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What is a Good Thesis Statement for Friendship: A Guide!

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What Is A Good Thesis Statement For Friendship

Key Takeaway

Friendship and the role of thesis statements, definition of friendship.

Friendship is a special bond that forms between individuals who share a deep connection, trust, and mutual understanding.

It goes beyond basic acquaintanceship and is characterized by support, loyalty, and companionship.

True friends are there for each other during both good times and bad, offering a listening ear, advice, and emotional support.

  • Friendship is a unique relationship based on trust and understanding.
  • It involves support, loyalty, and companionship.
  • True friends are there for each other during both good times and bad.

Importance Of Thesis Statements In Academic Writing

In academic writing, a thesis statement plays a crucial role in conveying the main argument or focus of the paper.

It serves as a roadmap for the reader, highlighting the key points and providing a clear direction for the overall structure of the essay.

  • A thesis statement informs the reader about the main argument of the paper.
  • It provides guidance and structure for the essay.
  • A well-crafted thesis statement helps the writer stay focused and organized throughout the writing process.

How Thesis Statements Aid In Conveying The Main Argument

A thesis statement acts as a concise summary of the main argument or position that the writer is putting forth in their paper.

It serves as a central idea that the rest of the essay revolves around, ensuring coherence and clarity.

Additionally, a strong and well-developed thesis statement helps the reader understand the purpose of the essay and what to expect from the ensuing content.

  • A thesis statement provides a concise summary of the main argument.
  • It ensures coherence and clarity in the essay.
  • A strong thesis statement helps the reader understand the purpose and direction of the essay.

Creating A Focused And Coherent Essay

By incorporating a well-crafted thesis statement, writers can ensure that their essays are focused and coherent.

This allows for a logical progression of ideas and prevents the essay from becoming disjointed or confusing.

A solid thesis statement also enables the writer to stay on track and avoid unnecessary digressions, resulting in a more effective and persuasive piece of writing.

  • A thesis statement helps maintain focus and coherence in an essay.
  • It allows for a logical progression of ideas.
  • A well-developed thesis statement prevents the essay from becoming disjointed or confusing.

Craft A Strong Thesis Statement: Tips For Success

  • Clearly state your main argument or position on the topic.
  • Be specific and concise in your statement.
  • Avoid vague language or generalizations.
  • Ensure that your thesis statement is arguable and not a mere statement of fact.
  • Tailor your thesis statement to the scope of your essay.
  • Revise and refine your thesis statement as you develop your essay.

What Makes A Good Thesis Statement For Friendship?

Exploring the key elements of a strong thesis statement.

A strong thesis statement serves as the backbone of an essay, guiding the reader on what to expect from the content.

When it comes to crafting a good thesis statement for friendship, there are several key elements to consider:

  • Clarity: The thesis statement should clearly state the main argument or point of view on friendship. This provides a clear direction for the essay and helps the reader understand the writer’s stance.
  • Conciseness: It is important to keep the thesis statement concise and to the point. It should convey the main idea without being overly wordy or vague.
  • Specificity: A strong thesis statement for friendship should not be too broad or general. Instead, it should focus on a specific aspect or perspective of friendship that will be explored in the essay.
  • Controversial or debatable: A good thesis statement should spark interest and invite discussion. It is important to avoid stating something that is universally accepted, as this would not generate much interest or engagement among readers.

Applying Those Elements To Friendship As The Topic

Friendship, a fundamental aspect of human relationships, can be analyzed with the help of a robust thesis statement that incorporates the aforementioned elements.

Here are some considerations when applying those elements to friendship:

  • Clarity: The thesis statement should clearly present the writer’s viewpoint on friendship. It should address what friendship means and its significance in people’s lives.
  • Conciseness: Keep the thesis statement brief and to the point. Avoid unnecessary elaboration or vague language that could confuse the reader.
  • Specificity: Instead of solely focusing on the general idea of friendship, narrow down the topic to explore a specific aspect, such as the benefits, challenges, or qualities of true friendship.
  • Controversial or debatable: Formulate the thesis statement in a way that invites discussion and differing opinions. This could involve exploring whether true friendship can withstand conflicts or analyzing the impact of digital connections on traditional friendships.

Crafting A Thesis Statement That Captures The Essence Of Friendship

Crafting a compelling thesis statement requires capturing the essence of friendship in a clear and thought-provoking manner.

Here is an example:

“True friendship transcends boundaries, nurturing personal growth, providing unwavering support, and standing the test of time. “

This thesis statement encapsulates the key elements of a strong thesis statement for friendship. It is clear, concise, specific, and presents a debatable viewpoint on the significance and characteristics of true friendship.

Remember, a good thesis statement sets the tone for the entire essay, making it essential to invest time and effort into developing a strong and engaging statement that will captivate the reader’s attention.

The Impact Of Friendship On Personal Development

Examining how friendship shapes one’s identity.

Friendship plays a significant role in shaping one’s identity, influencing their beliefs, values, and overall perception of the world.

Here are some key points to consider:

  • Friends act as mirrors, reflecting back our strengths, weaknesses, and attitudes, thus helping us better understand ourselves.
  • Through shared experiences and conversations, friends challenge our assumptions and broaden our perspectives, encouraging personal growth.
  • The qualities we admire in our friends often inspire us to cultivate those qualities within ourselves.
  • Friends provide a social framework where we can explore our true selves, free from judgment or societal expectations.
  • The support and validation received from friends help us develop a positive self-image and boost our self-esteem.

