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Dennis Nguyen January 3, 2009 English 3/Period 6 Friendship “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.” This quote is from the beginning of a passage called “Friendship”, which was written by a transcendentalist named Emerson. In this passage, he writes about his views on friendship and how honesty plays an important role in everyone around him. The subject of friendship that Emerson writes about, in general, can be related to the transcendentals of self-reliance and individualism. A person that patiently evaluates themselves on their own thoughts of friendship would come to realize that Emerson right, even though some emotions that Emerson expresses may seem harsh. One of the main places where friendship is always thriving is right at school. At school, there are different races, styles, ideas, likes and dislikes. Some people have different hair styles, clothing trends, and even speech styles. Some people could be a popular jock among the crowd, a silent bookworm, a school jester, an unlucky nerd, or a mean bully. At some point, stereotyping comes in to play and people start to assume the personality and character of someone judged by their appearance e.g. Asians are smart, people who wear glasses are nerdy and football players are dumb. The main point of this is that some people may act differently in public than how they normally act at home to become socially accepted. Home for a person is symbolized as place of security and privacy. Everything is familiar to their lifestyle since birth. Then at school, since there are 1 Nguyen 2 many different cliques, a person may change or pretend to be someone else to fit in. “We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds….” In this quote, Emerson explains that people tend to hide their true feelings in the presence of company. Friendship within school can either greatly help a person’s education or destroy it completely. Every parent worries about their child social life at school. They worry whether their child has friends or not. If their child has friends, then they wonder if they’re the right type of friends. One of the big factors of influence, beside parents, comes from friends. To find out the personality of somebody, one should evaluate their friends. “I, who see nothing in nature whose existence I can affirm with equal evidence to my own, behold now the semblance of my being, in all its height, variety, and curiosity, reiterated in a foreign form; so that a friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” Emerson says that the friends we keep, reflect ourselves. In other words, if someone were to have friends that smoke and do drugs, it is most likely that he/she would also participate in drug use and thus, cause them to fail academically. I believe what Emerson is saying is true. The more we stay with someone, the more it seems that their habits and attitudes are natural. Then we tend to pick up on those characteristics without even knowing it. If we were to have friends that believed that school is important, then we’ll be influenced to believe the same. It may change one’s life depending on who they accept as friends. When a person talks or acts as if they’re someone else and not who they really are, then it is considered as a form of hypocrisy. Emerson mentions this in his passage. “Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.” He is Nguyen 3 saying that a man alone is honest. A man in the presence of another person acts differently. I believe this thought to be very true. Some would say that they act the same both alone and in public, but with deep thought, that’s not true. While making a living, we tend to act better than we really are. A person who is normally lazy would say that they’re a hard worker when it comes to a job interview. They may say that they’re a hard worker because that is what they want to be and they don’t realize that it is not who they really are. That is why a true friend is very important. A friend is a person who speaks honestly, acts truthfully, and accepts people the way they are. A friend like this would surely have another friend reach their own goal and overcome any weaknesses. “But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity but me.” Emerson explains that a friend is a person that doesn’t challenge another’s mind and fake exterior, but their inner being. “My friend gives me entertainment without requiring me to stoop, or to lisp, or to mask myself.” This supports the idea that friends will always be a friend around a person who acts truthfully. Friends like this help make a living because working as a team is always and usually the best method of working together. Since a friend knows the true behavior of another, it is easier to work as one. The friend could help think of new ideas, decide on difficult matters, and protection. Emerson is right about this view on friendship also. The factors that he mentions really do make up a true friend. Even though Emerson’s explanation of friendship may seem a bit harsh and extreme, it’s still very true. To make many new friends, people change and alter their appearance and personality to be socially accepted in their certain group of interest. Friends reflect the characteristics and personality of their friend’s self. Friends are those Nguyen 4 that challenge the true being of their friend, not their mind. The way that Emerson explains about his view on the true nature of friendship and the people change to make friendship are very real. It is all very real in today’s world.