24 pages • 48 minutes read
SakiThe Interlopers
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1919A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Foreshadowing
Saki uses elements of nature to foreshadow the danger that Ulrich and Georg will face. The roebucks and other animals behave differently than usual; those that normally shelter during a storm are running, and those that normally move about at night are hiding. An ordinary forester might have seen those behaviors as a sign of danger and left the area, but Ulrich interprets them as a sign his quarry (Georg) is near and continues seeking him. When the beech tree branch crashes down upon them, the narrator states that “nature’s own violence overwhelmed them both” (17). This foreshadows the further violence from wolves that they will face at the end, for as much as they have reconnected with their human, empathetic sides, nature is an uncontrollable force that they cannot escape.
Irony
Irony is a literary device in which words mean the opposite of their typical use or events are contrary to what one expects. Saki weaves irony throughout his story. The title itself provides an ironic twist. First, Georg is seen as a trespasser or interloper on Ulrich’s property, but then Georg expresses annoyance at the idea of other people—termed interlopers—intervening in either the killing of or making peace with his enemy. Finally, however, the wolves appear. They might be interlopers as well. Or, perhaps, the two men are interlopers on the wolves’ hunting grounds.
The two men’s likely deaths are also ironic. Ulrich came to the forest to kill Georg, and Georg appears equally willing to kill Ulrich. There is no surprise that one, or even both, might be killed in the forest. But ironically, neither dies at the other’s hand. In a final irony, death comes at the moment they feel the safest. After preparing themselves for violence, they settle into jovial friendship discussing the services and honors they will render one another. They meet their deaths, it seems, at the moment they cease to be a danger to the other.
Twist Ending
Saki is known for twist endings. In the case of “The Interlopers,” the twist lies in the final word of the story: “Wolves.” To create a twist ending, the writer must set up expectations in either the readers’ or the characters’ minds, or both, and then exploit those expectations. Ulrich and Georg expect that their men will arrive shortly to rescue them, their minds busy with ideas of what their new peace and friendship will be like. The one act that they do together, in unison—“rais[ing] their voices in a prolonged hunting call” (20)—potentially hastens their deaths by bringing the wolves upon them. They both desire to end the dispute through violence at the start of the story, but they end it by making peace. Readers might, perhaps, anticipate that generations of fighting cannot so easily be dismissed and that the characters’ lives will ultimately end in violence, just not of their own making.
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