Compare And Contrast The Story Of An Hour And The Interlopers

Compare and contrast; The Story Of An Hour, The Interlopers

The two stories being compared and contrasted are The Story Of An Hour, by Kate Chopin, and The Interlopers by Saki. Both are very interesting examples of many things, character, story development, setting, but I've chosen to particularly highlight structure, plot, and use of irony and foreshadowing. The Story Of An Hour is a short story about a woman in a marriage that she feels trapped in. When she hears that her husband died in a train crash, she grieves a moment, but then realizes that she's free to do what she wants. However, her husband then walks in the door, and she dies. The Interlopers is another short story about two men who are part of a family feud that's been going on

For example, The Story Of An Hour is largely centered around freedom, freedom to be yourself, and do what you want to. Mrs Mallard didn't have that kind of freedom when she was married, and she wanted it so badly that when she had it for a few moments only for it to be taken away again, it killed her. The Interlopers has an entirely different theme, a theme of grudges, and the dangers of holding them for too long. When Ulrich and Georg held their grudges against each other for too long, it drove them into the forest to kill each other, "The feud might, perhaps, have died down or been compromised if the personal ill will of the two men had not stood in the way". (Saki, 2) That ended in them both being trapped together under a branch. And while they did become friends, it was too late. They both died due to their unwillingness to forgive and forget. Another difference in the stories would be the amount of foreshadowing. The Story Of An Hour has only a little bit, two to three sentences. The most powerful foreshadowing in the story is when Mrs Mallard is in her room, thinking about her freedom, "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long". (Chopin, 2) This comes near the end of the story, and foreshadows her death at the end. The Interlopers, however, has a few more examples, five or six. Georg mentions interlopers several times, "there is none other to interfere, no interlopers from outside". (Saki, 6) This is a foreshadowing to the wolves that would interlope their friendship. The author also mentions that "each prayed that misfortune would fall on the other" (Saki, 2), foreshadowing that something bad was going to happen to both of