Premium Essay

The Power of Friendship

In: English and Literature

Submitted By Jacquisartist101
Words 586
Pages 3
May 27, 2013
The Power of Friendship
Life is hard when you do not have any friends. Things happen and maybe you have a question to ask or need advice. A friend will sit down, listen to you, and even answer questions. If you have nobody to talk to, life gets lonely. Being alone is not fun. The books: Of Mice and Men and the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian both tell stories about friendship and loneliness. Keeping a best friend is not always easy but friendship makes life a little easier to deal with.
In the book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, the characters Lennie and George travel and work together. Lennie says, “Sure. Me an’ him goes ever’ place together” (Steinbeck 70). Friendship makes people feel good to know someone cares about them. For example, when Lennie was in trouble, he said to George, “An’ I got you. We got each other, that’s what, that gives a hoot in hell about us,” (Steinbeck 104). Even though Lennie just killed a woman, he felt good talking to his best friend that everything was going to be fine. George was like a security blanket. Losing a friend is scary. Crooks asks Lennie what it would be like if George was not around. “ A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you. I tell ya….I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick” (Steinbeck 73). Lennie gets mad at Crooks because Lennie needs George.
Many times friends depend on each other to feel stronger. Like when Arnold gets into a fight with Roger, he says, “I wish Rowdy was still my friend. I could have sent him after Rodger…...I realized how much of my self-worth, my sense of safety was based on Rowdy’s fists” (Alexie 67-68). When Arnold changed schools, Rowdy was hurt and real angry. “I mean, you have to love somebody that much to also hate them that much, too” (Alexie 191). “Best

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

The Power of Friendship

...Friendships and special relationships are apart of every human beings everyday life. We all have an unexplainable innate desire for companionship and friendship. These relationships help us get through many obstacles we can face and really make great influences. Each friendship we develop throughout our life has a unique but distinct love; the love that exists empowers the extents and the actions of each person apart of the relationship. A quote by the Grecian poet Homer that says, “The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.” explains this but how difficult it may be for us to form one’s that motivate us to perform some of the greatest deeds. Throughout The Help by Kathryn Stockett friendships and other special relationships are evident. They play an important role in the main subject of the novel and appear all throughout. They appear in this novel to display how powerful and necessary friendships are. This theme is also evident in many artifacts of popular culture; one for example is the hit song “Umbrella” by pop star Rihanna. This song was created to express her loyalty to her friends and guarantee their protection no matter the circumstance. In both The Help and “Umbrella” the use of the theme of friendship was used to communicate the immense love and loyalty that exists within friendships and express the true power both this love and loyalty holds. In The Help relationships constantly appear like the one that exists between...

Words: 1444 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Aristotle

...The Three Types of Friendship If there is one thing that can be used to describe human beings aside from intelligence and the power of destruction it would be that we are entirely social beings. No person is to live a life without being social. It merely would be impossible and for those who do find themselves in the state of rejecting society and a social lifestyle, it would be those who have psychological disorders. With us being social it leads to the search of companionship. The reality is that we all want friendships. According to the great Greek philosopher Aristotle, we are complete social beings and seek friendship. Aristotle argues that there are three main kinds of friendship. The first kind of friendship is that one based on Utility. What is a friendship based on usefulness? I would describe a friendship based on utility as being for one that gets something in return for another’s actions. For example, if there is someone at school that always gets great grades on exams and for that reason I befriend that person in return to get help on my exams and the other person accepts if I drive them home from school, it builds as a friendship based on convenience. This friendship only exists because the individuals involved have a reason to do something for each other. Aristotle believes this friendship doesn't work and won't last. I highly agree for the reason that once the favors and usefulness of the other person fails to comply the friendship will eventually dissolve...

