In the bal­lad “The Two Majors” from “The Bab Bal­lads,” an insight­ful look into mil­i­tary life and the com­plex rela­tion­ships between offi­cers and their men is pre­sent­ed with both humor and a touch of irony. Major La Guerre and Major Makre­di Preper are depict­ed as the embod­i­ment of the strict yet respect­ed mil­i­tary offi­cer. Both majors are fer­vent in their lack of praise and abun­dant in their rebukes, char­ac­ter­is­tics that para­dox­i­cal­ly endear them to their sol­diers. Their shared phi­los­o­phy is that a sol­dier, wor­thy of the name, finds sat­is­fac­tion not in com­men­da­tion but in the stern dis­ci­pline and crit­i­cal assess­ment of their supe­ri­ors.

The nar­ra­tive unveils a cama­raderie and rival­ry between La Guerre and Makre­di, who, despite their harsh demeanors, share com­mon inter­ests and tastes, par­tic­u­lar­ly in their dis­dain for emp­ty praise and their love for the rig­or of mil­i­tary life. How­ev­er, the authors clev­er­ly intro­duce a twist into this tale of mil­i­tary dis­ci­pline and broth­er­hood. Both majors find them­selves cap­ti­vat­ed by the charms of Fil­lette, the vivandiere, or can­teen girl. This mutu­al affec­tion for Fil­lette intro­duces a rare dis­cord into their oth­er­wise har­mo­nious exis­tence, trans­form­ing their alliance into one of rival­ry.

This rival­ry over Fil­lette is por­trayed with a blend of wit­ti­cism and a del­i­cate allu­sion to the com­plex­i­ties of human emo­tions and desires, even among the most dis­ci­plined of men. “The Two Majors” bal­ances the glo­ri­fi­ca­tion of mar­tial val­or and the sto­ic, dis­ci­plined life of a sol­dier with the inher­ent­ly human qual­i­ties of desire, rival­ry, and the pur­suit of hap­pi­ness. Despite their hard­ened exte­ri­ors and ded­i­ca­tion to the aus­ter­i­ty of mil­i­tary life, La Guerre and Makre­di are, in the end, drawn into the quin­tes­sen­tial­ly human dra­ma of love and com­pe­ti­tion.

Woven into this bal­lad are sub­tle com­men­taries on mil­i­tary culture—valorizing the harsh­ness of com­mand and the masochis­tic plea­sure found in rep­ri­mand, while also hint­ing at the under­ly­ing lone­li­ness and unful­filled desires that such a life can engen­der. Through the tale of La Guerre and Makre­di, the bal­lad explores the theme of unat­tain­able ideals—be it in hap­pi­ness, love, or the bru­tal glo­ry of war—with a light­heart­ed tone that pro­vides both enter­tain­ment and insight into the human con­di­tion with­in the mil­i­tary ethos.