The+Interlopers


 * Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: The Interlopers **

3rd Person, limited omniscient.
 * Point of View: **

Ulrich von Gradwitz
 * Protagonist: **

Round and dynamic.
 * What type of character is the Protagonist? **

Georg Znaeym. If this were in Georg’s point of view then Ulrich would be the antagonist.
 * Antagonist: **

The story takes place in a forest in the eastern Carpathian Mountains in Romania during the winter in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The story probably took place around that time because the language suggests an older time period and riding (presumably a horse) into a market square was mentioned. The overall mood was tense and violent at first. Then later on the mood became more relaxed and friendly
 * Describe the setting **

Man vs. Man and Man vs. Nature
 * Type of Conflict: **

The main conflict is between Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym. The two can’t stand each other for something that happened between their ancestors. When the tree falls on the two of them the environment becomes a conflict but the main one is still the rivalry between the two men.
 * Describe the main conflict: **

I think the climax of the story was when Ulrich and Georg made up while trapped under the tree. That’s the big turning point in the story. After three generations of fighting and rivalry these two finally decide to compromise and make amends. The part when they start yelling for help is the falling action and the conclusion is when the wolves appear. Everything after that, like calling for help or the wolves arriving, is the falling action and conclusion.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Describe the Climax of the Story: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ulrich starts out the story hating Georg and wanting to kill him for trespassing on his land, he even has his rifle ready. But when the time comes, Ulrich can’t do it. Then when he is pinned under the beech tree with Georg they both realize that the feud is futile so they end it. Ulrich changed from completely hating Georg to accepting him as a friend.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I think the main theme is forgiveness. Even though the interloping is what started the whole feud it was also what put Ulrich and Georg in a situation where they forgave each other. Interlope means to intrude into an area that you’re not invited too. The land that Ulrich’s family now owns used to be owned illegally by Georg’s family. Also Ulrich wants to kill Georg not only because of the family feud but also because he was interloping on Ulrich’s land.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ulrich and Georg were born into families that hate each other and they’ve been fighting all their lives. Eventually they both realize that the feud was mostly just for the sake of owning the piece of land so the other couldn’t as the land had little value.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The climax is when the two actually forgive each other. I think this is pretty self-explanatory.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“…a man stood one winter night watching and listening, as though he waited for some beast of the woods to come within the range of his vision, and, later, of his rifle.”
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Simile: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“We have quarreled like devils all our lives over this strip of forest, where the trees can’t even stand upright in a breath of wind.”

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“The roebuck, which usually kept in the sheltered hollows during a storm-wind, were running like driven things tonight…”

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“On this wind scourged night…”
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Metaphor: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads…”

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“…the whistling and skirling of the wind and the restless beating of the branches…”
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Personification: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“A fierce shriek of the storm…”

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“…a breath of wind.”

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“…the weary screeching of the wind.”

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The tree is like a buffer zone or a mediator. It keeps them there until they work out there problems. The wolves are part of irony of the story and they also act as the enforcer of the moral of the story.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Symbol: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The description right under the title “For three generations, their families have quarrelled. And now, armed with rifles, Georg and Ulrich both vow to put an end to the long-standing feud.” tells me that there’s going to be some sort of final showdown between the two.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Foreshadowing (give both elements): **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Assuredly there was a disturbing element in the forest, and Ulrich could guess the quarter from whence it came.” This quotation shows that Ulrich senses that something is about to happen.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“The feud might, perhaps, have died down or been compromised if the personal ill will f the two men had not stood in the way.” This quotation gives a hint that they forgive each other later in the story.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The fact that Ulrich and Georg came out armed with rifles and ready to kill each other but presumably got killed by wolves while trapped under a tree in ironic. Since the two die in the forest no one will know that the feud between them has ended so their respective families will carry on the feud.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Irony: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“He strayed away by himself from the watchers whom he had placed in ambush on the crest of the hill, and wandered far down the steep slopes amid the wild tangle of undergrowth, peering through the tree-trunks and listening through the whistling and the skirling of the wind and the restless beating of the branches for sight or sound of the marauders.”
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Imagery: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“In the cold, gloomy forest, with the wind tearing in the fitful gusts through the naked branches and the whistling round the tree-trunks…”

