24 pages • 48 minutes read
The Interlopers
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Symbols & Motifs
The Beech Tree
The beech tree is a major factor in this story with its broken branch crashing down upon the men and pinning them under it. It is a symbol of nature in the conflict of Humans Versus Nature, displaying unpredictability and potential danger. It also represents the land upon which they lie and over which their forebears squabbled for generations. When Ulrich has his change of heart, he criticizes the tree for not being able to withstand a “breath of wind” (19). However, the tree cracked in the storm just as the feud that lasted generations could not stand when Ulrich and Georg shared that space. Interestingly, British culture sometimes considers the beech tree to be a symbol of protection and nurturing, the “Mother of the Forest.” Here, the fallen branch, which is seemingly a danger, protects the men from their violent impulses and then nurtures the higher feelings of empathy and friendship between them—simply by keeping them caught beneath it. As it is a dispassionate element of nature, however, it also serves as a trap that could lead to their deaths. Saki shows two men struggling to make meaning of their lives and relationships in the context of a natural world that has no meaning and shows only indifference to the men’s complex psychological states.
Wine Flask
The wine flask represents human society and sophistication. Wine is a manmade product requiring time and skill to produce. Wine-making involves controlling and directing elements of nature (in this case, grapes, yeast, and water) to create a product that can be shared and is often part of celebrations and rituals in many cultures. Ulrich’s offer to throw his wine flask over to Georg is motivated by pity, but it also implies that Ulrich is starting to view his enemy as a person. Georg’s refusal of the flask indicates that he is not yet ready to give up his quarrel and enter into a communal activity with his adversary. The Latin phrase in vino veritas (“in wine there is truth”) also figures into this symbol, as after having some sips, Ulrich starts to view their situation from a new perspective; not only is Georg human, but the decades-long dispute over a strip of land is at best a waste of time and, at worst, a foolish endeavor. The wine also expresses the story’s theme of the Power and Limits of Social Norms. The offer to share wine is a gesture of friendship and compassion. Georg’s initial refusal is unnatural in the sense that it would probably be good for him to drink. He declines because of what drinking it would represent: minimal recognition of Ulrich as a friend. The social norm is so powerful that Georg follows its conventions even at the expense of his health and comfort.
Wolves
The wolves provide a brutal twist to the ending. Though the author leaves the ultimate fate of the characters up to the reader’s imagination, by ending the story with the word “wolves,” he leads his readers to expect the worst: a violent death for the two men. Such a death has a tinge of irony in it, for other slower or less violent ends could have been possible, given the men’s position of being injured, bloodied, and trapped under a heavy branch on a winter’s night. The wolves reflect the previous blood-thirsty natures that the two men had for each other since childhood. At the start of the story, they are dangerous beasts, ready to kill. The key difference is that wolves are pack animals who only kill to feed or protect their packmates; Ulrich and Georg had no such justification for their violence. They sought to call down death and vengeance upon their enemy. Once they make peace, they call out together in hopes of rescue but instead call their fates upon themselves in the form of wolves. The story suggests that beneath the human activity of maintaining a feud, and the equally human activity of making friends, there exists a natural world that is indifferent to human feelings and aspirations and indifferent to human morality.
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