The Storyteller

The embedded narrative structure of “The Story-Teller” allows the story to convey multiple layers of meaning and critique within a very confined space. The frame story elements contain all the trappings of Edwardian England common in many of Munro’s stories, including the train car setting, faceless characters differentiated by roles rather than names, and a picturesque British countryside just outside the train car windows. Meanwhile, the stories told by both the aunt and the bachelor mimic the sound and content of a traditional children’s tale, including good little girls, monster-like villains (the bull and the wolf), and moral lessons to be learned. In this way, Munro constructs both a parody of those traditional children’s tales and a critique of British social conventions.

The third-person omniscient point of view likewise permits the reader access to the thoughts of various characters and see the characters from the points of view of the others around them. This is most useful for the aunt and the bachelor. For instance, the reader is offered the assertion that the bachelor must be a hard, unsympathetic man. However, this observation should not be taken at face value, as it is only the aunt’s view of the man. This third-person omniscient viewpoint then shifts focus so the reader is allowed to “hear” the bachelor’s joke about the little girl reciting “On the Road to Mandalay” as a bet.

Munro keeps a consistently humorous tone throughout the story, which heightens the parody and softens the touch of the social critique. As with his other works, however, Munro’s humor also contains a dark undercurrent that usually rises to the surface by the end of the story, often with a death. In the case of “The Story-Teller” this emerges with Bertha’s death, eaten by a wolf with only her medals of goodness as a sign that she had ever existed. That this death takes place in the embedded narrative does not lessen its impact on the overall story or the dark tone. This final scene in the bachelor’s story emphasizes the theme of The Unfairness of Life, symbolized by Bertha’s tattered medals.

In addition, the two major settings are juxtaposed against each other. The interior confines of the train car, where the bachelor is stuck with the three noisy children and their ineffectual aunt, are sharply contrasted with the expansive and beautiful park that Bertha enters alone. It is ironic that the bachelor safely escapes the confines of the train car while the beautiful secluded park leads only to Bertha’s death, another detail that questions The Point of Goodness.

There are several conflicts portrayed within “The Story-Teller.” First, there is a conflict between the two adults, who want peace and quiet in the train car, and the children, who are loud, restless, and want entertainment. This conflict is easily if briefly resolved when the adults tell them a story. However, this surface-level conflict reveals a secondary conflict between the aunt and the bachelor. In a way, they are competing over who can tell the better story. What makes this competition more fraught is the fact that they do not agree on what constitutes “better.” The aunt believes the better story is “proper” and offers a socially acceptable moral lesson. The bachelor thinks the better story is simply one that will keep the children entertained, and therefore quiet, for longer. This conflict is further complicated by the ending, in which the aunt accuses the bachelor of telling an “improper story” and undermining her, and the bachelor is proud, even triumphant.

The third conflict is contained within the bachelor’s story, between Bertha and the wolf. One on level, this is a very basic conflict of survival, or of good versus evil. However, as the themes of the story are revealed, this conflict takes on several layers of meaning. Throughout the story, the narrative deals with several thematic questions, the answer to each leading to the next question. First, there is The Question of Truth and whether adults should or should not be truthful to the children in their care. Then, there are questions about The Unfairness of Life and The Point of Goodness, specifically whether goodness is ever truly rewarded. Lastly, the narrative asks whether simply following the rules is actually ethical or morally correct. The development of these themes is supported by the characters’ words and actions, in particular the bachelor and Bertha, and by several objects within the story that symbolize goodness, evil, or danger.

Finally, while the question of Munro’s sexuality cannot be confirmed, enough biographers and scholars have agreed that Munro was a gay man that is reasonable to read his works through that lens. In the Edwardian era, LGBTQ+ identities and relationships were illegal, and Irish author Oscar Wilde was famously incarcerated at the end of the Victorian era for his relationships with men. Given Edwardian society’s general attitude against any form of “deviance” or “non-conformity,” it is possible to see Munro’s personal discontent within “The Story-Teller.” The critiques of social convention and the questions the narrative poses about the nature and value of “goodness” might underscore a certain bitterness with the need to adhere to the rules of propriety for the sake of physical safety, thus behaving against one’s own nature and happiness.