Natalie baeza

English
Essay
3/23/17

The Interlopers by Saki is a story of bitter hatred, grudging reconciliation,

and the unmerciful acts of nature. Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym
are two men who have continued a long lasting feud. To add to their own
conflict mother nature complicates a night of hunting, finally ending both of
their lives.
But a man who has been brought up under the code of a restraining
civilization cannot easily nerve himself to shoot his neighbor in cold blood.
Both men yearn for the other's end; both wait and pray for the day they can
send condolences to a widow. Yet society has turned them away from
committing the actual deed. Though they can bring themselves to hate and
wish ill will neither harbor the complete lack of morals it takes to kill a man
without hesitation. Georg Znaeym is a man of jealousy. He sees no reason
not to hunt on land the courts have deemed another's if taken from his
family with trickery. Znaeym refuses an offering of wine from his enemy,
Ulrich von Gradwitz, saying, No, I can scarcely see anything' there is so
much blood caked round my eyes, and in any case I don't drink wine with
enemies. Georg is a proud man. He is a man who won't accept help from
any outside his circle of friends and family. He will not admit defeat or pain.
Ulrich von Gradwitz is the one to offer the wine, the first movement toward
friendship, In the pain and languor that Ulrich himself was feeling the old
fierce hatred seemed to be dying down. The first glimmer of forgiveness, of
pity is found in Ulrich. Ulrich is merciful, though he has wanted to kill Georg
as much as Georg has him. He is more mature, because he can put all the
bad feelings aside in a time of need.
This story is full of conflicts. In "The Interlopers," Saki uses irony to illustrate
the foolishness of small quarrels between men over nature by showing how
nature will inevitably destroy man. The small quarrel is man verses man
between Znaeym and von Gradwitz. As boys they had thirsted for one
another's blood, as men each prayed misfortune might fall on the other.
This rivalry has been going on for all of their lives. All of this time they have
been fighting over over a forest. This forest, ironically, gives them a bigger,
slightly more important problem to focus on. A fierce shriek of the storm had
been answered by a splitting crash over their heads, and ere they could leap
aside a mass of falling tree had thundered down upon them. As they are
arguing over Conflict Number One a tree falls on them, producing Conflict
Number Two, a man verses nature conflict. Finally, Conflict Number Three is
also man verses nature. Who are they?
Wolves.
Ulrich sees forms in the distance, and both men cry for help, assuming the
forms are men. When they get close enough to be seen clearly Ulrich realizes
that these forms are in fact wolves. The wolves then eat the two men
Natalie baeza
English
Essay
3/23/17
trapped under the birch tree. That is the end of Conflict Number Three and
the conclusion of the story.
This short story is ironic in a cruel way the other three stories could not
produce. The two men find peace to a feud that has been going on for at
least three generations trapped by a tree in the forest that is the root of their
animosity. That is ironic in itself. Then, before anyone can be told that a
treaty has been made they are eaten, silenced forever. Good, snarled
Georg, good. We fight this quarrel out to the death, you and I and our
foresters, with no cursed interlopers to come between us. The court was the
interloper Znaeym was speaking of, getting in between the two families and
their argument. The wolves are the true interlopers though, and they do not
come between the men but between peace and goodness. No one living can
remember seeing a Znaeym and a von Gradwitz talking to one another in
friendship. And what peace there would be among there would be among the
forester folk if we ended our feud tonight and if we choose to make peace
among our people tonight there is none other to interfere, no interlopers...
Ulrich von Gradwitz I will be your friend. The men never get to make peace
among their people because of the cursed interlopers, the wolves. There
was silence again for some minutes and then Ulrich gave a joyful cry.
I can see figures coming through the wood. They are following in the way I
came down the hillside. Ulrich is happy about figures, and then they turn
out to be the wolves, the interlopers that bring his death. Each of the short
stories we have read have been ironic in one way or another but this one
takes the cake.
The Interlopers is most similar to The Most Dangerous Game by Richard
Connell. In both the characters are avid hunters, and that hobby leads to the
man verses man conflict. General Zaroff found his end with the help of his
cockiness, and Znaeym and von Gradwitz are killed with the forest they both
see as theirs. In both stories characters are killed with something in their
possession, and irony can be found in that situation. There is a conflict
between men, and the only resolution either see at the beginning is death.
Canines are the direct cause of death in both stories, and thus nature
confronts men in a man verses nature conflict.