Words: 1012 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Esaay

...Friendship exists everywhere in the world around and most of them are very complex. Sometimes in every friendship there is sacrifice. In Ann Brashares novel, ‘Forever in Blue’ there is a perfect demonstration of friendship and the power it has to make a difference in someone’s life. The relationship between the four main characters, Lena, Carmen, Tibby, and Bridget, is a strong one and they all share a special bond between one another. They all depend on one another and rely on each other. There are three instances where this general theme appears in the book. When Tibby has no idea of what she should do next and then Lena arrives to comfort her. Another instance would be when Carmen is at her opening night and she thinks that no one is there to support her and then she sees her three best friends in the front row and she suddenly feels jubilant. The final situation where you see the power of friendship is when Lena finds out that the Traveling Pants are gone. She then decides to go to Greece to find them and to her surprise, there are her friends waiting to go with her. These four characters are the perfect example about friendship and the power it possess. In the novel, you can already tell that one of the main characters, Tibby, has been through a lot in life and that she has this kind of resentment towards people that aren’t her friends. So it is good that she has them to keep her grounded. In the novel, Tibby has a problem. She thinks that she is pregnant causing a major...

Words: 978 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Friendship

...Friendships Friendship Life is so short that we need someone to share our thoughts and feelings. Definitely, a thought would arise in our mind asking who it could be whom we can trust so closely. Answer might be who someone closes to you, but who? Parents, brother, sister…..! Apparently, it hardly comes to anyone’s mind a “true friend”. You are no nearer to true friendship than if you choose them for commercial reason. Besides who are you that you should be setting a price upon your friendship? It is enough for any man that he has the divine power of making friends, and he must leave it to that power of making friends. In this essay I will try to give my points of view toward friendship. Friends are essential in our life just as food is essential for living. Moreover, it is essential to determine their friendship as we analyze the contents of the food before we eat. Friends and their friendship play a great role in everyone’s life. It is a gift that we offer because we must; to give it as the reward of virtue would be to set a price upon it, and those who do that have no friendship to give. We would meet a lot of people in our life, from those we choose friends and among those, we make our best friend. What is best friend then; regardless we wouldn’t know how the friendship is going to be? From my point of view friends are those who help you in every step of life. Famous writer John Haren wrote a phrase in a book titled True Friendship, “When you are in delight happiness...

Words: 519 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Study Questions

...2 Sides of Power Sam Pinsky Patrick Halpenny Wednesday November 13th, 2013 ENG4U Power is a very vague terminology. Power is like a disease, very epidemics. Power can be a success or a failure, depending on the individual. Power in the right hands creates justice. Power in the wrong hands creates injustices. It corrupts human feelings and converts friends into enemies, therefore having power in the wrong hands succeeds in persuading one, using the power in a cruel and oppressive way. In the novel "Kindred", written by Octavia Butler, the novel presents revolving themes like power corruption of emotion, friendship and racism.Most of the times possessing the power can destroy the freedom of others. Power corrupts human feelings. Whenever an individual achieves the power, one becomes a different person. Rufus, the main character in the novel, possessed the power after his father's death. He became very possessive, even to Dana. The first time when Rufus met Dana he had a good reputation and liked her very much. Later on as he became mature and powerful his friendship to Dana changed to possessive love. He became very jealous of Kevin and was eager to kill him. Whenever Dana asked if he had received a response from Kevin, he would deny it. That did not last long, she soon found out that Rufus betrayed her. ->quote This shows that power can corrupt human emotions entirely. Power can turn allies into enemies. Friendship can last for...

Words: 484 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Friendship Baptist Church

...Case Study-Friendship Baptist Church-Organizational Diagnosis and Recommendations Friendship Baptist Church is a religious non-profit established in 1976 in the city of Merced, California. Its origin was sparked by an inter-organizational conflict within the Greater St. Matthews Baptist church. With fifteen original members, Friendship Baptist church began. Today, it has a membership of approximately sixty-five (65) members. The Leader of the non-profit is, by default, the Pastor. There has been a total of four pastors including the current pastor. The longest tenue of the leaders has been ten years, so a lack of stability within the leadership has always been an issue. All organizational power has traditionally been in the office of the Pastor....

