Characters

The main characters of the short story “Sredni Vashtar” by Saki are Conradin and Mrs De Ropp. The maid’s character is an episodic secondary one, while Conradin’s friend and the doctor are actually absent from the main action. The hen and the ferret are important for the way the boy relates to them, but are symbolical elements in the story, so we will analyse them in a subsequent section dedicated to symbolism.

Conradin

Conradin is the main character in the short story. His perspective is used by the third-person narrator of the events, which helps us better establish his development across the story.

All we know about the boy’s outer characterisation is that he is ten years old, suffering from an illness that will probably lead to his death in five years and that he is probably an orphan because he lives with his cousin who is also his guardian.

Inner characterisation

The boy’s inner characterisation presents Conradin as a typical child with a vivid imagination: “…the other two-fifths, in perpetual antagonism to the foregoing, were summed up in himself and his imagination.”

One of the most important aspects about the boy is his relationship with his guardian, whom he hates and views as: “three-fifths of the world that are necessary and disagreeable and real”

The boy’s hatred for the woman is depicted directly and is a result of her authoritarian attitude which makes the boy want to rebel against her: “Conradin hated her with a desperate sincerity which he was perfectly able to mask. Such few pleasures as he could contrive for himself gained an added relish from the likelihood that they would be displeasing to his guardian…”

The boy prefers escaping his cousin’s authority in his imagination, and all of his affection and respect go to the two animals he keeps in the shed. On the hen, he: “lavished an affection that had scarcely another outlet”.

In relation to the ferret, the boy experiences fear, and although he soon comes to worship the animal he remains afraid:

Conradin was dreadfully afraid of the lithe, sharp-fanged beast, but it was his most treasured possession. Its very presence in the tool-shed was a secret and fearful joy, to be kept scrupulously from the knowledge of the Woman, as he privately dubbed his cousin.

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Mrs De Ropp

Mrs De Ropp is also an important character in the short story, as she is the antagonist from Conradin’s perspective who is in conflict with her.

Outer characterisation

The woman’s outer characterisation informs us that she is “Conradin’s cousin and guardian” and that she belongs to the middle class as he has a “middle-class feminine eye”. Since nothing is mentioned about the woman’s age or marital status, we can imagine that she is probably a single woman.

Conradin calls her “the Woman” and thinks about “that pursed smile he loathed so well on her face” and the “short-sighted eyes”.

Inner characterisation

Mrs De Ropp’s inner characterisation is rendered mostly from Conradin’s subjective perspective, but we can also infer some of her traits based on her actions and attitude.

For Conradin she represents “three-fifths of the world that are necessary and disagreeable and real”, which implies she is an unpleasant woman for the child and a domineering figure. Furthermore, the narrator also informs us that not only Conradin dislikes her; she also dislikes him and enjoys punishing him:

Mrs. De Ropp would never, in her honestest moments, have confessed to herself that she disliked Conradin, though she might have been dimly aware that thwarting him 'for his good' was a duty which she did not find particularly irksome.

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