"The Interlopers'' March 11
"The Interlopers'' March 11
Learning objective: Students will analyze key passages from "The Interlopers" to understand the feud between Ulrich and Georg and identify evidence of the omniscient narrator.
AERO Standards: RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.3, RL.9-10.6
Lesduur is: 30 minOnderdelen in deze les
"The Interlopers'' March 11
Learning objective: Students will analyze key passages from "The Interlopers" to understand the feud between Ulrich and Georg and identify evidence of the omniscient narrator.
AERO Standards: RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.3, RL.9-10.6
Omniscient Narrator
Omniscient narrator = A narrator who knows EVERYTHING about the story and its characters.
Omniscient Narrator Can... Example from Story
👁️ See all events Past, present, future
🧠 Know every character's thoughts What Ulrich thinks AND what Georg thinks
💭 Understand feelings and motivations Why they hate each other
🔮 Hint at what's coming Build suspense
Think of it like: A security camera with access to EVERY room AND everyone's inner thoughts.
Drag and Drop
What an Omniscient Narrator Knows
What a Limited Narrator Knows
Knows only one student’s thoughts.
Example: Ahmed thinks the teacher is looking at him because he is suspicious, but he doesn’t know the teacher is actually looking at the clock.
Knows everyone’s thoughts.
Example: During a test, Ahmed is thinking, “This exam is impossible,” while Sara is thinking, “This is the easiest test ever.”
Add textKnows only what that student sees or experiences.
Example: A student thinks the teacher didn’t notice him using his phone, but the narrator doesn’t reveal that the teacher actually saw everything.
Knows what is happening in different places.
Example: The narrator knows Ali forgot his homework at home while the teacher is already preparing to collect it.
PASSAGE 1: Meet Ulrich
"In a forest of mixed growth somewhere on the eastern spurs of the Carpathians, a man stood one winter night watching and listening, as though he waited for some beast of the woods to come within the range of his vision and, later, of his rifle. But the game for whose presence he kept so keen an outlook was none that figured in the sportsman's calendar as lawful and proper for the chase; Ulrich von Gradwitz patrolled the dark forest in quest of a human enemy."
Who is Ulrich, and what is he doing in the forest? What is he actually hunting for? Why is this unusual?
PASSAGE 2: The Feud's Origin
"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 or the shooting it afforded, but it was the most jealously guarded of all its owner's territorial possessions. A famous lawsuit, in the days of his grandfather, had wrested it 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 Znayem, the inheritor of the quarrel and the tireless game snatcher and raider of the disputed border forest."
How did the feud between the families begin?
They argued over a hunting dog
They were born enemies
A lawsuit over land ownership, won by Ulrich's family
Georg stole Ulrich's wife
How long has the feud been going on?
Three generations
Ten years
Since last month
One year
Who is Georg Znaeym?
Ulrich's best friend
Ulrich's brother
The inheritor of the feud from the other family
A forest ranger
PASSAGE 3: The Meeting
"He strayed away by himself from the watchers whom he had placed in ambush on the crest of the hill and wandered far down the steep slopes... If only on this wild night, in this dark, lone spot, he might come across Georg Znayem, man to man, with none to witness—that was the wish that was uppermost in his thoughts. And as he stepped round the trunk of a huge beech he came face to face with the man he sought.
The two enemies stood glaring at one another for a long silent moment. Each had a rifle in his hand, each had hate in his heart and murder uppermost in his mind. The chance had come to give full play to the passions of a lifetime."
Fill in the blanks
Ulrich wished to meet Georg man to man, with no one present to witness the confrontation, because the long-standing feud between their families had filled him with anger and a desire to settle the conflict directly.
As he walked through the dark forest, Ulrich suddenly came face to face with Georg, a moment that immediately transformed years of hidden hostility into a tense and dangerous encounter.
Each man held a rifle in his hand, which symbolized how seriously they took their rivalry and how prepared they were to defend their family’s claim to the land.
Each man had hate in his heart and murder uppermost in his mind, revealing how deeply the feud had corrupted their thinking and pushed them toward violent intentions.
This moment is narrated by an omniscient narrator because the story reveals the thoughts and emotions of both Ulrich and Georg, allowing the reader to understand the inner conflict of each character at the same time.
PASSAGE 4: The Tree Falls
"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. Ulrich von Gradwitz found himself stretched on the ground, one arm numb beneath him and the other held almost as helplessly in a tight tangle of forked branches, while both legs were pinned beneath the fallen mass... At his side, so near that under ordinary circumstances he could almost have touched him, lay Georg Znaeym, alive and struggling, but obviously as helplessly pinioned down as himself."
What interrupts the men before they shoot?
C) Their foresters arrive
D) A wild animal
B) A falling tree
A) A gunshot
What happens to both men?
B) They are pinned under the tree
A) They escape unharmed
D) They run away
C) One is killed
Where are they in relation to each other?
C) One is above the other
D) They can't see each other
B) Close enough to almost touch
A) Far apart
PASSAGE 5: Threats and Insults
"Relief at being alive and exasperation at his captive plight brought a strange medley of pious thank offerings and sharp curses to Ulrich's lips. Georg... gave a short, snarling laugh. 'So you're not killed, as you ought to be, but you're caught, anyway,' he cried, 'caught fast. Ho, what a jest, Ulrich von Gradwitz snared in his stolen forest. There's real justice for you!'
'I'm caught in my own forest land,' retorted Ulrich. 'When my men come to release us, you will wish, perhaps, that you were in a better plight than caught poaching on a neighbor's land, shame on you.'
Georg was silent for a moment; then he answered quietly: 'Are you sure that your men will find much to release? I have men, too, in the forest tonight, close behind me, and they will be here first and do the releasing. When they drag me out from under these branches, it won't need much clumsiness on their part to roll this mass of trunk right over on the top of you.'"
What do the two men threaten to do to each other once they are rescued? How does their hatred continue even though they are trapped?
We've read up to where Ulrich and Georg are trapped under the tree, threatening to kill each other once their men arrive. Both are hoping their own foresters will get there first. Predict: What do you think will happen next? Will one of them be killed? Will they be rescued? Will anything change between them? Write 2-3 sentences.
Vocabulary List with Simple Definitions
Word Simple DefinitionStory Context
precipitousvery steep The forest slope
acquiesce dagreed quietly The losing family never accepted the court's decision
marauders people who steal/raid What Ulrich calls Georg and his men
exasperation great annoyance How Ulrich feels being trapped
retorted replied sharply Their angry back-and-forth
condolences sympathy messages What you send when someone dies
languor weakness, weariness How both feel after hours trapped
reconciliation ending a quarrelWhat happens between them
succor help, relief What they're waiting for