Analyzing The Influence Of Friendship On Personal Growth And Self-Discovery

Friendship has a profound impact on personal growth and self-discovery.

Consider the following points:

  • Friends offer guidance, helping us navigate life’s challenges and providing invaluable advice.
  • Engaging in deep conversations and exchanging ideas with friends helps us develop critical thinking skills and understanding of different perspectives.
  • Friends encourage us to step outside of our comfort zones, pushing us to explore new interests and discover hidden talents.
  • Through friendship, we learn about empathy, compassion, and the importance of genuine connections with others.
  • The emotional support provided by friends during difficult times contributes to our resilience and overall personal development.

The Role Of Friendship In Cultivating Empathy, Understanding, And Emotional Well-Being

Friendship is instrumental in cultivating empathy, understanding, and emotional well-being. Consider the following points:

  • Friendships expose us to diverse experiences and backgrounds, fostering empathy and teaching us to appreciate the value of different perspectives.
  • Friends act as sounding boards, allowing us to express our thoughts and emotions freely, thus enhancing our emotional well-being.
  • Through deep conversations and active listening, friends provide a safe space to share our joys, sorrows, and fears.
  • The emotional support and validation we receive from friends help us cope with stress, anxiety, and other emotional challenges.
  • Friends teach us the art of forgiveness, acceptance, and maintaining healthy boundaries in relationships.

Remember, a good thesis statement for friendship should address the impact of friendship on personal development, analyze its influence on self-growth and self-discovery, and examine how friendship cultivates empathy, understanding, and emotional well-being.

Can Friendship in Mortal Kombat 11 Be Related to Friendship in Real Life?

Friendship in Mortal Kombat 11 can be related to real-life friendship. Just like in the game, learning to execute MK11 friendship moves takes practice and dedication. Similarly, in real life, building and maintaining friendships requires effort and understanding. Both rely on mutual respect and consideration for others.

How to Maintain a Strong Friendship Without Dividing?

Maintaining a strong friendship without dividing requires effort and understanding. Open and honest communication is vital, resolving conflicts promptly to prevent misunderstandings. It’s important to invest time together, engaging in shared activities or simply listening. Just like sharing a loaf of how to make Amish friendship bread , nurturing a friendship involves reciprocation and not allowing differences to pull you apart.

The Importance Of Trust And Communication In Friendships

Exploring the significance of trust and open communication in maintaining healthy friendships.

Trust and communication are two vital pillars that uphold any friendship. Without them, the foundation can crumble, leaving the relationship vulnerable.

Let’s delve into the key points surrounding the importance of trust and communication in friendships.

Trust in Friendships:

  • Trust is the foundation of healthy friendships.
  • It involves believing that a friend will act in your best interest and keep your secrets.
  • Without trust, doubts and insecurities can damage the friendship.

Open Communication:

  • Open communication is vital for understanding and conflict resolution in friendships.
  • It includes honest expression of thoughts, feelings, and needs, as well as active listening.
  • Effective communication ensures that both friends feel heard and validated.

Building a Strong Bond:

  • Trust and open communication strengthen the friendship bond.
  • With trust, friends can rely on each other, confide, and be vulnerable without judgment.
  • Open communication fosters empathy, compassion, and mutual support.

Understanding and Empathy:

  • Regular and honest communication helps friends understand each other’s perspectives, needs, and boundaries.
  • This understanding leads to empathy and deeper connections.

Consequences of Lack of Trust:

  • Absence of trust leads to insecurity, suspicion, and constant questioning.
  • It makes the friendship fragile and prone to misunderstandings.

Impact of Inadequate Communication:

  • Insufficient communication erodes trust and causes misunderstandings.
  • Unexpressed needs can lead to resentment and assumptions.
  • Lack of communication can result in friction and distance in the friendship.

Without trust and communication, friendships can suffer serious consequences, such as:

  • Drifting apart: A lack of trust and open communication can cause friends to grow apart emotionally and geographically.
  • Deteriorating intimacy: When trust and communication are weak, emotional intimacy fades away, resulting in shallow and unsatisfying relationships.
  • Frequent conflicts: Without open communication, misunderstandings can escalate into frequent arguments, damaging the friendship.
  • Difficulty resolving issues: A lack of trust and communication makes it challenging to address and resolve conflicts, which can lead to festering resentments and unresolved issues.

Trust and open communication are crucial elements for maintaining healthy friendships. They establish a solid foundation, contribute to a strong bond, and prevent the detrimental consequences of a lack of trust and communication.

By prioritizing trust and nurturing open communication, friends can cultivate lasting and fulfilling relationships.

To summarize, crafting a strong thesis statement for friendship requires a deep understanding of the topic and its various aspects.

By expressing a clear and concise argument, one can capture the essence of what friendship truly means.

A good thesis statement for friendship should highlight the importance of trust, mutual support, and empathy as the foundation of lasting relationships.

It should also acknowledge the dynamic nature of friendships and the need for open communication and shared experiences.

Remember, a well-crafted thesis statement sets the tone for the entire essay, guiding the reader towards a deeper understanding of the significance of friendships in our lives.

So, whether you are exploring the role of friendships in literature, psychology, or everyday life, a strong thesis statement will serve as a compass to navigate your research and writing journey, ultimately leading to a more compelling and insightful analysis.

a good thesis for friendship

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a good thesis for friendship

  • Writing Essay on Friendship: 3 Samples to Get Inspired

When in school or college, you won’t escape the task of writing an essay on friendship. It’s a paper revealing the power of having friends and reflecting on the corresponding values.

