Damon And Pythias Analysis

Comparing Theme and Worldview

I believe that the second story, “Two Friends”, exhibits friendship more realistically than the first story, “Damon and Pythias”. The reason is reflected by the actions of the two friends. Monsieur Sauvage and Monsieur Morissot spend time exploring their hobbies together. They drank together and fished together: “They went into a little cafe and had an absinthe, then resumed their stroll along the sidewalks.” (Maupassant, 1235). Due to the alcohol, they were captured by the Germans and interrogated to reveal the password. If there was a password, neither of them betrayed each other: “Then he rose suddenly, approached the two Frenchmen, took Morissot by the arm, dragged him aside, whispered to him, ‘Quick, the password? Your friend won’t know. I’ll pretend to relent.’” (Maupassant, 1239). Another factor in terms of the realism of the friendship between these two

The reason this legend did a better job is because the exaggeration emphasized the lesson. According to the story, Pythias had to be killed because he appeared in the king’s dream. Pythias asked for a day to complete some tasks and bid his family goodbye. Damon was left hostage. Damon stated: “There is no need for me to feel afraid, O King, since I have perfect faith in the word of my true friend, and know that he will certainly return before the appointed time— unless, of course, he dies or is held captive by some evil force.” (Russell, 1231). There are multiple lessons that emerge from his statement. A lesson could be to trust your friend. This is clear because Damon stated that he trusts Pythias. It turns out that Pythias came back in time; Pythias is worthy of Damon’s trust. In “Two Friends”, it was unclear because of the password. The reader does not know if there was a password; the guards could be saying this to confuse the two friends. Therefore this lesson is unclear in relation to “Damon and