The Interloper

The two stories “Two Friends” and “The Interloper” share their differences, and may in fact be the antithesis of one another, but they have their similarities as ironic the characterization may be. For instance, the characterization of “Two Friends” is the two main characters who are Monsieur Sauvage, and Monsieur Morrisant. They were two men who became friends by fishing with one another on a sublime day. In “The Interlopers” characterization is based on the two main characters who started out as enemies then became friends. The setting of both stories take place in Europe. “The Interlopers” gave a dismal aura, whereas “Two Friends” was peaceful at the beginning.
Indeed, the external conflict of“Two Friends” is that the two guilty men did
not know the password to be released from the Prussians. This shows man vs. man conflict because the two men were kept hostage by the Prussian General who thought they were spies. “The Interlopers” also had a man vs. man conflict because of the rivalry between the two neighbors. Additionally, “The Interlopers” faced a man vs. nature conflict when the two neighbors were trapped underneath a tree. This shows how the external conflicts of both text corresponds with one another.
Furthermore, the plot of “The Interlopers” is that the two main characters Georg and Ulrich were planning their revenge on one another.
They were then face to face with a hurdle of nature, and were caught underneath a tree. When they ended their feud, they began hearing noises which they assumed were their men. Instead it ended with the Georg and Ulrich getting attacked wolves. This relates to the plot of “Two Friends” because Monsieur Sauvage and Monsieur Morrisant were both captured by the German General who asked them for a password, which they did not know. They are different because the climax of the “The Interlopers” was due to nature, whereas “Two Friends” had a climax resulted by people. They are similar due to both stories having a dreadful
ending.
Moreover, the theme of “The Interlopers” is revenge, which played a major role in character development. Georg and Ulrich were enemies who were seeking revenge of one another. The theme of “Two Friends” is friendship and loyalty. When Monsieur Morissot and Monsieur Sauvage were captured by Prussians they were asked to give the password. Neither of them knew the password, but if one of them wanted to they would have sabotaged the other to get out of the situation and make it out alive. This shows the loyalty and the strong bond of friendship that was between the two men even till death. This shows how the theme of both text are the converse of one another. “The Interlopers” is negatively connotated due to the theme of revenge, and “Two Friends” is positive because of loyalty.
To conclude, both stories were both written in third person point of view, which means the narrator remains a detached observer.
In “Two Friends” it states “The two friends, pale as death, stood silently side by side, a slight fluttering of the hands alone betraying their emotion.” In addition, the tone of “The Interlopers” was serious which resulted in a somber and gloomy mood. For instance in the text it states “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.” In “Two Friends” the tone was The tone of the story is somber due to the story taking place during war. Additionally it is somber because of the fact two innocent friends were murdered. This makes the mood depressing, and dreary. On top of that the author’s word choices impacted the tone of the story. For instance he used phrases with negative connotations, “massacring” was used to show what the prussians were like. Although both stories share their similarities and differences both were able to convey character development and its central
ideas.