The Interlopers

Compare and Contrast Essay: “The Interlopers” vs. “The Story of an hour”

“The Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Interlopers” by Saki are both intriguing short stories. They are each built upon elements of foreshadowing and irony. Yet both can stand on their own as unique works of literature. This essay will bring out points of interest in both stories and find comparisons and contrasts in many categories. Some of the categories we will be contrasting and comparing will be the characters, setting, foreshadowing, irony and imagery.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin opens with the line: “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's

Mallard Mr. Mallard, Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards. Josephine is a compassionate person and very concerned for her sister and the strain it puts on her. Richards is quick responding and seems like a good friend. Unlike “The Story of an Hour” “The Interlopers” only has two main characters: Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz the heads of the two feuding families. Both men are determined to kill the other and both feel heavily wronged from past misunderstandings and misdeeds. We are told in the story that the feud is from 3 generations (Saki 2)! The main issue is that the Gradwitz’s believe that the Znaeym family has been poaching off their lands for years. Other issues followed these accusations and have made everything escalate dramatically till it reached this point (Saki 1). The two men also each have a posse with them of men in their family. The men are supposedly very loyal and at one point in the story the men brag that their men are more loyal, swifter etc. Both stories main character(s) are dynamic. Ulrich and Georg are at first enemies and end as friends. Mrs. Mallard is changed because she lets her feelings and emotions change her perspective on what her life could be like, the entirety of the story until the last paragraph where we have an ironic twist she is dwelling on how she will be different in the future therefore I think you could technically consider her a

First I will discuss the foreshadowing. In “The Story of an Hour” we learn in the very first line that she has a heart trouble (Chopin 1). The end of the story she dies from a great shock (Chopin 20). In “The Interlopers” we read that the beginning talks of wild beasts on the hunting land and in the end they encounter some wolves that ultimately cause the two men’s demise. These examples of foreshadowing give intrigue and mystery as well as a clear wrap up to both stories. Both stories also end in irony. Both end in the death of the main character(s). Mrs. Mallard comes down from her room at peace with what has happened, joyful for future opportunities. As she comes down the stairs she sees her husband standing there! The last sentence of the story goes like this: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills” (Chopin 20). Ironically unlike the conception of the doctor that she was overjoyed for her husband’s return home she was really dead from the joy of freedom, this joy was the joy that killed her. This is an exceptional example of verbal irony. In the interlopers we have situational irony. The two men find each other but are hesitant to shoot one another. They are trapped under a tree and get the chance to actually talk to one another. The two men make up from the feud and anxiously wait for their men to come and help them get