?
The story suggests that well-meaning control can be a socially acceptable form of cruelty, with Mrs. De Ropp's guardianship systematically stripping away every source of joy in Conradin's life.
What is ironic about the household's reaction to Mrs. De Ropp's death?
They worry about how to break the news to "the poor child," assuming he will be devastated, while Conradin is contentedly making himself a second piece of toast.
How does Saki use the garden and its windows as a symbol?
The garden is "overlooked by so many windows ready to open with a message not to do this or that," symbolizing constant surveillance and the suffocating control Mrs. De Ropp imposes on Conradin.
What literary technique does Saki use when describing the ferret emerging from the shed?
Saki uses understatement and implication rather than explicit description. The ferret appears with "dark wet stains around the fur of jaws and throat," letting the reader infer what happened without stating it directly.
How does Conradin's hymn to Sredni Vashtar function as foreshadowing?
The chant -- "His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white / His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death" -- directly foreshadows the violent fate awaiting Mrs. De Ropp in the shed.
What does "the House of Rimmon" refer to when Conradin uses it to describe church?
It is a biblical allusion to a pagan temple (2 Kings 5:18), meaning Conradin views Mrs. De Ropp's church as a place of false worship compared to his own fervent devotion to Sredni Vashtar.
What is a polecat-ferret, the animal Conradin worships as a god?
A polecat-ferret is a hybrid between a domesticated ferret and a wild European polecat, known for being fierce, sharp-fanged, and difficult to handle -- qualities that make it an apt deity for Conradin.
What does the word "effete" mean as applied to the doctor in the opening paragraph?
It means weak, lacking force or vitality. Saki uses it to dismiss the doctor as ineffectual, someone who "counted for little" despite his professional authority.
Who says "Whoever will break it to the poor child? I couldn't for the life of me!" and what makes this line significant?
A shrill-voiced member of the household says it, assuming Conradin will be heartbroken. The dramatic irony is that Conradin feels only triumph, not grief.
What is the significance of Conradin's one-word reply "Sometimes" when Mrs. De Ropp says she thought he liked toast?
It reveals Conradin's cold self-control and refusal to give Mrs. De Ropp the emotional response she seeks. He will not accept her guilty peace offering after she sold his hen.
What does the closing line -- "And while they debated the matter among themselves, Conradin made himself another piece of toast" -- convey?
It conveys Conradin's complete emotional detachment from Mrs. De Ropp's death and his quiet sense of liberation, using the mundane act of toast-making as a chilling counterpoint to the horror.