Words: 1243 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Friendship

...Li Ran 1530805013 Friendship Our lives and works are inseparable from the friendship in the daily life. Friendship gives our great spiritual power to overcome the difficulties. However, it seemed that people forgot to maintain the established friendship and friendship's objective conditions, because the friendship is too common for us. Actually, friendship is not unconditional. Initially, while making friends , a large number of people tend to choose those who are similar to them, and prefer those have a good quality. People are not willing to get to know a murderer or a bad person. In most cases, people with the same background and knowledge are more likely to make friendships between each other. A established friend also is conditional. It needs the both sides of the friendship to a positive attitude and make joint efforts to maintain this friendship. Both sides are able to benefit from this friendship. In some people's minds, friendship is unconditional, they are willing to pay for any person in the world. When the friendship to a certain extent, the unilateral pay will happen. They don't want to be able to get what they want, they are willing to give, and often we call them true friendship. Friendship has many kinds, some is the last ditch, and some friendship is will never disappear in life. It even need nothing to maintain, just a word, they are your best friend regardless distance time. Friends like stars, you will not always see them, but you know they are there. It...

Words: 282 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Freak The Mighty Theme Essay

...other are the best of friends. They go on quests and always stick together. The friendship between the two main characters is a bond that changed their lives and when Freak the Mighty was formed everything changed....

Words: 570 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Themes Revealed In S. E. Hilton's 'The Outsiders'

...In the book The Outsiders , written by S.E. Hilton, the Greasers are discriminated against by the Socs because they are labeled by the Socs as worthless. Ponyboy is trying to be himself but the Socs make it difficult. The Socs give him a lot of trouble but the gang always has his back. The three topics addressed in the novel are the power of friendship, the fight between rich and poor, and what it means to be a hero. First, the novel focuses on the theme of the power of friendship and how Ponyboy knows that he had the support of his family and gang. For example,“We ran into the darkness"(62). This shows, that Ponyboy and and Johnny went together instead of separating, which shows their friendship. Also, Ponyboy didn’t even need to go with Johnny because Johnny was the one that killed bob, but he went because Johnny saved his life. In addition,”I hadn’t realized Johnny had been right behind me all the way."(92) This displays that Johnny went right behind Ponyboy without even...

Words: 774 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Analysis Of The Outsiders, By S. E. Hinton

...In the book The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, a group of boys are attempting to defend themselves from their enemies while going about in their daily lives. The novel focused on a boy named Ponyboy Curtis and his journey in his neighborhood trying to survive the fight against the socs. He deals with this constantly with his brothers and the other members of the greaser gang. The three topics addressed in this fascinating novel are the journey from youth to adulthood, the power of friendship and the fight between the rich and poor. First, the story shows significance to the journey from youth to adulthood. “They had me down in a second. They had my arms and legs pinned down and one of them was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows, and if you don’t think that hurts, you’re crazy” (5). This is important because it shows that Ponyboy needs to learn how to take care of himself in the outside world, especially when the socs are after people like him. After, the socs jumped...

Words: 596 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Psychology

...Psychology of Women Study Guide for Second Exam Fall 2014 You are responsible for everything discussed in lecture unless I note otherwise. You are responsible for the material in the text unless I specifically state below that the material will not be covered on the exam. Carefully review the take home points in each chapter. Keep in mind that most gender differences are small and that there is a great deal of overlap between women and men. Thus, when I ask about differences, it is in the context of many similarities and small mean differences. Chapter 7: Communication The text provides 3 reasons why children prefer to play with others of the same sex. Be familiar with them. How do girls tend to play with each other in same sex groups? How do boys tend to play with each other in same sex groups? How do girls tend to talk to each other in same sex groups? How do boys tend to talk to each other in same sex groups? What -- if anything -- is different in children’s cross sex play and talk compared to same sex play and talk? Are girls more likely than boys to engage in relational aggression? What do meta-analysis findings suggest? What gender similarities and differences have been found in how adults interact? What factors determine what types of differences are found? You are not responsible for the section discussing online communication (p. 229). The text provides a long list of differences in how men and women in the US typically use...

