There’s a boyhood friend of Georg who is in a foreign country. They keep contact with each other through mails, but I don’t think their relationship is that close because they even don’t know the real thoughts and they just talk about something insignificant. As for the friend, he doesn’t know the change of Georg. On the other hand, Georg doesn’t really want his friend to know much about his recent situation to avoid to hurt his friend.
The experiences between the friend and Georg are totally different. The friend is single and doesn’t have much contact with neither the local colony of his compatriots nor the native families. In contrast, Georg has a fiancé and is going to marry with her. As for business, the friend’s business has a bad fate. However, Georg’s business is booming and develops rapidly.
Georg hesitates all the time whether tells the friend that he is going to marry with a girl from a well-to-do family. His hesitation or say the existence of the friend threatens the relationship between Georg and his fiancé because his fiancé feels offended and doesn’t think Georg should have an engagement with her if the feeling of the friend is more important than hers. Also, the existence of the friend threatens the relationship between Georg and his father, and results in the outbreak of the fight between them.
The dissatisfaction and doubt of Frieda is an opportunity for Georg to face with his heart and to think about what would be the right way to treat with his friend.
I think the reason why Frieda feels offended is that she disagrees with the uncandid way how Georg treat with his friend. She may think if Georg can’t be frank to his friend, he won’t be frank to me either. The words that Georg tells himself are important because Georg tries to face with his heart at the moment and prepares to tell the truth to his friend straightforward. This is the moment that Georg changes.
After reading this story, I don’t think the friend really exist. I believe the friend is another side of Georg, which Georg fears and doesn’t want to face, which are the pressure and power from his father, loneliness, and failure. After the argument with his father, Georg finally collapses and choose to kill himself.