Damon and Pythias

“Two Friends” and “Damon and Pythias” Throughout history, friendship has played a great part in everyday lives. It is known by many that friendship is a very important part of any human’s life because without friends humans would be lonely and depressed. Through the conflicts that have occurred in both short stories, the true character of a loyal friend is what completes what is called true friendship. Friendship is basically the theme of both short stories,”Damon and Pythias” which was written by William Russell and “Two friends” which was written by guy de Maupassant. In “Two Friends” and “Damon and Pythias” the characters were both trustworthy and loyal. “…nobody could ever have pursuaded one that the other had been unfaithful or dishonest…” (Russell 110). In this quote, William Russell demonstrates that not one could have as strong of a relationship as of Damon and Pythias’. “The two friends, side by side, pale, kept silent” (Maupassant 107). In this qoute by guy de Maupassant, the two friends stayed silent about the password which is very brave because they could get killed if they do not tell it to the Prussians. In the short story “Two Friends,” Maupassant examines French bravery, German stereotypes, and he discusses the nature and justification of war in the form of a conversation between the two protagonists. “Paris was blockaded, starved, in its death agony” (Maupassant 103). The author seems to be sad over Paris and unproud of it because of the topic sentence in the short story. In the short story “Damon and Pythias,” Russell says that Pythias, a liberal Athenian who believes all men are brothers, is condemned to death by Dionysius. The conflict between Pythias and Dionysius is that Dionysuis does not believe that Pythias will return, “Dionysius, the haedhearted tyrant, however, would not believe Pythias’s promise to return and would not allow him to leave unless he left behing a hostage…” (Russell 110). The theme shared between both short stories (“Damon and Pythias” and “Two Friends”) is that friendship conquers all and friendship could be the most powerful thing in the universe. Both short stories show great friendship by showing loyalty and tust between each friendship.