It seems easy to write. You craft a narrative about your mates, explaining what they mean to you. And yet, it’s an academic paper. So, some rules are still here on how to structure and format it.

In this article, you’ll find three samples of different essays on friendship. Feel free to use them to get inspired and better understand this paper’s nature and purpose.

Let’s answer all the questions related to friendship essays together!

What Is an Essay on Friendship?

First, the definition:

An essay on friendship is a short academic paper students write to express their thoughts and reflections on the topic.

The purpose is to:

  • explore the phenomenon;
  • understand what it means to you;
  • realize the significance of having close people nearby;
  • reveal the pros and cons of committing to a friendship;
  • reflect on how friendship can help our wellness.

Friendship essays aren’t about “my friends and I” topics only. You can write about the role of friendship for mental health, craft an expository essay explaining the topic, or build a reflective essay on what friendship means to you.

Friendship Essay Structure

friendship-essay-structure

Friendship essays have a standard structure of academic papers. They are short and consist of three parts:

  • Introduction about friendship
  • Paragraph about friendship
  • Friendship essay conclusion

In the intro, you start with an attention grabber. Feel free to use a quote, a surprising fact, or an anecdote. Introduce the topic and finish with thesis statements about friendship.

In a friendship paragraph, you support a thesis with facts, evidence, personal stories, etc. As a rule, essay bodies have three paragraphs minimum. So you can devote each paragraph to one aspect :

  • Definition of this concept 
  • Why having friends is essential
  • What a friend can give you
  • Types of friendship  
  • Challenges mates meet on their way  
  • Characteristics of a good friend  
  • How to strengthen a friendship, etc. 

In the essay body, you can use stories and examples from your life to illustrate points. Tell about your friends and share personal thoughts — it will make your paper more compelling to read.

In the concluding paragraph, sum up the points and restate your thesis. Finish on a positive note, leaving readers with the food for thought.

Easier said than done, huh?

Below are three samples of friendship essays for you to see what they look like and how they sound.

3 Samples to Help You Write an Essay About Friendship

While Ralph Waldo Emerson friendship essay (1) is the top example of the paper on this topic, we’ll go further and provide several NEW samples.

Please check:

Short Essay on Friendship

This sample is perfect for high school students. As a rule, teachers ask them to write 150-200-word essays. The task is to describe concepts or things the way they understand them.

essay-on-friendship-sample

Narrative Essay on Friendship

Narrative essays are more about personal stories. Here, you can tell about your friends, include dialogues , and sound less academic.

500 Words Essay Sample on Importance of Friendship

Over to you.

Now, you have three samples and know how to structure this paper. Ready to write yours?

Let’s begin with the “Why is friendship important?” essay — and you’ll see that it’s not super challenging to craft. Be honest, share your thoughts, and don’t hesitate to write personal reflections on the topic.

Still don’t know how to start your essay on friendship? Our writers are here to help. 

References:

  • https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/friendship.html
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How to Write a Friendship Essay

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A friendship essay is precisely what it sounds like: a paper that students write to describe their relationships with their mates.  It is among the many assignments that students are given in their college institutions.  Writing essays about friendship is a great way to analyze what the connection means to you and reflect on some of your encounters. It can also be used as a tool to improve your closeness and affection. This blog post offers tips you may consider while writing your paper and its outline. It features friendship essay examples that help generate ideas that form the primary focus of your paper.  If you are not ready to waste your time on essay writing, StudyCrumb is here to offer affordable prices and professional writers.

What Is a Friendship Essay?

The definition of friendship essay is quite clear and straightforward. A paper about friends can be described as a write-up on a relationship between two or more people. This interpretation makes it easier to obtain the meaning of friendship essay.  Writing such thematic essay will help you communicate your feelings as well as your thoughts. It allows you to recollect your memories about different encounters you have had in life. It will also help you evaluate qualities of your connection.  While writing, you may have a sequence of events starting from your meet-up, activities you have done together, and how you have sustained the connection. Preparing an essay about friendship can evoke memories from your past that may have been long forgotten.

Purpose of an Essay on Friendship

This kind of essay aims to help you explore its nature and form, its pros and cons, and its role in your life. The importance of friendship essay is that it acts as a reflective tool. It helps you realize the significance of creating and maintaining good relationships with friends. It also explains how these connections contribute to your overall wellness. In addition, an article about friendship may teach you to understand that true friendship is priceless and should stand the test of time.

Ideas to Write a Friendship Essay on

Writing essays about friendship is a more manageable task than drafting a paper about a topic that may require more detailed research. Any excellent essay about true friendship starts with an idea that you can examine.  Below are some unique ideas you can explore:

  • What is friendship?
  • What does friendship mean to me?
  • The value of friendship you cherish in your life.
  • Cross-cultural friendships.
  • The role of friendship in mental health maintenance.

As you reflect on your relationship with your friend, see if you can write a paper incorporating these themes. Remember to choose an idea that interests you and is relevant to your personal experiences or research. Be sure to support your arguments with evidence and examples from real-life situations, literature, or academic research. Look through our definition essay topics or persuasive essay ideas to find a theme that suits your task best.

