The Interlopers

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The Interlopers

• By Daniel Vanaman, Matt Thompson, and Chris
  Skinner

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Table of Contents

• About the author
• Plot Summary
• Symbolism
• Conclusion

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About the Author

• Hector Hugh Munro, or Saki was a satirist and
  author with a taste for the witty and outrageous.
  Saki wrote most of his best work for newspapers
  such as the Westminster Gazette, Daily Express,
  Bystander, Morning Post and Outlook. A master of
  the short story, Saki entertains like few other
  writers do at the first reading. It is on
  subsequent readings that one is made aware of the
  sheer beauty and ease of Saki's language.

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About the Author

• Hector Hugh Munro was born in Akyab, Burma on the
  18th of December 1870, and was killed by a sniper
  on the 16th of November 1916, near
  Beaumont-Hamel, France. He was a historian,
  political satirist and author of short stories,
  novels and plays. His pen-name Saki was taken
  from the Sufi poet Hafiz, who addressed several
  of his verses to a saki, or cupbearer.

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About the Author

• The son of a Scottish military policeman, he was
  raised by his two aunts, Tom and Augusta. By all
  accounts, they were tyrannical in their
  upbringing of Hector, his sister Ethel and
  brother Charlie. Saki would later take his
  revenge on them in his poisonous fiction. He is
  persistently accused of misogyny in his writing,
  and it is true that there are few sympathetic
  female characters. However, to jaded modern
  tastes, characters such as the Baroness in the
  Clovis tales, and Matilda in The Boar-Pig are, if
  not exactly admirable, certainly refreshing and
  delightful.

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About the Author

• He had an interest in natural history, and as a
  child in Burma raised a tiger cub. Animals play a
  strong part in his fiction. Something of the
  rural gothic influences many of his short stories
  - Gabriel-Ernest from Reginald In Russia is a key
  example. This story brings together two of Saki's
  favorite themes the aforementioned rustic
  horror, and a fascination with the depraved
  innocence of young men. It is known that he was
  gay, and while in London and Burma kept a
  "houseboy". It was in London that he was to meet
  and befriend Siegfried Sassoon.

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About the Author

• He enlisted in the 22nd Battalion, Royal
  Fusiliers at the start of the Great War. He
  refused a commission, claiming that he could not
  expect soldiers to follow him unless he had
  experience of battle. He was promoted to
  lance-sergeant two months before his death. Even
  at the front, he continued to write.

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Plot Summary

• As the story opens, it is revealed to the reader
  that the heads of neighboring families, Ulrich
  von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeymn, strongly hate
  each other and are in a feud with each others
  family.
• The feud is over a disagreement over a plot of
  land. The land is an undesirable strip of woods
  that is virtually worthless.

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Plot Summary

• The strip of woods has no value. The trees are
  stunted, there is no game for hunting, and the
  soil is horrible for agriculture.
• The want for the land is just over the principal
  of the thing.
• The initial solution for the dispute is the Von
  Gradwitz family takes the Znaeymns to court and
  the Von Gradwitz win the decision. Despite the
  decision, the feud doesnt end.

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Plot Summary

• The Znaeymns refuse the ruling and continue to
  hunt roebuck on the land.
• The roebuck is a European deer, smaller than the
  American White Tail deer.

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Plot Summary

• The Znaeymns still trespassed on the Von Gradwitz
  property and poached the roebuck.
• The Von Gradwitzs were aware of the trespassing
  so Ulrich strategically placed his men throughout
  the land in order to catch and kill Znaeymn.
  Znaeymn brought men with him too.

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Plot Summary

• The two men round the bend of a tree and run
  right into each other. Neither shoots because it
  would not be civilized to kill the other out of
  cold blood.

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Plot Summary

• Suddenly a tree is struck by lightning and falls
  on both of them. It is freezing cold and very
  windy. There is a raging storm. After the two
  come to their senses, they start to survey the
  damage. Gradwitz has a gash over his eye and
  blood is flowing into it. Then the men, instead
  of helping each other, start arguing about whos
  men will get there first and kill the other.

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Plot Summary

• Znaeymn tries to settle this argument by getting
  out a wine flask and offering some of it to
  Gradwitz. This was a sincerely kind gesture, but
  Gradwitz refuses to accept it.

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Plot Summary

• Gradwitz tries to settle the dispute once again
  by Znaeymn that once his men get here he will
  free Znaeymn first. This provokes them both to
  bury the hatchet and they become friends.

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Plot Summary

• They began to talk and realize the feud was
  pointless because they had lost a good friendship
  and their whole lives had been consumed with
  hatred. They decide they are going to work
  together and shout for help. They see black spots
  heading their way and they try to decide whos
  men it is.

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Plot Summary

• Gradwitz suddenly laughs as he realizes that what
  he thought was their men has now turned out to be
  wolves.

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Symbolism

• Some symbolism is used in The Interlopers.
• For instance, the raging storm that is happening
  when the tree falls on the men stands parallels
  the raging storm of the hatred between the two
  men.

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Symbolism

• Another example of symbolism is when the two men
  are under the tree and Von Gradwitz offers the
  wine to Znaeymn.
• The wine symbolizes the new found peace between
  the two families.

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Conclusion

• In conclusion, the actions displayed in this
  short story are best described with a quote by
  John Steinbeck.

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The best laid plans of mice and men often go
awry. -John Steinbeck