Preview

"Two Friends" by Guy de Maupassant

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
724 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
"Two Friends" by Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant and "Two Friends"

War, Naturalism, and Tragedy. A way of life, a style of literature, and the way it all ends. Guy de Maupassant lived and served in war, wrote about it, and ended it all a sad and tormented man. We can see all this through his literature and in the way he writes his dark and melancholy works. July 15th, 1870, Emperor Napoleon III, "Led his nation into one of the most disastrous wars in her history" (Naranjo). Napoleon made the fatal mistake of attacking the Prussians, and the Germans, thus started the Franco-Prussian war. At the Age of twenty Maupassant joined the French army and went to fight in the war. During the war Paris, the capital of France, became under siege and many Frenchmen were trapped inside and starving. Napoleon III was captured and was replaced by a small group of men who took over the running of the government, their goals during the war were, "…suit for a favorable peace treaty, enlist aid of foreign powers, and prepare Paris militarily" (Naranjo)" Now, Maupassant is known as one of the best short story writers in French history. He was born in Normandy, but he learned to write in Paris. He was tutored in writing by the famous poet Gustave Flaubert. Originally he tried to be a poet but that was a failed experiment. He did write some poetry, but it was never big and he didn't enjoy it. His first major Novel was A Women's Life (Cyclopedia). In 1884 and 1885 his writing career stared to pick-up and be produced "high caliber fiction" such as, "Miss Haryet", "The Sisters Rondoli", and "Toine, and Other Stories" (Cyclopedia). Most of his stories were about everyday life in Normandy, and the Norman people. A lot, though, were about, or influenced by, his time in the Franco-Prussian war. The war did not do well with Maupassant and in 1886 he began to show signs of mental illness, but this was a crucial time in his career as a writer. Many of his most well-known stories were written during and his illness is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    • Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (1991) • APA Citation: o Curtis, C. P. (1991). Bud, Not Buddy. New York, NY: Delacore Press. • Guided Reading Level-T Lexile Measure-950L Grade Level Equivalent-5.0 • Summary of Novel: Bud, Not Buddy is about a ten year old orphan who is growing up in Michigan in 1936 during the Great Depression.…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This episode analyzed the domestication of animals. It details an experiment performed by a Russian Darwinian geneticist named Dmitri Belyaev. Belyayev wanted to understand how domestication occurs. It seems like a simple question but the results were very interesting. He used silver foxes for his experiment. He had one control group and one experimental group. With the experimental group he controlled which ones were able to breed. The ones that were able to breed did not show fear of humans and were not aggressive. He continued to breed these foxes over and over again. Within 10 years he had successfully domesticated these foxes. Throughout the process of domestication, Belyaev noticed some physical changes that were…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hemingway’s inspiration was war, both as a personal and symbolic experience and as a continuing condition of humankind.…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It presents the tragedy of war,not only in the loss of life, but also in the loss of those who survived and their suffering. The presentation of the soldiers in the novel shows them internally suffering, with the overwhelming sense of warfare in the trenches, compiled with the loss of their brethren, but also with a lost sense of purpose once the fighting is over. These themes of tragedy, loss of life, as well as loss of motivation and direction appear in real life, as warfare in the modern age leaves many people in these similar positions, feeling lost, even within their own communities once they…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Napoleon's once unequaled army was now diminishing. After defeats in Spain and misfortune in Russia, countries began to realize that Napoleon's "invincible" reputation was tainted. For the first time people saw that this "unstoppable" general could, in fact, be stopped. Momentum and hope were gained by all of Napoleon's enemies. In 1813, Napoleon was in his German campaign. However, because of the Peninsular war, he was unable to send troops causing them to be 200,000 troops short. This created even more casualties and death for Napoleon, as he could just stand and watch his empire fall. Even more enemies were gathering against Napoleon, sensing his newfound weakness. Austria, Britain, Russia, Prussia and Sweden all joined forces to fight against Napoleon. Napoleon's forces were now by far outnumbered by this new alliance and he was barely holding on. Eventually, the allies would attack Paris and take the city. When Napoleon returned and heard of the defeat he knew it was the end. Finally realizing that his unstoppable armies had been stopped for good he abdicated on April 11th, 1814. The Peninsular War has helped diminish Napoleon's armies and expose his weaknesses. His enemies had finally caught on and in the end it was the great Napoleon who finally gave…

    • 1709 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Girl By Aaron Devoor

    • 177 Words
    • 1 Page

    In today’s society, people tend to group one and an another into different categories according to their own social identity. An individual’s gender identity refers to which group where one belongs to. The attributes assigned to both males and females are different because of gender differences. In “Becoming members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” by Aaron Devor, the author argues that factors such as beliefs and behaviors help differentiate the sexual identity of a person. In addition, Devor views sex as an instrument of determining gender. It is believed that there are only two types of sexes that exist. Which are male and female. On the other hand, “Girl”, by Jamaica Kincaid, the mother tries to forces prescribe behavior,…