Friendship Essay Outline

An essay outline about friendship is a summary of what your write-up will contain but in a less detailed format. You use it to organize and structure your content logically and effectively. It presents the main topics and subtopics hierarchically, allowing writers to see the connection between different parts of the material. The importance of an outline lies in its ability to help writers plan, organize, as well as clarify their ideas. This makes the writing of an essay about friends more efficient, and the final product is more coherent and effective. Here is an example of an outline for a friendship essay.

  • Briefly introduce the topic of friendship
  • Provide a thesis statement that summarizes the main points of the essay
  • Topic sentence
  • Your main argument
  • Real-life examples that support your key idea
  • Supporting evidence
  • 3rd Body Paragraph
  • Examples or recommendations
  • Summarize the main points
  • Provide some food for thought

Note that this is a general outline. The exact structure and content of your essay will depend on the specific requirements of your assignment and your personal interests.

Structure of a Friendship Essay

The structure of an essay on friendship typically includes the following three parts.

  • Introduction An introduction should grab the reader's attention and provide background information. It should also include a clear thesis statement that sets a path and direction of the friendship essays.
  • Body The essay's body is where you will provide evidence and details to underpin your thesis statement. It should consist of several paragraphs supporting and developing a statement of purpose. Each paragraph should focus on a specific aspect of your friendliness, such as its importance, benefits, or challenges.
  • Conclusion Briefly summarize the essay's main points and reinforce your principal argument. The conclusion should leave a lasting impression on readers and emphasize your topic's significance. Overall, the structure should be clear and well-organized, allowing the audience to follow your argument and understand the topic's significance.

Friendship Essay Introduction

A good introduction about friendship essay should grab the reader's attention and encourage them to continue reading. This can be achieved through a " hook ," a quote, an interesting fact, or a thought-provoking question. Background information can then be provided to give context to the discussed topic.  The introduction to an essay about friendship should also clearly state your main point or argument of the piece, known as thesis statement. This sets pace for the rest of the paper and gives readers a clear view of what to expect. A friendship essay introduction should be concise, engaging, and provide context for the audience to understand the content fully.

Read more: How to Start off an Essay

Friendship Essay Introduction Example

Here is an example of a friendship essay introduction that sets the stage for a reflective and thought-provoking exploration of the most precious gift in life.

Friendship is a special bond that unites two individuals with common interests, experiences, and emotions. It makes life easier and contributes to our happiness. It is a relationship that transcends race, religion, and socio-economic status and has power to sustain and uplift the spirit of humans. In this essay, I will explore its benefits and how it can contribute to a better world. Through personal anecdotes, I will illustrate the bond's depth and role in our day-to-day lives.

Friendship Essay Thesis Statement

The friendship thesis statement aims to provide a summary of the essay's main point. It can be one or two sentences which you develop as you research. The statement of purpose should focus on the central argument and be supported by evidence presented in the body. The thesis statement about friendship should guide the essay's structure. Its main objective is to provide your reader with a roadmap to follow. It should be specific, concise, and accurately reflect the content in your paper. Understanding what constitutes a strong thesis is crucial for writers as it is integral to every essay writing process.

Friendship Thesis Statement Example

The thesis statement must be clear to readers so that they may quickly recognize it and comprehend the paper's significance. It should act as a blueprint of what to expect. A friendship thesis statement sample could be:

In this essay, I will explore friendship's meaning, its importance, benefits, drawbacks, and how it can contribute to a better world. Through a series of personal anecdotes, I will illustrate the bond's depth and its key role in our lives.

Friendship Essay Body

The body part should include five or more paragraphs. Students will use body paragraphs to elaborate on the key factors that make their connection special.

  • Definition and explanation. This friendship body paragraph should start with a definition and a brief explanation of its characteristics and qualities.
  • Importance of friends. Discuss why it is vital in your life and how it contributes to personal growth and welfare.
  • Types of friendships. A paragraph about friendship should discuss different types of friend's relationships that exist.
  • Qualities of a good friend. Discuss standards a great confidant should possess.
  • Challenges. Discuss the common problems that friends face.
  • Ways to strengthen friendship. Provide tips on reinforcing and maintaining good relationships.
  • Conclusion. Sum up the key points made in your essay and reiterate the importance of genuine bonds in life.

Friendship Body Paragraph Example

Below is a friendship body paragraph sample.

How to Spend Free Time with Friends • Outdoor Activities. Spending time in nature is a great way to bond with friends. You can meet, then go for a hike, take a walk, or go to a picnic in a park. This allows you to connect and enjoy the beautiful world around you. • Movie Night. Watching a movie is another fun activity you can do with friends. You can share popcorn, grab snacks, and enjoy a movie together. This is a great way to relax and unwind. • Board Games. Playing board games with friends is a fun and interactive way to spend free time. You can play classic games like Monopoly. This is a great way to challenge each other and have a good time.

Friendship Essay Conclusion

Any conclusion on a friendship essay should sum up the main ideas discussed in your essay and restate the thesis statement. It should leave a lasting impression and provide a closure to your topic. To start writing a conclusion about a friendship essay, commence by rephrasing the thesis statement in different words. Summarize the points discussed in your essay by connecting them back to your statement of purpose. End conclusion with a final thought or call to action that leaves a lasting impression on your reader.  It is vital to keep it concise yet impactful. Avoid introducing new information or arguments, as it can confuse readers. Instead, focus on tying up loose ends and emphasizing main ideas discussed in your essay.

