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Post by joshualiu on Sept 24, 2015 22:01:35 GMT
Saki starts "The Interlopers" right off the bat in medias res, or in the middle of action: Ulrich is patrolling the forest. The reader gets a feeling of suspense as the author directly states that Ulrich is searching for a human enemy. Still early on in the story, the reader gets the sense that there is some external conflict between Ulrich and Georg, due to their family's quarrel. This man vs man conflict becomes more lucid as the story progresses, as both eventually meet, neither sure of what to do. While trapped, Georg agrees to befriend Ulrich, saying that "there is none other to interfere, no interlopers from outside." Saki indirectly hints and foreshadows the upcoming situational irony, in which wolves intrude and interfere with the men's plan. The author also writes the story as a narrative, as his style includes the use of quotes and dialogue between the characters.
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Post by matthewzhang on Sept 24, 2015 22:11:44 GMT
While trapped, Georg agrees to befriend Ulrich, saying that "there is none other to interfere, no interlopers from outside." I definitely agree with you Josh. The fact that the story starts off in medias res does make the story more suspenseful. The reader is just thrown into the middle of the action without any knowledge of what is going on. But as the story goes on, the reader gets more insight of what is happening and the situation becomes much clearer. The quote that you provided definitely provides a foreshadowing effect of the inevitable fate of the two men at the end of the story.
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Post by colleenstrohlein on Sept 25, 2015 2:38:32 GMT
You touched on external conflict, which is very evident in The Interlopers, but I think there is a little bit of internal conflict in it as well which isn't quite as obvious to the reader. When Georg and Ulrich meet in the forest, and both of them hesitate when moments before they were dead set on fighting until the death of one of them, it shows the small voice of doubt each of them has in their mind. Saki doesn't come right out and state the different arguments going on in their heads, but he does say, "a man who has been brought up under the code of a restraining civilization cannot easily nerve himself to shoot down a neighbour in cold blood and without a word spoken," which shows that in the moment of hesitation each of them is struggling between what they know is right and what they set out to do. The man vs. self conflict is harder to depict than the man vs. man or man vs. nature conflict because of the point of view of the story, which hardly allows you to know exactly what each is thinking, although it does give a small bit of insight into each of their minds.
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