<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The feud between the two families started when one family chose to take a worthless piece of land just to spite another family. Then, in order to keep their dignities they decided to keep one upping each other. Three generations later, because of the choices they made, Ulrich and Georg are still feuding. The feud is finally resolved though when The two men choose to forgive each other and become friends.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. **


 * Questions **

1) //What is Ulrich hunting for?// Ulrich was hunting for a human target, specifically Georg, his lifelong enemy.

2) //How did Ulrich come to own the property in question?// Ulrich came to own the property after his grandfather acquired it “from the illegal possession of a neighboring family of petty landowners.”

3) //Why do Ulrich and Georg hate each other? How did it all start?// Ulrich and Georg hate each other because their entire family hated each other. They were simply born into two families that hated each other. The feud started over a worthless piece of land that was illegally owned by Georg’s family. Ulrich’s family took the piece of land but soon the feud wasn’t even about the land anymore. It basically became a competition of who’s the best.

4) //Identify the foreshadowing in the second paragraph.// “The feud might, perhaps, have died down or been compromised if the personal will of the two men had not stood in the way.” and “Assuredly there was disturbing element in the forest, and Ulrich could guess the quarter from whence it came.” is the foreshadowing in the second paragraph. The first quotation hints that the two men end up compromising or even resolving their feud. The second quotation is Ulrich sensing something is about to happen.

5) //Why did they not try to shoot each other the moment they saw each other?// Ulrich and Georg did not try not shoot each other the moment they saw each other because even if you hate the other person enough to want to kill them, it doesn’t mean you can just kill them in cold blood. “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…” Your conscience is always there to remind you of what you were taught growing up and you were likely not taught to kill people.

6) //What saves Ulrich’s feet from being crushed?// “His heavy shooting boots had saved his feet from being crushed to pieces.”

7) //What lies do they tell each other after realizing they are both trapped under the tree?// They both bluff that their men are coming to rescue them and that the other is in trouble once they get here. They were both trying to intimidate the other by giving empty threats. Ulrich’s men were actually watching the border and I doubt Georg even had men considering he was only a “petty landowner”.

8) //Why does Ulrich change his mind about killing Georg?// Ulrich changes his mind about killing Georg because he sees that they are both trapped and in pain and that the feud is what caused it. He realizes that feuding has gotten them nowhere and he would be better off being friends with Georg.

9) //What significance is there in the title of this story? What are some possible meanings of the title?// To interlope means to interfere with affairs. The two main characters and their families interlope with each other’s lives by taking a piece of land or trespassing of said land. In the story the tree and wolves act as the interlopers too. The tree interrupts the men when they were pointing guns at each other ready to kill and the wolves interrupt the making up process between the two families.

10) //In the end of the story, why do each of the men hope that their men will come first to rescue him?// Each of the men hopes that they can show their new found friend “honourable attention” first. Even when they’re friends, Ulrich and Georg still compete with each other.

11) //Describe the irony in the story.// The irony is the fact that the hunters end up being hunted. They go in the forest to kill each other but end up getting killed by the wolves instead.

12) //What metaphor can you find in relation to the tree pinning down the two characters?// “…a fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads…”

13) //Is the ending of this story effective? Why or why not?// I think the ending of this story is effective because Ulrich ad Georg don’t necessarily die in the story. You can make up a different fate for them. They could survive and become enemies again because the apologies were really only a spur of the moment thing and now that the moment has passed they hate each other again. I also liked how the ending was kind of giving them what they deserved based on their previous actions and their family’s actions. Almost like karma coming back and biting them in the ass.

Completion5 /5 Effort 5/5 Content 5/5

total 15 /15

Questions Completion Mark /5

total 20/20