Read more: How to Conclude an Essay

Friendship Essay Conclusion Sample

Here is an example of a friendship essay conclusion:

In conclusion, friendship is an essential aspect of our lives that brings joy, support, and companionship. It is a relationship built on mutual trust, understanding, and love. A true friend will always be there for you, no matter what. As humans, we need sincere friends to help us navigate life's ups and downs and provide emotional support. An understanding friend can withstand any obstacle and bring happiness to our lives. The connection is meant to last a lifetime, whether through shared experiences, interests, or simply a common bond. Ultimately, having a close group of loyal friends who truly care for us is one of the greatest gifts we can receive in life.

How to Write an Essay on Friendship?

To write an essay about friendship, start by brainstorming ideas about what friends mean to you and the benefits of such kinds of relationships. Knowing how to write a good essay about friendship involves selecting a great topic and arranging your content in a manner that has logical flow.

1. Come Up With a Topic About Friendship

To brainstorm essay topics on friendship, consider the following.

  • Reflect on your own experiences. Think about your own bonds and encounters you have had with allies. Avoid bad occurrences. This can inspire topics to explore in your essay. To find a subject that interests you, you can also look through internet examples of friend essays.
  • Ask questions related to friends, such as "What makes a meaningful connection?" or "How does the quality of your bond change over time?"
  • Talk to others. Ask friends, family, or classmates about their experiences. They may have interesting insights that can inspire new topics for your essay.

Ensure that topic you select is appropriate for your report style. For example: 

The Day my Best Friend Changed My Life.

You can start this topic by how you met, narrate your story, and then pick out some attributes of a good friend and the advantages of the relationship. Remember to choose a topic on friendship essay that you feel passionate about and can explore in depth in your essay.

2. Do Research

To research and collect information for the friend essay, follow these steps.

  • Start with a general search. Use search engines like Google to find articles, books, and other resources on affection.
  • Identify keywords. Determine the most relevant keywords for your essay, such as "essay about a friend." Use them in your search to narrow down results to the most pertinent information.
  • Evaluate sources. When you have a list of potential sources, evaluate each to determine their credibility and relevance. Look for sources that are written by experts in the field and that have been peer-reviewed or published in reputable journals.
  • Take notes. As you read, take notes on the most important and relevant information.

3. Develop a Friendship Essay Outline

An outline is a useful tool for organizing ideas in an essay and it ensures that your essay has a structure. Before outlining you need to have a clear vision of what your essay will focus on. Then analyze every piece of information that you have and categorize it into headings. An outline of an essay about friendships will comprise a list which consists of each paragraph’s topic sentence . By going through the outline, you are able to examine what purpose each paragraph serves. If you need assistance on how to create an outline for a college essay about friendship use the outline example shown below.

Friendship essay outline example

4. Write an Essay on Friendship

Writing an essay about friendship is an exciting task. Below is a sample of how you can write your friendship essay. Friendship is the bond between two or more individuals based on mutual trust, support, and understanding. This connection can develop at any stage of life and even last a lifetime. It is a bond that fills our lives with comfort, laughter, and advice during a hard period. Many different factors can contribute to its formation and success. Having similar needs, mutual interests, and social activities can help sustain the relationship. Another crucial aspect is being ready to support each other through happy and difficult times unconditionally. Trust is also an essential component in the longevity of this connection. In conclusion, friendship is an invaluable treasure that brings joy, comfort, and support to our lives. It provides a safe place in a world that can be harsh and unforgiving. It reminds us that we should always stay true to each other.

5. Proofread Your Friendship Essay

When writing a friendship essay, consider the following for an effective introduction.

  • Grab your reader's attention. A good introduction makes them want to continue reading your friendship essay.
  • Provide context. Give an overview of the friendship essay and its purpose. This will make readers interested in your work.
  • Establish your purpose. Clearly state the main idea or thesis.
  • Preview the main points. Briefly summarize key points that will be covered.
  • Be concise. An introduction should be short and on point, generally no more than one or two paragraphs.

Remember, your introduction will set tone for the rest of your piece and should encourage your readers to continue reading.

Read more: Essay About Happiness : Tips & Examples

Friendship Essay Examples

A sample essay about friendship can be critical to students, especially when they are researching and collecting information. Free friendship essays help you get ideas on how to write and structure your essay. Below are essay examples about friendship that you can go through to help with your writing and draw inspiration from. Friendship essay example 1

Illustration

Friendship essay example 2

Essay about friendship sample 3

Example of essay on friendship 4

Friendship Essay Writing Tips

Here are some extra tips you need to know that will motivate you to write a friendship short essay.

  • You could start with a quote, an anecdote, or a surprising fact.
  • Use examples from your own life to illustrate your points in your school college essay about friendship, as this will make your essay more relatable and interesting to read.
  • Friendship titles for essays should be clear and straightforward. They should also reflect your main points.
  • Describe the aspect of the bond that, in your opinion, is most crucial. It is possible to personalize something that means an entirely different thing to various individuals.

Bottom Line on Friendship Essay Writing

Your central task is to understand what is a friendship essay even before you start writing. Friendship essays explore the nature of our relationships and their various aspects. They can take various forms, from short reflective essays to longer, more analytical pieces. These papers can discuss qualities that make a good friend, the benefits of your relationship, or challenges of maintaining close relationships. Examples of short essays about friendship could be a personal reflection, exploring the unique bond between the writer and their friend and what they hope to continue gaining from each other when they cross paths in future. If you struggle with other papers, feel free to check out our writing guides. From an essay about bullying to a world peace essay , we’ve got you covered.

