When the aunt is trapped in the water-tank in the garden and calling out for help, Nicholas refuses to help her, referring to her as both “the Evil One” and “Devil,” biblical allusions to Satan. In the following interaction, Nicholas refers to her by both names:
“Will there be strawberry jam for tea?” asked Nicholas innocently.
“Certainly there will be,” said the aunt, privately resolving that Nicholas should have none of it.
“Now I know that you are the Evil One and not aunt,” shouted Nicholas gleefully; “when we asked aunt for strawberry jam yesterday she said there wasn’t any. I know there are four jars of it in the store cupboard, because I looked, and of course you know it’s there, but she doesn’t, because she said there wasn’t any. Oh, Devil, you have sold yourself!”
Here, Nicholas refers to his aunt by coded names for Satan in a trickster sort of way. He, of course, knows that it is his aunt trapped in the tank, but takes this opportunity to use his cruel aunt’s moralistic teachings against her. Nicholas has likely learned from his aunt (or in church) that Satan takes on many different forms in the Bible in order to tempt people into sinning and sees that he can maintain his power in this situation by feigning a belief that she is Satan in disguise.
Nicholas is also highlighting his aunt’s hypocrisy here. While “yesterday she said there wasn’t any” strawberry jam—likely in order to be cruel—now she says that there is (because she needs his help). It is no wonder, then, that he can believe her to be Satan—one way or another, she has lied to him, something her Christian religion warns against. This is one of the many examples of Nicholas outsmarting his aunt in the story.
