Robert
Trahan
10/3/96
English Mod
3
Saki's novella, "The Interlopers",
explores the intricacies of friendship and rivalry.
The story takes
place in a European forest one night during the winter. The setting of the
story is
analogous to the plot; the trees have to bind together for warmth to brave the
fierce winter,
the same way Ulrich and George have to work together to survive. The
exposition does a
wonderful job of building suspense by telling of the feud between the
two
families. The feeling of impending doom
increases as Georg and Ulrich hunt each
other in the dark
forest. The suspense comes to a boiling point when the men meet and
stare at each
other with the intent to kill.
But
neither shoots. "The chance had
come to
give full play to
the passions of a lifetime. But a man
who has been brought up under the
code of a
restraining civilization cannot easily nerve himself to shoot down his neighbor
in
cold blood and
without a word spoken, except for an offense against his hearth and
honor." (p. 44)
Just as both are about to shoot, a tree branch from above crashes upon
the men. The feeling of suspense flees, and a feeling
of sorrow and pity for Georg and
Ulrich fills
one's heart. The reader feels immense
sympathy for the situation: how many
times in one's
own life has a mere squabble gotten out of control and wrecked everything?
The men lay,
crippled beneath the tree in the cold and realize the foolishness of their
ways.
Ulrich says to
Georg, "Neighbor, do as you please if your men come first. It was a fair
compact. But as for me, I've changed my mind. If my men are the first to come you shall
be the first to
be helped..." (p. 45) The men continue to talk, and they reconcile. But in a
strange twist of
fate, wolves come and devour them both before they can be freed by their
men. The message
Saki was trying to get across was this: why fight over something petty
when one can be
friends?
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