You will identify and evaluate the subject and themes revealed in the "The Interlopers.

Directions

Read the instructions for this self-checked activity and type in your response. Type in your response to each question, and check your answers. At

end of the activity, write a brief evaluation of your work.

Activity

You read Saki's short story "The Interlopers." You also learned the ways in which subjects and themes differ and the techniques that autho

use to express theme. In the next task, you will use these skills to evaluate "The Interlopers."

Part A

Consider what you have learned about subject and theme in literature, What is the subject, and what is one central theme in this story? How

the author introduce and develop this theme throughout the text?

Let's first consider the difference between a subject and a theme. A subject is a briefly expressed topic - in this case, nature. A theme, on the other hand, is an opinion or an angle on that particular subject. It is usually expressed as a phrase or a sentence. In this case, the central theme would be the power of nature over humans and their petty interests. (Other themes could be nature vs. humanity or humankind; human intrusion on nature never comes without consequences, etc.)

Explanation:

The power of nature is introduced in the very first sentence. The Carpathian forest on a winter night seems terrifying, and Ulrich's vigilance confirms it. Even though he has a rifle and is waiting for Georg to appear, we can't help but feel that he is an essentially helpless and fragile creature.

Later on, as the two enemies are standing face to face and quarreling over the land, nature reasserts its power as the giant branch topples them over and disables them. That's what brings them together - but not for long. Even as they reconcile, a pack of hungry wolves appears. As if the nature announces: I don't care about your greed or conflict or destructive hatred for one another - or even your newly acquired respect; both of you are interlopers on this piece of land which was never yours to begin with.

question:

it's when i'm weary of considerations, and life is too much like a pathless wood where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs broken across it, and one eye is weeping from a twig's having lashed across it open

answer to question #1: the simile that occurs in the text given (lines 43-47) is: ''life is too much like a pathless ''

explanation: a simile is a comparison of one thing with another thing and it is used to make a vivid description. it uses like or as. in the text, we can understand that the person is feeling weary of considerations and because of this, the person compares ''life'' to ''a pathless wood''.

answer to question #2: in this text we can understand that the word frost could mean anger, annoyance and bitterness, due to the fact that the person is stating that he/she is feeling weary of considerations and compares life to a pathless wood.

explanation: the word frost means coldness and something covered by ice crystals but looking at the comparison made in this text, we can understand that the word frost could mean anger, annoyance and bitterness, due to the fact that the person is stating that he/she is feeling weary of considerations therefore he/she compares life to a pathless wood.