irony of the interlopers
Kate Saari
9/24/14
Period D
Irony of the Interlopers In the story “The Interlopers”, hunters, Ulrich von Gradwitz and his enemy Georg Znaeym, come face to face in Ulrich’s woods. They each have hate in their heart and murder on their mind but nature’s own violence overwhelms them both. They get stuck underneath a fallen beech tree and can’t escape. Both of them have men on their way to help them out but, whose will be the first to arrive? As both men sit and argue with each other, Ulrich decides to be the bigger person and ask for Georg’s friendship. “… I’ve changed my mind. If my men are the first to come you shall be the first to be helped, as though you were my guest. We have quarreled like devils all our lives over this stupid strip of forest, where the trees can’t even stand upright in a breath of wind. Lying here tonight, thinking, I’ve come to think we’ve been rather fools; there are better things in life than getting the better of a boundary dispute. Neighbor, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I—I will ask you to be my friend,” Ulrich said. Georg Znaeym accepted his friendship request and agreed to be civil with each other by saying, “…. I would never fire a shot on your land, save when you invited me as a guest; and you should come and shoot with me down in the marshes where the wildfowl are. In all the countryside there are none that could hinder if we willed to make peace. I never thought to have wanted to do other than hate you all my life, but I think I have changed my mind about things too, this last half-hour, and you offered me your wine flask… Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend.” While in the silence thinking of the changes this reconciliation would bring, Ulrich suspects he sees his men. There are nine to ten figures coming through the woods, but is it what he thinks to be? The author of this story, Saki, used irony to make a comment about human nature by making the reader believe Ulrich and Georg were going to get rescued
9/24/14
Period D
Irony of the Interlopers In the story “The Interlopers”, hunters, Ulrich von Gradwitz and his enemy Georg Znaeym, come face to face in Ulrich’s woods. They each have hate in their heart and murder on their mind but nature’s own violence overwhelms them both. They get stuck underneath a fallen beech tree and can’t escape. Both of them have men on their way to help them out but, whose will be the first to arrive? As both men sit and argue with each other, Ulrich decides to be the bigger person and ask for Georg’s friendship. “… I’ve changed my mind. If my men are the first to come you shall be the first to be helped, as though you were my guest. We have quarreled like devils all our lives over this stupid strip of forest, where the trees can’t even stand upright in a breath of wind. Lying here tonight, thinking, I’ve come to think we’ve been rather fools; there are better things in life than getting the better of a boundary dispute. Neighbor, if you will help me to bury the old quarrel I—I will ask you to be my friend,” Ulrich said. Georg Znaeym accepted his friendship request and agreed to be civil with each other by saying, “…. I would never fire a shot on your land, save when you invited me as a guest; and you should come and shoot with me down in the marshes where the wildfowl are. In all the countryside there are none that could hinder if we willed to make peace. I never thought to have wanted to do other than hate you all my life, but I think I have changed my mind about things too, this last half-hour, and you offered me your wine flask… Ulrich von Gradwitz, I will be your friend.” While in the silence thinking of the changes this reconciliation would bring, Ulrich suspects he sees his men. There are nine to ten figures coming through the woods, but is it what he thinks to be? The author of this story, Saki, used irony to make a comment about human nature by making the reader believe Ulrich and Georg were going to get rescued