About Loyalty

Loyalty is one of the most admirable traits of human nature, when one person is devoted to the other and tries to help them in times of need. Of course, sometimes, two people can be loyal to each other. There are 4 notable works that contain themes of loyalty in each other. In O’Henry’s After Twenty Years, two friends part ways for twenty years and reunite with each other, one of them becoming a criminal and the other a police officer. The officer is forced to choose between his friend and the law, and sends a colleague to arrest him instead of doing it himself. In Rene Saldana Jr’s The Good Samaritan, Rey is taken advantage of by a man named Mr. Sanchez, but chooses to help him when his car breaks down, because Mr. Sanchez is the father of his friend. In Langston Hughes’ Thank You, M’am, a boy robs a woman named Mrs. Jones, but is, instead of being beaten, was cared for by the woman. In Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman, a young woman sacrifices her life to save her lover, who was being chased by the authorities.

Anybody can have or feel loyalty towards another, regardless of age, gender, or vocation. In After Twenty Years, the two men were perhaps middle aged when they met up after two decades without contact. Despite almost forgetting what the other was like, they both honored their promise to meet up at a certain location and could have chosen to forsake the other, but didn’t. In The Good Samaritan, Rey was loyal to both his inner sense of morality and to Mr. Sanchez. He was taken advantage of, but rather than listen to his feelings, he did what was right. In Thank You, M’am, Mrs. Jones demonstrated a similar sense of loyalty to morality, when she helped Roger in need, despite him attempting to rob her at the beginning of the story. In The Highwayman, the highwayman and Bess demonstrated loyalty to each other, when the former promised to come back to meet up with her and the latter sacrificed her own life in order to allow the former to get away. All of these characters showed a sense of loyalty, almost always to another individual.

There are many types of loyalty which can be classified based on how it is expressed, and the target of the loyalist. In After Twenty Years, Jimmy became a police officer but refused to arrest his friend, who was a criminal and sent another officer to do it as he didn’t want to betray his former companion. He demonstrated loyalty to both law and order and to his friend by not arresting him himself. In The Good Samaritan, Rey was loyal to his friend’s father(Mr. Sanchez) and to his sense of morality. In Thank You, M’am, Mrs. Jones was also loyal to her moral compass and resisted her initial feelings of anger and demonstrated loyalty to Roger. In The Highwayman, Bess and her lover demonstrate loyalty solely to each other, as Bess risked her life for her lover and the highwayman was enraged by her death. All of these characters demonstrated loyalty to either another individual or to their morality and conscience, and Jimmy in the first story also showed loyalty to the law.

Often, we have to choose between loyalty to one person/entity or another, and the decision all comes out to whom we have a stronger sense of loyalty. In After Twenty Years, Jimmy Wells had to choose between loyalty towards his friend, who was a criminal, and loyalty to the law, for he was a police officer. Ultimately, he fulfilled his duty to both as he sent another policeman to arrest him, so that he wouldn’t have to do it himself. In The Good Samaritan, Rey wanted to leave Mr. Sanchez to teach him a lesson, but overcame that intention, as he was more loyal to his conscience. In Thank You, M’am, Mrs. Jones also had to suppress similar thoughts, as when she initially wanted to report him to the police for attempting to rob her. In The Highwayman, Bess had to choose between the love of her life, or her own survival, and she chose the Highwayman over herself. The highwayman, upon hearing of her death, chose to commit suicide to be with her again. There are often obstacles in the way of loyalty.

Loyalty is an honorable human trait and is when one person is devoted to another. In four stories by various authors, the theme of loyalty is developed by the actions of characters. In After Twenty Years, two friends parted ways for two decades and reunited. One of them became a policeman and the other a criminal, so the police officer sent a colleague to arrest his friend, thus fulfilling loyalty to both the law and to his friend. In The Good Samaritan, a boy is taken advantage of by a neighbor, but still chooses to help him when he is in trouble, showing loyalty to his conscience. In Thank You, M’am, Mrs. Jones was almost robbed by a boy. Despite his wrongs, she took care of him, and demonstrated loyalty to morals. In The Highwayman, an innkeeper’s daughter sacrificed herself to warn her boyfriend, a highwayman, that the authorities were coming, and both of them died. These characters all either demonstrate loyalty to their conscience, or to another person.