FAQ About Friendship Essay

1. may i use friendship quotes for the essay.

Yes, it is always a winning step. You can write an essay on friendship with quotes either as the title of your essay or as an introductory phrase. You can also include it in the body of your work while narrating your story.

2. How to write a hook for an essay of friendship?

An essay should hook your reader's attention and make them want to read your story. When writing essays about friendship, you can describe a unique situation in which your friends helped you. You can also end your introduction with a catchy quote, such as Squad goals! Some other quotes that you can use include:

  • A road to a friend's house is never long.
  • Count your age with friends and years.
  • True friend is seen through the heart, not through the eyes.

3. Explain the importance of friendship essay.

The importance of friendship essay is that it teaches students to express their thoughts and feelings about confidants and benefits they obtain from this connection. It also acts as a reflective tool. Friend essays also help students realize advantages of creating and maintaining good relationships with friends and how these linkages contribute to your overall wellness and welfare.

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Essays About Friendships: Top 6 Examples and 8 Prompts

Friendships are one of life’s greatest gifts. To write a friendship essay, make this guide your best friend with its essays about friendships plus prompts.

Every lasting relationship starts with a profound friendship. The foundations that keep meaningful friendships intact are mutual respect, love, laughter, and great conversations. Our most important friendships can support us in our most trying times. They can also influence our life for the better or, the worse, depending on the kind of friends we choose to keep. 

As such, at an early age, we are encouraged to choose friends who can promote a healthy, happy and productive life. However, preserving our treasured friendships is a lifelong process that requires investments in time and effort.

6 Informative Essay Examples

1. the limits of friendships by maria konnikova, 2. friendship by ralph waldo emerson, 3. don’t confuse friendships and business relationships by jerry acuff, 4. a 40-year friendship forged by the challenges of busing by thomas maffai, 5. how people with autism forge friendships by lydia denworth, 6.  friendships are facing new challenges thanks to the crazy cost of living by habiba katsha , 1. the importance of friendship in early childhood development, 2. what makes a healthy friendship, 3. friendships that turn into romance, 4. long-distance friendship with social media, 5. dealing with a toxic friendship, 6. friendship in the workplace, 7. greatest friendships in literature, 8. friendships according to aristotle .

…”[W]ithout investing the face-to-face time, we lack deeper connections to them, and the time we invest in superficial relationships comes at the expense of more profound ones.”

Social media is challenging the Dunbar number, proving that our number of casual friends runs to an average of 150. But as we expand our social base through social media, experts raise concerns about its effect on our social skills, which effectively develop through physical interaction.

“Friendship requires that rare mean betwixt likeness and unlikeness, that piques each with the presence of power and of consent in the other party.”

The influential American essayist Emerson unravels the mysteries behind the divine affinity that binds a friendship while laying down the rules and requirements needed to preserve the fellowship. To Emerson, friendship should allow a certain balance between agreement and disagreement. You might also be interested in these articles about best friends .

“Being friendly in business is necessary but friendships in business aren’t. That’s an important concept. We can have a valuable business relationship without friendship. Unfortunately, many mistakenly believe that the first step to building a business relationship is to develop a friendship.”

This essay differentiates friends from business partners. Using an anecdote, the essay warns against investing too much emotion and time in building friendships with business partners or customers, as such an approach may be futile in increasing sales.

“As racial tensions mounted around them, Drummer and Linehan developed a close connection—one that bridged their own racial differences and has endured more than four decades of evolving racial dynamics within Boston’s schools. Their friendship als­o served as a public symbol of racial solidarity at a time when their students desperately needed one.”

At a time when racial discrimination is at its highest, the author highlights a friendship they built and strengthened at the height of tensions during racial desegregation. This friendship proves that powerful interracial friendships can still be forged and separate from the politics of race.

“…15-year-old Massina Commesso worries a lot about friendship and feeling included. For much of her childhood, Massina had a neurotypical best friend… But as they entered high school, the other friend pulled away, apparently out of embarrassment over some of Massina’s behavior.”

Research debunks the myth that people with autism naturally detest interaction — evidence suggests the opposite. Now, research is shedding more light on the unique social skills of people with autism, enabling society to find ways to help them find true friendships. 

“The cost of living crisis is affecting nearly everyone, with petrol, food and electricity prices all rising. So understandably, it’s having an impact on our friendships too.”

People are now more reluctant to dine out with friends due to the rapidly rising living costs. Friendships are being tested as friends need to adjust to these new financial realities and be more creative in cultivating friendships through lower-cost get-togethers.

8 Topic Prompts on Essays About Friendships

Essays About Friendships: The importance of friendship in early childhood development

More than giving a sense of belonging, friendships help children learn to share and resolve conflicts. First, find existing research linking the capability to make and keep friends to one’s social, intellectual, and emotional development. 

Then, write down what schools and households can do to reinforce children’s people skills. Here, you can also tackle how they can help children with learning, communication, or behavioral difficulties build friendships, given how their conditions interfere with their capabilities and interactions. 

As with plants, healthy friendships thrive on fertile soil. In this essay, list the qualities that make “fertile soil” and explain how these can grow the seeds of healthy friendships. Some examples include mutual respect and the setting of boundaries. 

