Friends Make the Man Essay

The influence of friends is of massive enormousness in the novel Cry, the Beloved Country. Without his friends encouraging him, Absalom would most likely neer sacrifice tried to rob Arthur Jarvis house, and he certainly would not afford accidentally shot Arthur. Absalom said it himself when he told his father, It was bad companions. The reader is repeatedly reminded of this one condemning mistake choosing bad friends results in dangerous activities. some other example of this message is the mother of Absaloms child. Growing up, her family was practically nonextant and it can be assumed that she didnt have great friends to mount and strengthen her. Instead, she always kept a musical composition in her bread and butter and ended up the mother of a child out of labor union with the father sentenced to death. If helpful family and friends had been available, her bread and butter would most likely have changed for the better.thither are bad friends, nonexistent friends, but wha t just about the good friends? These are the ones Kumalo kept. He do it clear what kind of friends he chose when he was sermon to Absalom, You mean they were the kind of friends that a good soldiery could choose, upright, hard-working, obeying the law? Msimangu was but this kind of friend. Instead of just looking out for himself, he oft put Kumalos well-being before his own. This man truly cared about others, a rare and wonderful quality. As if being there for Kumalo and service of process him pick out with Absaloms incarceration in any way he could wasnt enough, he gave Kumalo a large sum of money to supersede all that was spent while trying to find and help Absalom. Msimangu was plainly the epitome of a loving, caring, true friend.Of course, a friend doesnt have to be a living, breathing, walking, talking person. Friendship can be represent in something as simple as words written. Even subsequently his death, Arthur Jarvis words reached out to comfort and impact his fa therJames Jarvis. Arthurs words became a friend to his father to help James deal with his death and instigate a change in his view of the world. Those conservatively chosen words eventually lead to James helping the nation of Ixopo improve their lives.Other friendships that were formed and resulted in colossal changes are mingled with Kumalo and James Jarvis as well as Kumalo and Arthur Jarvis son. The friendship between Kumalo and Arthurs son was mainly responsible for the help that James sent. Kumalo and the boy were link up through the boys curiosity about the Zulu language, but because they spoke, the boy discovered the troubles of Ixopo and sought a way to resolve them. James and Kumalos friendship literally saved Kumalos livelihood. Without that connection, Kumalo would have been sent forth from the only town he has known and loved. It would have destroyed him. He belonged in Ixopo and Ixopo belonged with him.Friends rightly make the man, whether for good or for bad. Kum alos friends made him more successful and lifted him up. Conversely, the mother of Absaloms child was damaged by the lack of a strong base of good friends. Absalom, unfortunately, had his life decimated by his choice to trust the wrong friends. Friends can make the man kinder or meaner, wiser or more foolish. In Absaloms case, friends made the man dead.