Question

In Guy de Maupassant's "Two Friends," which answer below best describes Sauvage and Morissot’s friendship?

a) Sauvage and Morissot are the kind of friends who are soulmates. They do not have to hold long conversations, discussions, and arguments to truly bond. Maupissant writes, “Some days they did not speak. Sometimes they did; but they understood one another admirably without saying anything because they had similar tastes and responded to their surroundings in exactly the same way" (Maupassant, 2012, p. 1234).

b) Sauvage and Morissot’s friendship transcends death, and their deep relationship is evident in the manner in which they die. Morissot “stammered, ‘Farewell, Monsieur Sauvage.’ M. Sauvage answered, ‘Farewell, Monsieur Morissot.’ They shook hands, trembling from head to foot with a shudder which they could not control" (Maupassant, 2012, p. 1239).


c) Sauvage and Morissot set out to be heroes, and they made their country proud. They were highly politicized soldiers as is evident by their statements, “’Folks sure are stupid to kill one another like that.’ M. Sauvage answered, ‘They’re worse than animals'" ( (Maupassant, 2012, p. 1237).


d) The two men have been friends all their lives. They are honored to die together for the good of their country. The reader knows this based on the following lines: “'That’s life for you,' opined M. Sauvage."

"You’d better say ‘That’s death for you,’ laughed Morissot" (Maupassant, 2012, p. 1238).

Answer 1

Answer: A. Sauvage and Morissot are the kind of friends who are soulmates. They do not have to hold long conversations, discussions, and arguments to truly bond. Maupassant writes,

“Some days they did not speak. Sometimes they did; but they understood one another admirably without saying anything because they had similar tastes and responded to their surroundings in exactly the same way" (Maupassant).

Answer 2

In "Two Friends," Maupassant tells the story of two Frenchmen who meet a sad end. The two old friends meet randomly in the street one day and decide to have a drink and go fishing. The two are French soldiers fighting in the Franco-Prussian War. They go fishing to get a brief break from all the stress.

While they are fishing, they are caught by enemy (Prussian) soldiers. The soldiers say they can either execute them or let them live -- IF they give them some information about the French troops. Of course, neither man wants to be guilty of treason, and so they are shot by the troops.

To best answer the above question about their friendship, we have to read the given lines carefully and eliminate any which does not work.

Answer C. is clearly incorrect, as the two do not set out to be heroes. The two only want to escape the stress of the war by fishing for a couple of hours.

Answer B. is also incorrect as well. Perhaps their friendship does "transcend death" -- however, the fact that they say farewell and tremble does not indicate this.

Answer D. is partially correct. The two have been friends for many years and are willing to die for the good of their country. However, their final words do not necessarily indicate that they are honored to die for their country. Instead, their final words almost indicate they are laughing at the irony of getting killed just for fishing.

Answer A. best describes the nature of their friendship. They are such good friends that they do not even need to talk; instead, they can sit in silence. Therefore, option A. is the best answer to this question.