Compare and Contrast
of
The Interlopers and The Story of an Hour
“The Story of an Hour” and “The Interlopers” are two completely different stories.
It's really hard to find the similarities and differences between the two. However, if you
look closely and pay attention to the story, you'll clearly see the differences and
similarities in between.
The Story of an Hour is about an ailing woman who believes that her husband is
dead and imagines a brand new freedom for herself. In the beginning of the story, we
are introduced to Mrs. Mallard who has been told that her husband is dead in a train
wreck. Mrs. Mallard reacts like any wife would do, she excused herself and locked
herself up in her bedroom. However, while thinking about it, she feels happy about
her husband's death. Not that her husband is a bad man, but she can sense freedom now.
The freedom that she was not able to feel before.
When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly
parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: “free, free, free!”
The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from
her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the
coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.
(Chopin 34-38)
Mrs. Mallard is now free and she feels a “monstrous joy” inside her. She
welcomes this new freedom, arises, opens the door of her room, and “carries herself
unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (Chopin 63) As Mrs. Mallard and Josephine, her
sister, walked down the stairs, someone was opening the door. It was Mrs. Mallard's
supposedly dead husband, Mr. Brently Mallard. Right at that moment, Mrs.Mallard has
had a heart disease, and instantly, died. In my opinion. She died not because of the
“joy that kills”. She died because of her taken away freedom.
The Interlopers is about the two rivals named Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg
Znaeym, who hate each other to death and was fighting over a piece of land that they
inherited from their grandfathers. Night came and the two men, Ulrich and Georg,
are out hunting for each other when a tree falls on them trapping them in the woods.
The two men quarrel about whose men are going to arrive first to save their master
and kill the other man. As time passes by, Ulrich make peace with Georg and offers
him wine. Georg doubted the proposal but accepts Ulrich's offer to be friends and
the men were satisfied. A moment later, they decided to call for help together. As they
call for help, instead of their men coming to help them, a pack of wolves came towards
them.
Both men raised their voices in as loud a shout as they could muster. “They hear
us! They’ve stopped. Now they see us. They’re running down the hill toward
us,” cried Ulrich. “How many of them are there?” asked Georg. “I can’t see
distinctly,” said Ulrich; “nine or ten.” “Then they are yours,” said Georg;
“I had only seven out with me.” “They are making all the speed they can, brave
lads,” said Ulrich gladly. “Are they your men?” asked Georg. “Are they your
men?” he repeated impatiently, as Ulrich did not answer. “No,” said Ulrich with
a laugh, the idiotic chattering laugh of a man unstrung with hideous fear. “Who
are they?” asked Georg quickly, straining his eyes to see what the other would
gladly not have seen. “Wolves” (Saki, 193-209)
It is really hard to decide which is the real interlopers in this story. In my opinion, both
the wolves and the men are the interlopers. The wolves can be the interlopers because
they came rushing to the men. However, I believe that, Ulrich and Georg are the Interlopers
because, the forest is the wolves' territory and the men were claiming it as their own.
Both story was written in an omniscient third-person point of view. The use of
this kind of point of view help the writer moves freely in time and gives much more
information in the surroundings. The Interlopers and The Story of an Hour is a
completely different story, but looking closely, you can clearly see that they have
similarities. From being happy and free, to the unfortunate events that had happened.
The Interlopers and The Story of an hour literally gives us the meaning of
after happiness, comes sadness. Like in The Interlopers, Georg and Ulrich became
friends and they were both satisfied. Shortly, they were attacked by a pack of wolves.
Moreover, in The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard can feel the happiness that the freedom
gives, but shorly after, she died upon seeing her husband. The doctors described it as
“The joy that kills”. The use of irony in these stories plays a great deal. Chopin and
Saki used situational irony often throughout the story. The Situational irony helps
the author's catch a readers attention and it helped them make a good ending.
The Story of an Hour and The Interlopers both have a completely different
settings, and a very different flow. The Interlopers is a climactic story while The
Story of an Hour is just smooth. Still, both stories have an exceptional view. It
gives us morals to life. One is that, life is short and time is fast, so we should enjoy life
and use it in a more senseful way.
Works Cited
http://www.anderson.k12.ky.us/Downloads/The%20Interlopers[1].pdf
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/
Email: [email protected]