SAAAMMMEEE

Mukul ਮੁਕੁਲ same😂

Same

Same here on 2020

Hazel YT FR

9 years later where are you now

+shefki meka Thank you!

+Akhona Sizani Thank you, Akhona! :-)

Thanks!

fat

+Ana Belen (Ani) Thank you, Ani. I don't know Accident by Agatha Christie, but I'll certainly find it and see what I can do. All the best :-)

Thank you Mike!! I am teaching english and your voice and pronunciation it is so clear for students that it is a wonderful way to studying! Regards

It's always looked as it does now. You must be thinking of another reading.

@@MikeBennettAuthor Ah, thanks for letting me know.

dArk aNgeL The point of the story is that children are not the tender, innocent little angels which Victorian fiction had made them out to be for the 70-80 odd years before Saki wrote, but very basic & primitive savage little beings who devour such bloody, murderous stories with glee. They feel oppressed with all the constant instruction they receive in manners & goodness & just want to be themselves & run wild. The man understood this but the woman (though understanding it too), had to fulfill her female role as caretaker & educator to the young, & was trying to be careful that their natural inclinations should be repressed & a coating of civilization should be applied over top of them. For Saki, it was important to be honest in his portrayals of the young, & children in his stories are often quite matter-of-factly bloodthirsty & diabolical. (See Sredni Vashtar & also The Open Window.) So we might suspect that Saki's 'moral' would be that virtue not only often does not bring any reward, but is also far from being its own reward --- knowledge which must be kept from children at all costs (at least until adulthood arrives to destroy all their illusions). Nevertheless, society cannot survive without it, so virtue must be practiced anyway, even without any hope of reward. He was very much a realist. Hope this helps. 📚

stupido

Conner Jones The theme of the story is the difficulty, but great necessity, of imposing civilization on the savage. Far from an adult's job being to preserve the innocence of childhood, it is rather to apply a coat of morality atop the naturally ferocious & selfish inclinations of the very young. This is usually a job reserved for women: mothers, older sisters, aunts, nannies, teachers. Men usually only participate on occasion, when children are much older, & especially with boys. You can be certain that had the stranger been another female, she would have co-operated with the aunt & told some nice, morally improving stories to pass the time & give the other woman a rest. So we see the reality of childhood (brought out by the children's reaction to the man's story) opposed to the reality of adulthood (brought out by the quick action of the woman in disapproving of him encouraging them in their natural tendencies). Childhood is a time of brutality & wildness constantly oppressed by the layering on of adult knowledge & morality; adulthood is a time of strict division of duties & freedoms between men & women --- men go out & do many wearying & dangerous things to uphold the safety of women & children (such as earning a living & fighting in wars), but do little or nothing to help out on the homefront, where women bear the full load of responsibility. Either way, it is not a completely natural or happy arrangement for everyone. Some men would rather nurture than fight (Saki himself was killed in World War I); some women would rather be the breadwinner than deal with screaming brats all day. Children must grow up & become responsible, but they far prefer to be let run wild (see The Lord of the Flies by William Golding). Remember that Saki was addressing the societal structure of his time, not ours, when men & women have much more freedom in choosing their roles & much less effort is expended on teaching children to control themselves. And the irony brought out by Saki's tale is, of course, that what we deem innocence in children is really more sheer ignorance; whereas the adult, usually seen as having lost the innocence of childhood, is actually able to use his superior degree of knowledge to develop innocent concepts such as virtue is rewarded (or is even its own reward), something no child would ever come to believe based purely on observation of life. Hope this helps. 📚

stupido