Plot and Precis of the Lumber Room Essay

The text under analysis â€Å"The Lumber-room† written by Hector Munro is the problem psychological story which revolves around a little orphan Nicholas and his tyrannical and dull-witted aunt, who because of the cruel methods of education couldn’t not only find approach to children, but also understand their soul. The conflict between the aunt and the nephew as if the conflict between prose and poetry. But softness, purity and tenderness of soul of the boy could resist to staleness, misunderstanding and callousness of his aunt. The story is narrated in the 3rd person. This allows the reader to access the situation and the characters in an objective manner, because the characters are having both positive and negative viewpoints. The third person point of view is impersonal which fits the impersonal atmosphere of the household. In this text the author colorfully describes interesting childhood of the little boy whose name is Nicholas. The story begins with the exposition when the author describes one morning, when at breakfast Nicolas make a joke as a result of which he is punished. So his cousins are to be taken to Jagborough sands that afternoon and he stays at home. Nicholas’s aunt goes to work in the garden and commands him to stay out of the gooseberry garden. The Aunt is absolutely sure that the boy is determined to get into the gooseberry garden because she has told him he is not to. But despite her punishment Nicolas decides to gain his objective, and from this very moment the complication takes place. Nicholas takes the key from a shelf in the library and sneaks into the lumber room, where he is never allowed to go. He has lots of fun in the lumber room. The lumber-room is described as a storehouse of unimagined treasure. He sees lots of beautiful and strange objects, such as old ornaments, tapestries, and a teapot shaped like a duck. He finds a large square book full of colored pictures of birds. And such birds! They allow Nicholas to learn in a fun and exciting way. The conflict in the story gradually grows and flows into the climax of the text. While he is looking at a picture of a duck, the voice of his aunt came from the gooseberry garden. Nicholas finds that she has fallen into a tank of water, and refuses to help her out on the grounds that she is an alien-impostor. You may be the Evil One tempting me to be disobedient. Justice must be done. The Aunt tasted the fruit of her own punishment on the children and feels what it is like to be condemned. The denouncement reveals the author’s social comment about the differences between the world of the child and adult. Though the Aunt is furious, Nicholas is happy because he is thinking of a tapestry depicting hounds and a stag. And for all life he remembered those amazing things from the lumber-room. The plot of the story seems to me not complicated, even in spite of the fact that many events are crossed with each other. It is ordered chronologically, each episode is given with more and more emphasis. The story is full of colorful descriptions and deep feelings which the reader experiences while reading the text. To sum up, the author’s style is remarkable for its powerful sweep, brilliant illustrations and deep psychological analysis. The story reveals the author’s great knowledge of man’s inner world. He penetrates into the subtlest windings of the child heart. Character The major character of this psychological story, represented as the protagonist is an extraordinary boy Nicholas, who being an orphan is forced to live with his cousins and imperious aunt in the family which in appearance is noble and well-to-do, but as a matter of fact, the family, which frankly speaking lives much to be desired. So from the very beginning a little boy, established the reputation of an incorrigible naughty, frolicsome and absolutely disobedient child, appears in our sight. And the role of his opponent plays the antagonist, a flat character without tendency to develop, in this case, a very proud and oppressive woman, who being Nicholas’s aunt and the guardian at the same time, prevails over the boy, hankering only for one thing, namely for a total control. And suddenly we see Nicholas, the pool boy, being at the mercy of his aunt in another light. Without her tations we can say that Nicholas is a round, multidimensional character, containing a number of qualities and traits, appearing through an indirect method of characterization, so skillfully used by the Author. Into position of a lively prankster, playing practical jokes, which are nothing more, than innocent childish escapades in an attempt to have just an air of independence and fun, comes a resourceful boy with quick imagination, struggling against the great dullness and outrageous injustice. And even in very tense and hopeless situations Nicholas, having a sense of adventure and inexhaustible desire for breaking loose from wearisome reality, shows his genuine originality, proving in my opinion one of the most fantastic and fabulous ability for taking cover in our own imagination in cases, when you really free out of a place and there’s nothing to be done. We remember, that we’re obviously impressed by this clever boy, manages to evade a watchful eye of his aunt, who being a woman of impatience, great indignation and going beset only from the thought of disobedience, punishes him. To be more precise, Nicholas having no fear about resisting such a dictatorial woman, never having a nay with children and constantly being of fine with dissatisfaction, breaks her just another ridiculous prohibition and proving a little bit of sophistication finds himself in a forbidden, but so alluring room, serving for stoning milliard of ancient things, which are most likely meant for an investigative child’s mind than for everlasting vegetation in trour right for life. And exactly this truly gorgeous place bares candidly the boy’s immeasurable soul.