    • 177 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This paper is an analysis of the article “What Makes A Family” written by Vanessa de la Torre. About a family that consists of two couples with children, a couple without children and two individuals that have no blood or marriage relation. Living under one roof peacefully, but that peace was disturbed when the city determined that it wasn’t an ideal definition of family.…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the reading “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, the author describes his own experience of how kids and himself were treated by society during his childhood for being part of a different background. In the reading I noticed how the author shows us ways that he has become the person he is by the influence of his family, particularly his dad who sparked his passion toward reading books. In my essay I implemented an additional family factor other than my father and sister; I included my brother. He impacted how I treat people that are constantly looked down by society. In addition, I have grown from my brother’s death and as an effect I have matured as a person and a writer.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The tragedy of war, is arguably the biggest theme that is found in Remarque’s book. One example from the book is in chapter four when Paul and Kat find one of their recruits is wounded from an attack and they are not sure if they should wait for the medics to come take him or shoot the recruit to put him out of his pain. Another example of how tragic war can be would be when Paul visits Kemmerich’s mother in chapter seven. Paul lies to Kemmerich’s grieving mother about how Kemmerich died so that she would not be in as much. One big example from the book that shows how war can be tragic is when Paul talks about the transformation soldiers go through at the Western Front. In the book, Paul says “we march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers—we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (Remarque 56). Paul believes that when he and his friends are put into battle, they lose their sense of humanity and become wild animals. As the book goes on, the soldiers can be compared to wild animals when they fight. Paul even says “we have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation” (Remarque 113). However, the best example from the book that shows how tragic war can be is when Paul stabs Gérard Duval, a French soldier, in chapter nine. Paul sees him die a slow and painful death. He immediately regrets killing the soldier and says…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gallant's "The Other Paris" is a marvelous representation of two "love birds" finalizing the decision of marriage "over a tuna-fish salad". A social commentary and an amount of satire over exaggerated to prove a point about society. Disney movie story lines are not a form of reality they are written scripts of fiction. The author immediately introduces "expectation vs. reality" through Carol.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It's important to recognize yourself as a writer before beginning to project yourself to an audience. As evident by the papers read recently in class and every English 101 course you hear about, the literacy narrative serves as any writer's introductory assignment, and it is rightfully so. The project is to analyze how literacy has been shaped by exploring reading, writing, and spelling struggles or triumphs from your past. Famous authors may use this to help their audience get to know them, but college students striving to fulfill a core requirement can use it to help better themselves as writers. Whether it be an untraditional means of education, an outspoken minority, or a "door breaking" point of view the topic appeals to an audience as it delivers the promise of understanding the author and whatever other topical issues the narrative brings along with it.…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The story is about friendship, a mutual friendship. The author, Isabel Vivien Guda gave justice to the title of the story which is Friend-Cheat. This is something can guess immediately, from the idea and flow of the story. The author, I guess somehow reflects her own experiences, to easily and naturally tell the story about. Friend-Cheat specifically tells the precious meaning of the word friendship, how loyalty and trust matters on it.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author of “Chickamauga,” Ambrose Bierce, created this short story as a naturalist visualization of the devastating effects that wars and battles had on the soldiers which fought in them. The short story “Chickamauga” is defined as naturalist literature because of the author’s employment of specific literary techniques which define naturalism, such as the way the author gradually darkens the mood of the storyline as it progresses, the amount of description and attention paid to grisly and macabre details that shed wars in a whole new light, as well as the unfolding nature of the main character as the story progresses.…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Exchanging Our Country Marks, Michael Gomez brings together various strands of the historical record in a stunning fusion that points the way to a definitive history of American Slavery. In this fusion of history, anthropology, and sociology, Gomez has made expert use of primary sources, including newspapers ads for runaway slaves in colonial America. Slave runaway accounts from newspapers are combined with personal diaries, church records, and former slave narratives to provide a firsthand account of the African and African-American experiences during the eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. With this mastery of sources, Gomez challenges many of the prevailing assumptions about slavery-- for example, that "the new condition of slavery superseded all others" (48)-- and he advances intriguing new speculations about the development of a collective African-American identity. In Gomez's words: "It is a study of their efforts to move from ethnicity to race as a basis for such an identity, a movement best understood when the impact of both internal and external forces upon social relations within this community is examined"(4).…

    • 1509 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Based on the reading by Loomba, the idea of the "Other" dates back to the era of colonialism. As citizens of the more developed and "civilized" countries, the Europeans quickly learned to pray on the women and men of the "less developed" New World countries. The colonizers seized the opportunity to capture, enslave, and exploit the women of color by taking advantage of their cultural heritage. Based on their morals, family values, and even their clothing, women of color in the colonized countries became easy victims for objectification, overpowering, and manipulation. Unfortunately, this trend continues in today's world. As noted in Davidson's essay, white men still utilize their power of being the superior race and gender and continue to practice…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays