Quail Seed by Hector Hugh Munro
The story revolves around a young man who returns to his family's estate after serving in the military. He becomes infatuated with a woman and begins an affair with her. The narrative explores themes of love, class, and social status.
By Hector Hugh Munro · First published 1909 · Genre: Comedy, Satire, Mystery · 2,570 words
First lines
"The outlook is not encouraging for us smaller businesses," said Mr. Scarrick to the artist and his sister, who had taken rooms over his suburban grocery store. "These big concerns are offering all sorts of attractions to the shopping public which we couldn't afford to imitate, even on a small scale -- reading-rooms and play-rooms and gramophones and Heaven knows what. People don't care to buy half a pound of sugar nowadays unless they can listen to Harry Lauder and have the latest Australian cricket scores ticked off before their eyes. With the big Christmas stock we've got in we ought to keep half a dozen assistants hard at work, but as it is my nephew Jimmy and myself can pretty well attend to it ourselves. It's a nice stock of goods, too, if I could only run it off in a few weeks time, but there's no chance of that -- not unless the London line was to get snowed up for a fortnight before Christmas.
What this Textopian page supports
Quail Seed is listed on Textopian as a short story by Hector Hugh Munro, dated 1909 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Hector Hugh Munro
- Date: 1909 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Comedy, Satire, Mystery, Social Commentary, Drama
- Length: 2,570 words
- Structure: 1 section, 46 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Quail Seed by Hector Hugh Munro
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering Quail Seed?
- How does this short story by Hector Hugh Munro fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
- Where does Comedy first become important in the reading?
Similar titles
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Genres
- Comedy — The story is filled with humorous elements, including the absurdity of the situation and the characters' reactions.
- Satire — The narrative satirizes consumer culture and the lengths businesses go to attract customers.
- Mystery — The plot involves mysterious characters and unexplained events that intrigue the townspeople.
- Social Commentary — The story comments on societal behaviors and the influence of larger businesses on smaller ones.
Tags
Satire · Dark Comedy · Social Commentary · Anti-War · Fiction · Short Stories · British Literature · Edwardian Era · Humor · Irony · Critique of Society · Morality Play