Two Friends is a depressing story of how two men were careless, and it cost them their life. Two men named Monsieur Morrisot and Monsieur Sauvage met each Sunday at a fishing area, where sometimes they would talk, while other times they would remain in a comfortable silence. They had similar tastes in things and were the same in responding to their surroundings. Their friendship might not have existed without this war, because they only started meeting each other after the war started. One day, they met again and planned to go to the same island to start fishing again. However, they noticed that there were also Prussians there. They had to be very careful to avoid them, and started fishing, getting many small fishes. However, in the end, they still got captured, and were killed for not telling the secret code that they knew nothing about.
In this short story, the main themes are friendship and bravery. Friendship is shown between the two men, as they are so comfortable with each other, that they can trust each other immediately. They can sit in silence and understand each other perfectly. Their kind of relationship is what true friendship should always be like. Bravery is also prominent in this story, as they are killed protecting their city and families. Unfortunately, their family might not have anyone to support themselves after the two of them die. These two men showed loyalty to their country, bravely sacrificing themselves for the greater good. They also showed loyalty to each other, not telling the german leader the password when he dragged each of them aside privately. In this story, we learn a lot about bravery and sacrifices.
In this story, there are a lot of different symbols that mean different things. For example, the act of fishing is supposed to be a laid back sport, and requires a lot of time and patience. However, war doesn’t make room for leisurely activities like this, and it doesn’t allow time for many things. Because they believed that they would be able to rest during a time of famine and ruin, they ultimately sealed their fates by taking a break during the time where they should be working. The alcohol that they drink causes them to become more careless and bold, giving them the idea to go to the island, even though they find out that the Germans are there. The conversation they have while fishing also leads to their death, because if they had kept quiet, they might not have been found by the German soldiers. The day they went fishing was the first clear say they had in awhile. The bad weather from earlier weeks symbolizes the death and destruction from the war, and the fact that the day is different from the others might foreshadow that something will go wrong. In this story, we can tell that many of the things spoken about in the story have some sort of meaning.
The writing style of Guy de Maupassant in this story seems pretty casual and informal. The tone of the story changed from happy to dark to cheerful and then to depressing. After the two men realize that the Prussians are close by, there is a sort of tense atmosphere in the story. However, the two friends don’t seem to notice this, and continue fishing, as well as calmly chatting. The description used is short, but also very detailed, as we can clearly imagine everything that happens in the story. The situation in this story probably isn’t too common, because most of the French men wouldn’t be fishing in enemy territory. I feel as though this story was written as if the author were really there and experienced the entire situation first hand, because it is so well written.
Two Friends had a good beginning, but unfortunately, the ending was very blunt and sad. It’s a shame that the two men had to die, because they were completely innocent, but it is partially their fault because they were careless enough to stay and fish. I believe this story can teach us a lot about life during this war. It is an interesting but terrible way of learning about the different kinds of people back then.
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