The Lumber Room

Mischief is the dominant theme in "The Lumber Room." From the beginning to the end of the story, Saki delights the reader with Nicholas's persistent playful misbehavior. In the opening scene, the narrator details how Nicholas complains of a frog in his breakfast bowl, only to reveal that he put it there himself. His antics land him in trouble with his authoritarian aunt, but Nicholas's bottomless capacity for mischief means he uses the punishment of having to stay home to his advantage. While the other kids go to the beach and his aunt stands watch at the entrance to the gooseberry garden, believing Nicholas will try to sneak in, Nicholas is free to act on his long-awaited plan: entering the lumber room. Having satisfied his curiosity, Nicholas goes back to the garden when his aunt calls his name. She is stuck in the rain-water tank and needs his help to get out, but Nicholas can't pass up the opportunity for further mischief. Instead of getting the ladder, he reminds her that he is forbidden from going into the gooseberry garden. He then pretends he believes she isn't his aunt, but rather the Devil trying to tempt him to misbehave. Ultimately, Nicholas's penchant for mischief makes the boredom of living under his aunt's rigid control bearable.

In contrast to Nicholas's playful mischievousness and imagination is his aunt's oppressive imposition of authority. The theme of authority arises in the story's first sentences, when Saki sets up the premise: "The children were to be driven, as a special treat, to the sands at Jagborough. Nicholas was not to be of the party; he was in disgrace." The narrator's passive voice obscures the role the aunt plays in the punishment, but the narrator later explains how it is the aunt's decision to keep Nicholas home; in fact, she invented the occasion of the beach trip explicitly to punish Nicholas for putting a frog in his breakfast bowl. The aunt continues to flex her authority over Nicholas, barring him from the gooseberry garden while he is grounded. In a passage that reveals how strongly she believes in her authority, the aunt says, "It’s no use trying to hide there; I can see you all the time," although both the reader and Nicholas know how wrong she is. The aunt's oppressive authority eventually comes back to haunt her when she needs Nicholas's help to escape the rain-water tank. Having cultivated a hostile power dynamic with the boy, the aunt discovers that when the tables are turned and she is at Nicholas's mercy, he is especially unlikely to obey her command.