Then, write down how you should water and tend to your dearest friendships to ensure that it thrives in your garden of life. You can also discuss your healthy friendships and detail how these have unlocked the best version of yourself. 

Marrying your best friend is a romance story that makes everyone fall in love. However, opening up about your feelings for your best friend is risky. For this prompt, collate stories of people who boldly made the first step in taking their friendship to a new level.

Hold interviews to gather data and ask them the biggest lesson they learned and what they can share to help others struggling with their emotions for their best friend. Also, don’t forget to cite relevant data, such as this study that shows several romantic relationships started as friendships. 

Essays About Friendships: Long-distance friendship with social media

It’s challenging to sustain a long-distance friendship. But many believe that social media has narrowed that distance through an online connection. In your essay, explain the benefits social media has offered in reinforcing long-distance friendships. 

Determine if these virtual connections suffice to keep the depth of friendships. Make sure to use studies to support your argument. You can also cite studies with contrasting findings to give readers a holistic view of the situation.

It could be heartbreaking to feel that your friend is gradually becoming a foe. In this essay, help your readers through this complicated situation with their frenemies by pointing out red flags that signal the need to sever ties with a friend. Help them assess when they should try saving the friendship and when they should walk away. Add a trivial touch to your essay by briefly explaining the origins of the term “frenemies” and what events reinforced its use. 

We all know that there is inevitable competition in the workplace. Added to this are the tensions between managers and employees. So can genuine friendships thrive in a workplace? To answer this, turn to the wealth of experience and insights of long-time managers and human resource experts. 

First, describe the benefits of fostering friendships in the workplace, such as a deeper connection in working toward shared goals, as well as the impediments, such as inherent competition among colleagues. Then, dig for case studies that prove or disprove the relevance and possibility of having real friends at work.

Whether it be the destructive duo like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, or the hardworking pair of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, focus on a literary friendship that you believe is the ultimate model of friendship goals. 

Narrate how the characters met and the progression of their interactions toward becoming a friendship. Then, describe the nature of the friendship and what factors keep it together. 

In Book VIII of his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes about three kinds of friendships: pleasure, utility, and virtue. Dive deeper into the Greek philosopher’s mind and attempt to differentiate his three types of friendships. 

Point out ideas he articulated most accurately about friendship and parts you disagree with. For one, Aristotle refutes the concept that friendships are necessarily built on likeness alone, hence his classification of friendships. Do you share his sentiments? 

Read our Grammarly review before you submit your essay to make sure it is error-free! Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

a good thesis for friendship

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Mr Greg's English Cloud

Short Essay: About Friendship

Friendship is a universal theme that resonates deeply across cultures and communities, symbolizing a bond of mutual affection, trust, and support. Writing a short essay on friendship involves exploring these dimensions, the importance of friendship in one’s life, and perhaps personal anecdotes that highlight these relationships. Here’s how to structure and craft a thoughtful and engaging short essay on friendship.

Table of Contents

Title and Introduction

Title : Opt for a title that reflects the essence of your essay, such as “The Bonds That Bind: Exploring the Depths of Friendship.”

Introduction : Begin with a compelling hook—this could be a famous quote, a rhetorical question, or a brief anecdote about a personal friendship experience. Introduce the concept of friendship as a crucial element of social life, highlighting its role in providing emotional support and enhancing life experiences. Conclude your introduction with a thesis statement that outlines the main points you will cover, such as the characteristics of true friendship, its benefits, and personal reflections on what friendship means to you.

Body of the Essay

Defining Friendship :

  • Paragraph 1 : Start by exploring what friendship means. You can discuss different types of friendships—such as acquaintances, friends, and close friends—and what distinguishes them. Mention the qualities that characterize a strong friendship, such as loyalty, trust, and unconditional support.

Benefits of Friendship :

  • Paragraph 2 : Discuss the benefits of having friends. This can include emotional support, practical help in times of need, and the positive influence that friends can have on one’s mental and physical health. Use studies or statistics to back up these points if possible, to add depth to your essay.

Challenges and Overcoming Them :

  • Paragraph 3 : Address some common challenges in friendships, such as misunderstandings, distance, or changes in life situations. Explain how overcoming these challenges can strengthen bonds, using examples or personal experiences to illustrate these points.

Wrap up by summarizing the key points discussed, reinforcing the value and significance of friendship in enhancing the quality of life. End with a personal reflection on what friendships have brought to your life or a general statement about the role of friendship in building a compassionate society. This final part should resonate with the reader, encouraging them to reflect on their own friendships.

Friendship Essay Example #1

Friendship is a profound and cherished bond that shapes our lives, providing us with companionship, support, and a sense of belonging. This essay explores the essence and significance of friendship, shedding light on its impact on individuals and society as a whole. By examining its qualities, benefits, and challenges, we can gain a deeper understanding of this universal human experience.

Friendship is a multifaceted concept that encompasses various dimensions. It goes beyond mere acquaintanceship and involves a deep emotional connection between individuals. Trust, mutual respect, and empathy are fundamental pillars that underpin genuine friendships. Additionally, shared interests, common values, and the ability to provide emotional support contribute to the formation and sustenance of friendships.

Friendship bestows numerous benefits on our lives. Firstly, friendships provide emotional support during challenging times, serving as a source of comfort and solace. True friends offer a listening ear, empathy, and advice when needed. Secondly, friendships foster personal growth and self-discovery by offering opportunities for self-expression, feedback, and constructive criticism. Friends encourage us to explore our passions, challenge our beliefs, and strive for personal development. Lastly, friendships contribute to our overall well-being. Research has shown that individuals with strong social connections tend to have improved mental health, increased self-esteem, and a greater sense of happiness and life satisfaction.

