Foreshadowing In The Interloper

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Interlopers” by Saki both have a comparable conflict and use similar literary elements such as foreshadowing and irony, however, each author uses these components in different ways to portray separate themes.

Foreshadowing, which is often used in short stories, is seen in both “The Story of an Hour” and “The Interlopers, despite the fact that Chopin and Saki use mostly different tactics to evince the effects of this device. For example, Chopin and Saki originate and focus on foreshadowing using different scenarios. Chopin uses the physical condition of Mrs. Mallard to allude to her death, while Saki suggests the misfortune of Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz by their long rivalry over a piece

of land. In “The Story of an Hour” it states, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin). While, in “The Interlopers” it is said, “A famous lawsuit, in the days of his grandfather, had wrested it [the land] from the illegal possession of a neighboring family of petty landowners; the dispossessed party had never acquiesced in the judgment of the courts, and a long series of poaching affrays and similar scandals had embittered the relationships between the families for three generations. The neighbor feud had grown into a personal one since Ulrich had come to be head of his family; if there was a man in the world whom he detested and wished ill to, it was Georg Znaeym, the inheritor of the quarrel and the tireless game snatcher and raider of the disputed border forest” (Saki). Saki continued by stating how both of these men “thirsted for one another’s blood” and “prayed that misfortune might fall on the other”. These two introductions both show foreshadowing using a different scenario. As each short story progresses, the authors continue to use foreshadowing, each with a different focus. As “The Story of an Hour” goes on, Chopin shifts the focus of Mrs. Mallard’s condition to put more emphasis on her mental state. When Mrs. Mallard finds out her husband is “dead” she has a happiness about her as she thinks, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (Chopin). This statement prolongs the emphasis on Mrs. Mallard’s condition to illustrate foreshadowing. After the introduction of foreshadowing in “The Interlopers”, Saki begins to introduce more effects the setting has while leading up to the deaths of Znaeym and Gradwitz. Saki uses the phrases, “Assuredly there was a disturbing element in the forest…” and “If only on this wild night, in this dark, lone spot, he might come across Georg Znaeym…” to enhance the eerie tone. Later, Saki highlights his use of setting again by creating a sudden change of pace and using words such as, “the wind dropped for a moment” and “There was silence again for some minutes…”. These phrases elaborate a final foreshadowing because they show the sudden silence before the end. Although Chopin and Saki use very different scenarios, foreshadowing is a main element in each of their stories.
Chopin and Saki both use situational irony, leading to the death of their main character/s, in their short stories, although each author uses a different focus to enhance the use of their irony. Again, Chopin uses the physical and mental state of Mrs. Mallard to create an ironic situation. The quote, “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin) shows how quick Mrs. Mallard was to guess the length of her life and extent of her freedom. Later, Mrs. Mallard dies, supposedly of “the joy that kills”, when she sees her husband is still alive. On the other hand, “The Interlopers” continues to place ironic focus on the setting rather than the character’s condition. Saki writes, “a deed of Nature’s own violence overwhelmed them both.” In the end, it is implied that Znaeym and Gradwitz were killed both by being trapped under a tree and a pack of wolves, ironically, because that was the very same land they quarreled over. Though each of these short stories used the same type of irony, they each used a different element of their story to create that irony.
“The Story of an Hour” and “The Interlopers” have similar conflicts because they both illustrate the detriment of an unhealthy external relationship, although the outcomes of each conflict is different.

The conflict in “The Story of an Hour” is Mrs. Mallard’s relationship with her husband, Brently. The quotes, “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (Chopin) and “And yet she had loved him---sometimes” (Chopin) prove that Brently and Josephine Mallard’s relationship was not healthy or loving. As for “The Interlopers”, the bad relationship was that of a long lasting neighbor feud. The words “embittered the relationships” and “neighbor feud..grown..personal” describes the indifference between Znaeym and Gradwitz. Each conflict was similar by being external, however, one conflict was left unresolved and one resolved. Brently and Josephine Mallard’s relationship was left unmended because Brently never knew of Josephine’s feelings toward him before she died. On the other hand, Znaeym and Gradwitz’s relationship was mended when they realized the unimportance of loathing each other in their given situation. Znaeym even says, “I never thought to have wanted to do other than hate you all my life, but I think I have changed my mind…”. So, although the conflict was similar in these short stories, each had a different

outcome.
Both “The Story of an Hour” and “The Interlopers” use some of the same literary elements such as foreshadowing, irony, and conflict to enhance their plot, although Chopin and Saki use different scenarios and tactics to make the most of the use of each literary element.