TASK: After you have read the passages and answered the multiple-choice questions, write a unified essay
about the power of friendship as revealed in Passage I and Passage II. In your essay, use ideas from both
passages to establish a central idea. Using evidence from each passage, develop your central idea and show
how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.
Outline for Dual Text Analysis Response
Paragraph I: Begin with questions that get the reader thinking about the topic which is “The Power of
Friendship.” After your questions, use T.A.G. (title, author, genre) THEN state the central idea and literary
device that will be used support your central idea. IN OTHER WORDS WHAT DO BOTH PASSSAGE I AND
PASSAGE II SAY ABOUT THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP.
Example: (Both passage one by Mathew Arnold taken from The Book of Friendship and passage two as retold
by William Russell uses symbolism to develop the central idea that one’s humanity is defined by the need to
coexist and experience human interaction/relationships.)
Paragraph II: Focus on Passage I. Present examples and explanations that support the central idea
highlighted in paragraph one. IN OTHER WORDS WHAT EXAMPLES SUPPORT YOUR CENTRAL IDEA
ABOUT THE TOPIC, THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP. As always, after you present an example, you must
explain how the example support the central idea.
Paragraph III: Focus on Passage II. Again, insert your examples and explanations from passage II that support
your central idea. IN OTHER WORDS WHAT EXAMPLES SUPPORT YOUR CENTRAL IDEA aBOUT THE
TOPIC, THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP. As always, you must explain the importance or significance of the
examples presented.
Paragraph IV: Conclude with inquiries or final thoughts. YOU MAY ALSO CHOOSE TO END WITH
INQUIRIES/QUESTIONS THAT LEAVE THE READER ABOUT THE TOPIC.
Guidelines:
Be sure to:
• Use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about reaching beyond oneself
• Use specific and relevant evidence from each passage to develop your controlling idea
• Show how each author uses specific literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, structure, point
of view) or techniques (for example: symbolism, irony, figurative language) to convey the central idea.
• Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner
• Use language that communicates ideas effectively
• Follow the conventions of standard written English
Passage I
Ah, friend, let us be true
To one another! For the world which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
— Matthew Arnold
from The Book of Friendship
Passage II
Damon and Pythias were two noble young men who lived on the island of Sicily in a city called Syracuse. They
were such close companions and were so devoted to each other that all the people of the city admired them
as the highest examples of true friendship. Each trusted the other so completely that nobody could ever have
persuaded one that the other had been unfaithful or dishonest, even if that had been the case. Now it
happened that Syracuse was, at that time, ruled by a famous tyrant named Dionysius, who had gained the
throne for himself through treachery, and who from then on flaunted his power by behaving cruelly to his own
subjects and to all strangers and enemies who were so unfortunate as to fall into his clutches. This tyrant,
Dionysius, was so unjustly cruel that once, when he awoke from a restless sleep during which he dreamt that
a certain man in the town had attempted to kill him, he immediately had that man put to death.
It happened that Pythias had, quite unjustly, been accused by Dionysius of trying to overthrow him, and for
this supposed crime of treason Pythias was sentenced by the king to die. Try as he might, Pythias could not
prove his innocence to the king’s satisfaction, and so, all hope now lost, the noble youth asked only for a few
days’ freedom so that he could settle his business affairs and see to it that his relatives would be cared for
after he was executed. Dionysius, the hardhearted tyrant, however, would not believe Pythias’s promise to
return and would not allow him to leave unless he left behind him a hostage, someone who would be put to
death in his place if he should fail to return within the stated time.
Pythias immediately thought of his friend Damon, and he unhesitatingly sent for him in this hour of dire
necessity, never thinking for a moment that his trusty companion would refuse his request. Nor did he, for
Damon hastened straightaway to the palace—much to the amazement of King Dionysius—and gladly offered
to be held hostage for his friend, in spite of the dangerous condition that had been attached to this favor.
Therefore, Pythias was permitted to settle his earthly affairs before departing to the Land of the Shades,1
while Damon remained behind in the dungeon, the captive of the tyrant Dionysius. After Pythias had been
released, Dionysius asked Damon if he did not feel afraid, for Pythias might very well take advantage of the
opportunity he had been given and simply not return at all, and then he, Damon, would be executed in his
place. But Damon replied at once with a willing smile: “There is no need for me to feel afraid, O King, since I
have perfect faith in the word of my true friend, and I know that he will certainly return before the appointed
time—unless, of course, he dies or is held captive by some evil force. Even so, even should the noble Pythias
be captured and held against his will, it would be an honor for me to die in his place.”
Such devotion and perfect faith as this was unheard of to the friendless tyrant; still, though he could not help
admiring the true nobility of his captive, he nevertheless determined that Damon should certainly be put to
death should Pythias not return by the appointed time. And, as the Fates would have it, by a strange turn of
events, Pythias was detained far longer in his task than he had imagined. Though he never for a single minute
intended to evade the sentence of death to which he had been so unjustly committed, Pythias met with
several accidents and unavoidable delays. Now his time was running out and he had yet to overcome the
many impediments that had been placed in his path. At last he succeeded in clearing away all the hindrances,
and he sped back the many miles to the palace of the king, his heart almost bursting with grief and fear that
he might arrive too late.
Meanwhile, when the last day of the allotted time arrived, Dionysius commanded that the place of execution
should be readied at once, since he was still ruthlessly determined that if one of his victims escaped him, the
other should not. And so, entering the chamber in which Damon was confined, he began to utter words of
sarcastic pity for the “foolish faith,” as he termed it, that the young man of Syracuse had in his friend. In reply,
however, Damon merely smiled, since, in spite of the fact that the eleventh hour had already arrived, he still
believed that his lifelong companion would not fail him. Even when, a short time later, he was actually led out
to the site of his execution, his serenity remained the same. Great excitement stirred the crowd that had
gathered to witness the execution, for all the people had heard of the bargain that had been struck between
the two friends. There was much sobbing and cries of sympathy were heard all around as the captive was
brought out, though he himself somehow retained complete composure even at this moment of darkest
danger. Presently the excitement grew more intense still as a swift runner could be seen approaching the
palace courtyard at an astonishing speed, and wild shrieks of relief and joy went up as Pythias, breathless and
exhausted, rushed headlong through the crowd and flung himself into the arms of his beloved friend, sobbing
with relief that he had, by the grace of the gods, arrived in time to save Damon’s life.
This final exhibition of devoted love and faithfulness was more than even the stony heart of Dionysius, the
tyrant, could resist. As the throng of spectators melted into tears at the companions’ embrace, the king
approached the pair and declared that Pythias was hereby pardoned and his death sentence canceled. In addition, he begged the pair to allow him to become their friend, to try to be as much a friend to them both as
they had shown each other to be. Thus did the two friends of Syracuse, by the faithful love they bore to each
other, conquer the hard heart of a tyrant king, and in the annals of true friendship there are no more honored
names than those of Damon and Pythias—for no person can do more than be willing to lay down his life for
the sake of his friend.
— retold by William F. Russell