The Storyteller

“An aunt belonging to the children occupied one corner seat, and the further corner seat on the opposite side was occupied by a bachelor who was a stranger to their party.”

The phrase “an aunt belonging to the children” defies the reader’s expectations by flipping how one might usually name their relationship. Usually, the children belong to the adult, not the other way around. This is a brief indication of the story’s dry humor and a hint at who among these relations has more control over their situation. This also foreshadows the way the story subverts traditional ideas of obedience and morality, elevating the children’s values over their aunt’s.

“The frown on the bachelor’s face was deepening to a scowl. He was a hard, unsympathetic man, the aunt decided in her mind.”

This line reveals more about the aunt’s character than it does the bachelor’s. She has decided that the bachelor must be a hard, unsympathetic man because she is feeling self-conscious about her inability to control the children in her care. It also implies that the aunt believes she is the one who deserves sympathy in this situation, rather than the bachelor or the children.

“She repeated the line over and over again in a dreamy but resolute and very audible voice; it seemed to the bachelor as though some one had had a bet with her that she could not repeat the line aloud two thousand times without stopping. Whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his bet.”

The story reveals not only the bachelor’s growing impatience with the children’s antics but also his dry humor. The idea of making a bet with the small girl and the bachelor’s confidence that the girl would win is a joke that he imagines for himself, for his own amusement.