True captured during the war, struggles to
True friendship involves a relationship with the foundation of mutual trust and accountability. In this equation, the happiness and well-being of the other person are as important as one’s own. It is both exciting and challenging. This life story begins with two brave people ready to sacrifice anything for each other. Every friendship is tested during hard times. They struggle, but only the strongest bond gets through it, making the connection everlasting, until death.
Friendship in due course becomes unbreakable. No force in the world is strong enough to dislodge the bond between two old friends. A comment from Leonard Wright, in this context, is relevant: “As old wood is best to burn, old horse to ride, old books to read, and old wine to drink, so are old friends always most trusted to use”. This theme of friendship and sacrifice is illustrated in The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein and ….
While highlighting the heroic stories of women during world war II, Kristin Hannah portrays the strong bond of friendship during adversities, in her historical fiction, The Nightingale. In one of her interviews she comments, “This novel is a beautiful portrait of two women against this dark and terrifying backdrop that sort of ultimately reaffirms the power of love and friendship. The resiliency of human being is to care for each other and to rise to challenges when they are presented” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCw2wUSHu84). The protagonist of the novel, Vianne who is living under tough conditions, with her husband captured during the war, struggles to survive and provide for herself and her daughter.
When her best friend Rachel is sent to a concentration camp, she endangers her family by adopting her three-year-old Jewish son, despite a German Solider residing in her house. She is constantly tortured by this soldier, but chooses to endure the mental and physical trauma, for sake of protecting the two children she is now taking care of. She thus sacrifices herself proving her loyalty and true friendship.
