Two Soldiers

by William Faulkner

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, American

Audio Cassette

First published January 30, 1942

About the author

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer. He is best known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in for Lafayette County where he spent most of his life. A Nobel laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and often is considered the greatest writer of Southern literature.
Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, and raised in Oxford, Mississippi. During World War I, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, but did not serve in combat. Returning to Oxford, he attended the University of Mississippi for three semesters before dropping out. He moved to New Orleans, where he wrote his first novel Soldiers' Pay (1925). He went back to Oxford and wrote Sartoris (1927), his first work set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. In 1929, he published The Sound and the Fury. The following year, he wrote As I Lay Dying. Later that decade, he wrote Light in August, Absalom, Absalom! and The Wild Palms. He also worked as a screenwriter, contributing to Howard Hawks's To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel. The former film, adapted from Ernest Hemingway's novel, is the only film with contributions by two Nobel laureates.
Faulkner's reputation grew following publication of Malcolm Cowley's The Portable Faulkner, and he was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his powerful and unique contribution to the modern American novel." He is the only Mississippi-born Nobel laureate. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and The Reivers (1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Faulkner died from a heart attack on July 6, 1962, following a fall from his horse the month before. Ralph Ellison called him "the greatest artist the South has produced".

Reviews

[Connie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet, sentimental short story about two close brothers in rural Mississippi when Pearl Harbor was bombed. The nine-year-old wants to go with the older twenty-year-old brother when he goes to enlist in the army. It shows the older brother making his own decisions as a young man, and a strong brotherly love between the siblings.

[Diana ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Que bonito libro!
Me alegro demasiado que lo leyéramos en el colegio, es una historia mega cortita que te hace sentir tanto en tan poquitas páginas.

La pluma del autor me parece demasiado buena, como refleja no solo la edad del protagonista, sino también su estatus social.

No esperaba mucho de la historia pero me dejo demasiado sorprendida, como poco a poco se ve el tema de la aceptación del protagonista hacía la decisión que toma su hermano mayor, Pete, ante la guerra, es demasiado fuerte.

Amé con todo mi corazón a Pete, su relación con el narrador y su papel en la familia se me hace muy bonita.
Me gusta como desde el inicio se ve que es diferente a los hombres de la época.

Spoiler: Me sorprende más cuando besa la cabeza de su hermano, creo que este fue el momento donde todo cambia, ya que vemos como los soldados se quedan conmovidos por la escena, vemos como el niño acepta la decisión y se va a su casa. Definitivamente me dolió leer eso y no voy a superar ese momento.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely short story about two brothers. The oldest is going off to war and the youngest wants to go along. He can carry wood and fetch water as he keeps saying hoping to convince the higher ups to let him go along.

I got very teary when the oldest kissed the youngest goodbye. This was just so sweet but I also felt some dread. There was constant mention that the oldest was being deployed to Pearl Harbor and that’s the cause of my dread because I picture him arriving and then dying there.

[Lloyd Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two brothers (20 and 8) in rural Mississippi when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Pete, the elder, takes the bus to Memphis to enlist. That night little brother climbs out the window, walks 22 miles to Jefferson , and catches a bus to Memphis. He finds Pete who convinces him to go home to take care of maw and his 10 acres -- how can a little brother refuse the call to manhood and the call to to serve his revered big brother. Lovely sentimental story about brotherly love.

[Toby Triplett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not among my favorite Faulkner reads, but it was good.

[Zoë Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Dare I say…endearing ?

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished “Two Soldiers” by William Faulkner. One of the better shorts that I have read for my OLLI class.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little mawkish for my taste.

[Ashlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very sad story, but very symbolic as well. It's a story about a boy and his older brother and how they spend all day together listening to some old mans radio or cutting wood to help their father who is behind. One day after news of the war spreading and getting worse, the older brother decides to leave the family home and fight. The younger brother (who is 11 I think, can't remember) doesn't understand why he can't come with to aid his brother. One day after the brother leaves, the brave little brothers finds a a way to follow him and catches up with his brother right before his brother leaves to head to war. The older brother says he has to go home and take care of their parents, and by the end of the book the full weight of the situation sinks onto the young brothers shoulders and he begins to cry. Short story, but very powerful.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Faulkner has always been one of my favorite authors. This funny, sweet, and sad short story is about a young boy trying to join the Army, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, to be with his older brother that he had been very close to his whole life.

[Vivek Anand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chanced upon this short story some years back. Even today, I can recall some lines from memory. Maybe because we are two brothers.