Two Little Soldiers 
Guy de Maupassant
About the author
- Guy de Maupassant was popular 19th century French writer
- Wrote novels, poetry and newspaper articles, but he is best known for his short stories in the field of literature
- His stories are linked by irony and the frailty of human nature
Central idea
The story “Two Little Soldiers’ is about a triangular love with a completely unexpected twist at the end. This story shows the compatibility of friendship and romantic love with change, discontent, conflict, betrayal and jealousy.
Characters
Jean Kerderen
A little soldier who leaves the barracks every Sunday for a walk with his friend Luc Le Ganidec. They go to a countryside near Bezons. The little forest of Champioux reminds them of home. A few clumps of trees in the plain and little forest reminds of them the forest at Kerderen. They enjoy watching nature which is similar to that of their home village. He, with his friend Luc, is impressed by a girl who comes there to milk a cow tethered in the pasture. Unfortunately, he is unknown about the love affair of his friend with the girl. When he comes to know about the affair, he feels bad, becomes jealous and also, he thinks he is betrayed by his friend. His such bad feelings make him commit suicide by jumping into the Seine River.
Luc Le Ganidec
A small and thin soldier who leaves the barracks every Sunday with his intimate friend Jean Kerderen to enjoy natural beauty which reminds of their home village and forest nearby. He falls in love with the dairy maid who comes to milk the cow. But he does not share about his affair with his friend Jean. When his friend comes to know about his love affair with the girl, he is considered a betrayer. Being an eye witness of Jean’s suicide, he is paralyzed with terror, rushes towards the barracks and reports what has happened by stammering.
The girl
The girl is the dairy maid. Every Sunday she passes in front of the two little soldiers on the way to milk her cow. She was tall, strapping girl, freckled and tanned by the open air. In course of going to milk the cow, she speaks and slowly starts chatting with the two little soldiers. She falls in love with Luc Le Ganidec. She kissed him in front of Jean Kerderen and ignoring his presence there, she enjoyed the affair with Luc.
Understanding the text
Answer these questions
a. Why do the two soldiers spend their free time on Sundays away from the barracks out in the countryside?
They spend their free time on Sundays away from the barracks out in the countryside because the landscape, nature and geographical features of that countryside remind them of their home village and its nature. Being bored with captive life in the barracks, they also feel free there.
b. Why does the girl become the topic of conversation for these soldiers?
The girl becomes the topic of conversation for these soldiers because both of them are attracted to her. They are excited to see her and pleased to be with her.
c. Why does deception enter into their friendship?
Deception enters into their friendship due to Luc's betrayal to Jean. Luc falls in love with the dairy maid, with whom both of them are impressed, but he doesn't tell Jean about it. His act of keeping secret about his love affair makes Jean feel that he is deceived.
d. Do you think that Luc is a betrayer of friendship?
Yes, Luc is a betrayer of friendship in the sense that he doesn’t share about his relation with the dairy maid. Only after being eyewitness of their affair, Jean knows that his friend has already fallen in love with the girl.
e. What is the cause of suicide of Jean? Do you think that it was the only release of his love?
The main cause of suicide of Jean is jealousy. He is jealous of Luc’s love affair with the dairy maid. He also feels that he is betrayed by his friend. I don’t think it was the only release of his love because suicide is not the solution. He could try to be happy with his friend’s relation. Cheering his friend’s love could be the release of his love.
Reference to the context
a. What is the central theme of the story?
The central theme of the story is ‘one sided love is self-destructive’. Before loving a girl, a boy must ask her about her feelings. Without being sure, one mustn’t sink into imaginative love affair. If it comes true that’s fine but, if his assumption goes wrong that kills himself. So is the case of Jean Kerderen in this story. He falsely comes to believe that the dairy maid loves him. Neither he proposes her nor she does so. But Jean falls in one sided love without confirmation. When he comes to know that his friend Luc Le Ganidec is in love with the girl, Jean commits suicide by jumping into the river. It is one sided love to the girl that takes his life.
There are other possible themes of this story such as betrayal in friendship, jealousy kills us, and so on.
b. “What are you doing here? Are you watching the grass grow?”
i. Who is the speaker?
The speaker is the dairy maid who falls in love with …… later.
ii. What does the word ‘here’ indicate?
