Do not be too smart with kids, Lumber Room by Saki

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Hector Hugh Munro whose pen name is Saki brings out one of his grim corner of life through a fabricated character to show the actual capacity of a child. He warns the world of adults that it is not advisable to tempt children with adult-powers which adults always use to suppress the potentiality of children. He visualizes the repercussions that can be upon the powerful adults if provoked the wrong child. 

Munro had had a critical time in his life. After losing his mother in his prime childhood he had to transfer to England and live with his notorious aunts. The aunt in the short story is said to be totally equal to his one of aunts called Augusta. Through the character of Nicolas, he may be illustrating his own life as a kid. The attitudes shown by the character may be his non-yielded reactions upon the ill treatment he underwent.

Nicholas shows a character of a rebel in the household. His actions show his intention to prove adults are wrong. He puts a frog into the breakfast merely to prove that the argument - there cannot possibly be a frog in the wholesome milk. Saki warns the world of adults showing that you may be questioned of your actions. Therefore, adults must be careful when making decisions. 

Many elders think that they are smarter than the young. Saki through his protagonist shows that the vary feeling can backfire on them. Nicholas uses aunt’s feelings against her to deceive her. By reassuring aunt’s idea that he would enter the Gooseberry Garden, he initiates his long planned plot to enter the lumber room. The way he plots out his plan shows his mastermind. The problem with adults in the story that they do not understand this depth of Nicholas’s character. Overpowering adults’ wit by a kid is an indication that modern generation can overpower the brains of mature adults. 

The writer introduces the reader a young child - teacher to teach the world of adults to be honest to children. He claims that deceiving children for the sake of adults can work against them like a boomerang. In the story Nicholas uses the words used by the aunt to punish her promptly when he gets the chance. The satirical moment when the aunt is stuck in the rain water tank, Nicholas rejects to help her telling he cannot go against the rule not to enter the Gooseberry Garden. This results the aunt to be trapped in a rain water tank for more than half an hour. This moral and physical punishment given to an elder is a clear indication of the consequences of not being honest with children.  

Moreover, the backfiring of punishments given to children emphasizes the repercussions of moral and physical punishments. According to the story, the moral punishments given by aunt clearly shows her intentions. It is to keep the children under the shade of her adult-power rather than shaping up their behavior. This kind of ill treatment may create havoc than benefits. Failing of the expedition to the sands, aunt’s entrapment in the rainwater tank and the ultimate success of Nicholas’s plan to enter the lumber room show that the more one tries to submerge the child the more he succeeds in his mischievous acts as well as they may create negative results over adults as well. 

In conclusion, the idea brought forward by Saki in the short story Lumber Room is a personal and general depiction of the fact that the kids should be treated positively; if you try to be too much smart with them, they may turn into rebels inside your own domains creating havoc in your lives.  


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