The Interlopers by Saki Feature Menu Introducing the Story Literary Focus: Omniscient Narrator Literary Focus: Surprise Endings Reading Skills: Monitoring Your Reading

The Interlopers by Saki

The Interlopers Introducing the Story The world perishes not from bandits and fires, but from hatred, hostility, and all these petty squabbles. Anton Chekhov

The Interlopers Introducing the Story Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym are sworn enemies. What happens when these two armed enemies come face to face in the woods on a winter night? [End of Section]

The Interlopers Literary Focus: Omniscient Point of View An omniscient narrator is not a character in the story knows everything about all the characters in the story can reveal characters’ thoughts and actions can zoom from place to place may tell all or save information until the end [End of Section]

The Interlopers Literary Focus: Surprise Endings A surprise ending resolves a story’s conflict in a totally unexpected way. The ending, while surprising, is still logical. The unexpected ending may make you rethink the story. [End of Section]

The Interlopers Reading Skills: Monitoring Your Reading When you encounter a difficult sentence or passage, try one of these strategies. Use context clues to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Context clues may give the word’s definition restate the word’s meaning in a different way provide an example show comparison or contrast

The Interlopers Reading Skills: Monitoring Your Reading When you encounter a difficult sentence or passage try one of these strategies. Break long sentences into simpler ones. Look for the subject and the verb. Stop to rephrase or summarize. Finally, take time to re-read. [End of Section]

The Interlopers Quickwrite Make the Connection Most arguments can be settled when people agree to talk or compromise, but some disagreements become so bitter that they last for many years. Indeed, some regions of the world have been locked in conflict for generations. Write down a few examples of feuds from history or literature that have torn families or even countries apart. What keeps such bitter hatred alive? [End of Section]

The Interlopers Vocabulary Vocabulary Activity: Context Clues Context clues—the words and phrases around a word— can point toward the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Definition: The people who interfered were accused of being interlopers. 2. Restatement: The interlopers, intruders on horseback, rode into town. 3. Example: Guards treated all visitors—tourists, journalists, photographers—as interlopers. 4. Comparison or Contrast: Far from being welcome guests, those dropping by were seen as interlopers.

Meet the Writer

The Interlopers Meet the Writer Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916) adopted the pen name Saki, after the character who served wine to the gods in the then-popular Persian poem the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Saki was born in Burma, where his father was an officer in the military police. After the death of his mother, Saki and his two older siblings were sent to England to live with their grandmother and two aunts. More About the Writer [End of Section]

Serious arguments can begin over trivial matters. Agree or Disagree? Serious arguments can begin over trivial matters.

Agree or Disagree? People who quarrel for a long time often forget why they started fighting in the first place.

Arguments always weaken as time goes by. Agree or Disagree? Arguments always weaken as time goes by.

When arguing you should never give in or show your weakness. Agree or Disagree? When arguing you should never give in or show your weakness.