Question

How is the motif of “nature” developed throughout the short story “The Interlopers?” Provide evidence from the reading to support your response.

Answer 1

PLATO Answer:

The opening of the story includes many images and references to nature by describing the feud over the forest and the winter storm:

"The forest lands of Gradwitz were of wide extent and well stocked with game; the narrow strip of precipitous woodland that lay on its outskirt was not remarkable for the game it harbored, but it was the most jealously guarded of all its owner's territorial possessions."

". . . wind-scourged winter night Ulrich had banded together his foresters to watch the dark forest. . . . "

Nature is treated as a character in the story, as it is both the cause of the conflict between the two me and also what interferes the night they meet in the forest.

Nature repeatedly overpowers the men in the story, first by the tree falling on them and then by the wolves arriving when they are trapped.

Explanation:

Answer 2

Nature is presented as superior to humans in all inevitability in the text.

Explanation:

When the text beings, the two brothers treat nature as something they can easily control as they wish to but as it progresses, the strife between the brothers begins to culminate. It represents the infighting between humans.

Von Gradwitz and Znaeym eventually lose to the nature, not to each other as they fought for a narrow strip of forest for so long.

They remain the true interlopers of the story and the nature triumphs as something that cannot be overcome by any man.