Words: 2408 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Plot, Theme, and Style in Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia

...different conflicts and rise and fall action. II. Endearing friendship is the primary and explicit theme of Bridge to Terabithia. III. Paterson’s writing style genuinely enhances the story as she makes use of a third-person limited point of view, figurative language, a colloquial and understated tone and an Appalachian dialect for a realistic effect. Katherine Paterson’s, 1977 award winning novel, Bridge to Terabithia, is a deeply moving, imagination-sparking tale. This young adult fiction novel takes place in a magical kingdom that was created out of the minds of the two unforgettable child protagonists, Jess and Leslie. Through Paterson’s use of literary elements such as: plot, theme, and style, the reader comes to understand and marvel at the benevolence and devotion of youthful friendship, and the power and magic of the imagination. Bridge to Terabithia is a commendable, heartwarming, eloquently written book that well deserves the designation of “one of the most timeless and classical books ever written.” Paterson’s plot is a progressive sequence of events, mixed with several different conflicts and rise and fall action. Bridge to Terabithia’s plot begins its rise with a person vs. society conflict as Jess and Leslie quickly become best friends while trying to deal with a world that oftentimes does not understand them. Shortly after, the person vs. man is encountered as Jess and Leslie's friendship is strengthened by their encounters with a schoolyard bully...

Words: 1248 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Friendship

...Friendship is the divine feeling or relationship between friends. Friendships developed ultimately and required to be maintained with care. Men can’t live without friend and real friendship could be a great support for one’s life. Friendship is simply a divine relationship based on feelings and understanding. It’s not ordinary social or official affair between people but a divine feelings and care based on mutual trust, affection and support. A true friendship is developed ultimately; sometimes relationship could be established for earthly benefits but that is not really considered friendship. A real friendship does not aim any worldly interests rather spiritual and based on share and care between friends. A relationship required to be reciprocal to turn into friendship. That is friendship between two people or among several people, only develops when they all loves, understands and trust one another equally. Successful friendship only established provided taste, feeling and sentiments of friends are same or common. A friendly relationship between people with strictly different outlook and view is almost impossible. A friendship turns stronger with care and maintenance. In the same way disrespect towards it fade and destroy it away. Friends must be sincere and loyal towards one another. One should not show vanity and power over his/her friends. Friends must bare a sense of equity in mind. Friendship with disparity doesn’t last very long. Real friend be always with his/her...

Words: 459 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Social Network Film Essay

...one yet a failure. After Eduardo's big financial contributions to Facebook, they decide to expand. Their expansion makes the co-founder of Napster, Sean Parker, become interested in their new website. Mark takes Sean's advice while Eduardo tries to find advertisement in New York City. At the Facebook Celebration Party, Eduardo is notified that his shares of the company have been diluted from 34% to 0.03%. At the end of the film, Sean Parker and some of Facebook's interns are arrested for having possession of cocaine. Between Mark, Sean, and Eduardo's interest, the friendship among everyone seemed to become worse. The Social Network indicates that differences among best friends can ruin their friendship. I agree that differences among best friends can weaken or end their friendship because my experience with my best friend confirms it. First, I agree that differences among best friends can weaken or end friendships because of arguments. The opening scene of the film shows Mark and Erica at the Thirsty Polar Pub conversing about final clubs and later they get into an argument. The argument begins because Mark tells Erica that she needs to be supportive because if he gets in a final club, he will be taking her to events or gatherings and she will be meeting people she wouldn't normally get to meet. The argument results in Erica breaking up with Mark. According to the film, Erica states "I think we should just be friends", but Mark states "I don't want friends." Then, Erica states...

Words: 957 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How to Bully-Proof Young Girls

...about it with anyone, but she took that to heart as being her problem and really was silent for a while. This problem began influencing their future life. Common misperception that is only happens when light in middle school and high school. The reality is that the roots are all in elementary school. Girls as young as kindergarten are facing significant social challenges without the resources, without the tools and most important, without the support to best manage them. Many girls are facing friendship struggles alone and various degrees of social cruelty. Parents think that use their own way to solve problem. But the problem is, for the girls themselves; it's isolating them further, because it's basically saying to them, "This is your problem to figure out by yourself. Among young kids, bully case is more common among girls compare with boy, because girls more often use social power to have influence over their peers, and boys more often use physical intimidation to have power over their peers. Teachers, guidance counselors, principals, social workers — there are a slew of people in these school districts whose purpose is to help kids learn. For parents, to reach out to get more knowledge and more support are so beneficial to their child. The public and permanent nature of the acts today — because of social-networking sites, technology and the Internet — make it very real for these kids since everyone is involved. This behavior peaks around middle school and...

Words: 354 - Pages: 2