Climax of The Interlopers by William Duong

Climax

cmebed — 2015-09-22 18:52:30 UTC

In the short story, "The Interlopers," the moment of great suspense, or climax, was when Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym had a rifle aimed at each other with hesitation whether to shoot one another, because they were human and murdering a fellow neighbor with no second thought goes against human ethics, even though they hated each other and had the intent to kill each other. Suddenly, a tree fell with a loud crash and pinioned them both on the ground against the cruelty of the forest. This leaves both Ulrich and Georg injured and stuck on the ground while they both have to depend on their men to come and save them while crushing the other under the tree trunk. While they gave up hope Ulrich and probally Georg thought about the endless quarrel between eachother, Ulrich decides to share a drink with his everlasting enemy. Even though Georg declines drinking with his "enemy," Ulrich thinks for a while and decides that the dispute is pointless and that they shouldn't care about the boundary dispute and become friends; and they should help each other when the men come to save them. When Ulrich thinks that, Georg has to think about it where he finally decides to become accomplices and how ironic if they walked in the market square together. With the power of friendship they work together to try and find help.

Quotes

jacquelynvuong — 2015-09-22 18:53:07 UTC

"But a man who has been brought up under the code of a restraining civilization cannot easily nerve himself to shoot down his neighbor in cold blood..." (Pg. 190)

The importance of this quote is portrayed in the two men's civilized behavior. Normally, one would not immediately kill the other on sight, unless he is cold-hearted and cruel. This is shown when Ulrich and Georg stood there with a rifle aimed at one another, neither of them making a move.

"...the wine was warming and reviving to the wounded man, and he looked across with something like a throb of pity to where his enemy lay, just keeping the groans of pains and weariness from crossing his lips." (Pg. 191)

This quote is significant because as Ulrich is enjoying the drink as it warms his body, he looks across to his enemy that he had a feud with for such a long time, and felt an accountable change. He then threw the cask over to Georg for him to drink, as a sign of sympathy.

Symbol

jacquelynvuong — 2015-09-22 18:56:03 UTC

Nature has a supremacy over man. Nature itself is a vital character, and shows that the true interlopers are the two men as they created a feud over a stretch of land that they had no right to in the first place. "And before the moment of hesitation had given way to action, a deed of Nature's own violence overwhelmed them both. A fierce shriek of the storm had been answered by a splitting crash over their heads, and ere they could leap aside, a mass of falling beech tree had thundered down on them." The tree, the storm, and the wolves, although it did not make an appearance until the end of the story, indicate symbolically the dominance of nature compared to the conceited claims of man over land.

Video

jacquelynvuong — 2015-09-23 18:39:02 UTC

This video connects to the climax of "The Interlopers." This is because after the tree pinned both of the men down, Ulrich and Georg set their argument aside and decided to become friends. This relates to the video because in the video, a police man and a man who spent years in and out of jail, formed an unlikely relationship.