With the character of the aunt, Saki is satirizing power-hungry, less-than-intelligent adults whose inflated egos cause harm to the children in their care. Saki makes his intentions clear in the opening paragraph of the story:
Only that morning [Nicholas] had refused to eat his wholesome bread-and-milk on the seemingly frivolous ground that there was a frog in it. Older and wiser and better people had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his bread-and-milk and that he was not to talk nonsense; he continued, nevertheless, to talk what seemed the veriest nonsense, and described with much detail the colouration and markings of the alleged frog. The dramatic part of the incident was that there really was a frog in Nicholas’ basin of bread-and-milk; he had put it there himself.
In this passage, Saki combines humor with genuine social critique. In referring to the aunt as the “older and wiser and better people” who had told Nicholas there was no frog in his breakfast—despite a frog genuinely being there—Saki communicates that the aunt is, in fact, not wiser or better (as Nicholas has outsmarted her). Saki’s use of the phrase “older and wiser and better people” hints that this is a phrase the aunt has used to describe herself, and adults like her.
The aunt’s commitment to viewing herself as more powerful than—and superior to—Nicholas, despite being outsmarted by him, continues throughout the story. This is seen in the aunt’s plan to punish Nicholas by keeping him from enjoyable activities (such as going to the beach or going in the gooseberry garden), not realizing that what he wants to do most is explore the lumber room (which he is easily able to do). Saki’s message, overall, is that adults should not try to wield power over children or keep them from experiencing joy, but should instead nurture their inherent creativity so that they don’t have to resort to trickery and manipulation to get the stimulation they need.