The word ‘here’ indicates the countryside where the two little soldiers visit every Sunday.
iii. Who does ‘you’ refer to?
‘You’ refers to two little soldiers named Jean Kerderen and Luc Le Ganidec.
c. He leaned – he – he was leaning – so far over – that his head carried him away and – he – fell – he – fell ….”
i. Who is the speaker?
The speaker is Luc Le Ganidec.
ii. Why is the speaker speaking with interruption?
The speaker is speaking with interruption because he is paralyzed with terror after his friend commits suicide.
iii. What does he mean when he says “he – fell – he – fell ….”?
He means that his friend Jean fell from the bridge into the Seine River.
d. Two Little Soldiers can be viewed as a series of dramatic scenes. Describe the story as tragedy.
Two Little Soldiers can be viewed as a series of dramatic scenes because the story consists of various scenes of the countryside and also the pieces of dialogues that makes a story dramatic. To be a story dramatic, there must at least be sound, sight or scene and the plot with common theme.
The story is a tragedy because it ends with the death of one of three major characters. It has an obvious sad ending. Generally speaking, if the hero or heroine dies or is defeated, is killed or commits suicide in the story, that is tragedy. Thus, Jean’s suicide makes this story a tragic triangular love story.
e. What is the setting and style of the story?
The setting of the story is a countryside near Bezons, in France. The geographical features and the landscape of that countryside remind the two little soldiers of their home village. Every Sunday, they go there to watch a plain with a few trees, which leads to the woods, a little forest that seems to remind them of the forest at Kermarivan. The wheat and oat fields bordered on the narrow path remind them of Plounivon, their home village.
The story is written from the third person omniscient character’s point of view. The ‘style’ refers to the in which a writer selects and arranges words to say what he or she wants to say. It includes word choice; syntax; sentence length and structure; presence and prominence of imagery. The story is blend of dialogue and prose. Use of simple sentences and proper arrangement of words make the story readable for all. The author has also made use of imageries that appeal sense of sight and sound.
f. How would you describe the conflict between the friends?
The conflict between the friends in this story arises due to lack of frankness between them. Both of them are impressed by the same girl. The girl likes Luc Le Ganidec and falls in love with him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t tell his friend about their affair. When Jean comes to know Luc is in love with the girl, he feels as betrayed by his friend and decides to kill himself by jumping into the Seine River from the Bezons bridge. Thus, Jean becomes the victim of his own inner conflict.
Reference Beyond the text
a. Is it good to have conflict between friendship and love? Is it morally good that a person and his best friend can love the same person?
It is not good to have conflict between friendship and love. Everything must be just and clear between friends. There must not be any reservation as Luc did in the story. He fell in love with the dairy maid but he kept it secret. He did not share this with his friend Jean. It was important to be shared because Jean also was impressed with the girl. For this, friends must be open to respect. If Luc had shared why he left the barracks for some hours and why he borrowed money from a friend, Jean would have chance to know about their love affair. Perhaps he might have recovered and would have made attempt to be happy with his friend’s love and happiness. At least, he might not have felt that he had been betrayed by his friend. In this story, Luc’s act of keeping his affair secret and revealing suddenly in front of his friend without prior information made his friend Jean to feel to be betrayed and made him commit suicide. Conflict in love and friendship is prone to bad results.
It is not morally acceptable to love the same girl by a person and his best friend. Love between a girl and a boy is common. Such love can have good consequences. Lovers can be turned into husband and wife but loving the same girl by two men result into accident. This is evident in the case of Jean Kerderen in the story. He is the best friend of Luc Le Ganidec. Both of them were impressed by the same girl. Luc fell in love with her but Jean imagined himself to be in love with her. His fantasy of being in love with the girl made him kill himself.
b. How would you describe the triangular love?
Triangular love, here in this story, is the love affair of the dairy maid with two little soldiers named Jean and Luc. There is real love between Luc and the dairy maid but Jean imagined himself to be in love with her. He was, in fact, in one-sided love with the dairy maid. Thus, the love affair in this story seems to be a triangular one. This triangular love story is unjust and not appropriate. Jean was in illusion, simply because he couldn’t dare to propose the girl and partly because his friend betrayed him by not talking about his love affair with the dairy maid. Both of them loved the same girl but the girl loved Luc only. Two boys pursuing the same girl or the two girls pursuing the same boy can simply be taken as the example of triangular love.
