Saki's short story “The Interlopers” is about two rival landowners who conflict with each other about a strip of forest land that separates their properties. The conflict has become a long feud, with both sides intent on claiming the land. As the story opens, Ulrich von Gradwitz owns the disputed land, and he is out looking for his enemy, Georg Znaeym, who he suspects of poaching and trespassing.
A summary should also include some of the background Saki gave about the families involved, and also the surprise ending.
The external conflict in this story is easy to identify. Ulrich and Georg are in conflict with each other over the land. In the story, this conflict intensifies when the men meet each other in the wilderness. Saki describes it thus:
The two enemies stood glaring at one another for a long silent moment. Each had a rifle in his hand, each had hate in his heart and murder uppermost in his mind.
This is man vs. man external conflict.
Once the tree falls and traps these men, they threaten each other. Ulrich then takes a drink from his flask of wine, and the following happens:
the wine was warming and reviving to the wounded man, and he looked across with something like a throb of pity to where his enemy lay, just keeping the groans of pain and weariness from crossing his lips.
This indicates internal conflict. Ulrich begins to feel sorry for his hated enemy, so much so that he offers him some of his wine, which Georg accepts. To get to this point, Ulrich has to go through a change of heart, which involves self-reflection. Saki does not describe this internal conflict in great detail, but we know it has to be there.
No comments:
Post a Comment