While friendship brings immense joy, it is not without its challenges. Misunderstandings, disagreements, and conflicts are inevitable in any relationship, including friendships. However, these challenges can be opportunities for growth and strengthening the bond. Effective communication, active listening, and the willingness to resolve conflicts with understanding and compromise are key to overcoming these obstacles and nurturing long-lasting friendships.

In today’s digital era, technology has transformed the landscape of friendship. Social media platforms and online communities have made it easier to connect with others, but they also present unique challenges. The concept of friendship has expanded to include virtual friendships, where individuals form connections with people they may have never met in person. While these online friendships can be fulfilling, it is important to strike a balance between virtual and face-to-face interactions to maintain genuine connections.

Building and maintaining friendships require effort and investment. To cultivate meaningful friendships, it is essential to prioritize quality over quantity. Invest time and energy in fostering connections with individuals who share similar values and interests. Regular communication, showing appreciation, and being supportive are crucial in nurturing friendships. Additionally, being a good listener, respecting boundaries, and being dependable contribute to the growth and longevity of friendships.

Friendship is a precious gift that enhances our lives in countless ways. It provides us with a sense of belonging, emotional support, personal growth, and happiness. By understanding the essence and significance of friendship, recognizing its benefits, navigating its challenges, and actively nurturing our connections, we can cultivate a rich tapestry of friendships that enrich our lives and contribute to our overall well-being. Let us cherish and celebrate the profound bonds of friendship that make our journey through life more meaningful and fulfilling.

Friendship Essay Example #2

Friendship is a remarkable aspect of human existence that transcends boundaries and enriches our lives. It is a unique bond built on trust, loyalty, and shared experiences. In this essay, we delve into the depths of friendship, unraveling its true meaning and exploring the profound impact it has on individuals and society as a whole. By examining its origins, qualities, and the role it plays in personal growth and social connections, we gain a deeper appreciation for the significance of friendship.

Friendship has ancient roots, dating back to the earliest human civilizations. It emerged as a survival mechanism, bringing people together for protection, collaboration, and emotional support. Over time, friendship evolved beyond mere necessity, transforming into a profound connection that goes beyond biological ties. It is a voluntary relationship based on mutual affection, trust, and understanding.

True friendship encompasses a myriad of qualities that distinguish it from casual acquaintanceships. Trust is the foundation upon which friendships are built, allowing individuals to share their vulnerabilities and secrets without fear of judgment or betrayal. Loyalty and reliability are key components, as friends stand by each other through thick and thin. Empathy and compassion enable friends to offer support and understanding during challenging times. Shared interests, humor, and the ability to communicate openly contribute to the depth and longevity of friendships.

Friendship plays a crucial role in personal growth and development. Friends serve as mirrors, reflecting our strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots. They offer constructive feedback, encouragement, and motivation, helping us become the best versions of ourselves. Through shared experiences and conversations, friends broaden our perspectives and introduce us to new ideas, cultures, and possibilities. They challenge our assumptions and beliefs, fostering intellectual growth and self-discovery.

Beyond individual growth, friendships have a profound impact on society as a whole. They form the fabric of social connections, creating networks of support, collaboration, and shared values. Friendships transcend societal divisions such as race, religion, and socioeconomic status, promoting inclusivity and understanding. They contribute to social cohesion and foster a sense of belonging, reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Friendship is not immune to challenges and conflicts. Misunderstandings, disagreements, and changing circumstances can strain relationships. However, navigating these challenges with open communication, empathy, and a willingness to compromise can strengthen the bond. Conflict resolution skills, forgiveness, and the ability to adapt to evolving dynamics are essential for maintaining healthy and resilient friendships.

Lifelong friendships are a treasure to be cherished. Friends who have stood the test of time provide a sense of stability, continuity, and shared history. These friendships offer a deep understanding and acceptance that comes from years of shared experiences and memories. Lifelong friends become pillars of support, offering a sense of belonging and security throughout life’s ups and downs.

Friendship is a timeless and cherished aspect of human existence. Its true meaning lies in the genuine connections, trust, and support it provides. As we explore its depths, we discover that friendship is not merely a casual association but a profound bond that shapes our personal growth and societal connections. Let us value and nurture the friendships we have, celebrating the unique and irreplaceable role they play in our lives.

Friendship Essay Example #3

Friendship is a remarkable and transformative force that has the ability to profoundly shape our lives. It is a unique bond that goes beyond mere companionship, offering support, understanding, and a sense of belonging. In this essay, we delve into the transformative power of friendship, exploring how these connections influence our personal growth, mental well-being, and overall happiness. By understanding the qualities of genuine friendship, nurturing meaningful connections, and overcoming obstacles, we can unlock the true potential of this extraordinary relationship.

Genuine friendship is characterized by a set of qualities that lay the foundation for meaningful connections. Trust is paramount, as it creates a safe space for vulnerability and open communication. Mutual respect, empathy, and non-judgment allow friends to understand and accept each other, fostering a deep sense of connection. Shared values, interests, and a sense of humor bring joy and harmony to the relationship. Additionally, reciprocity and support form the pillars of friendship, as friends stand by each other through both triumphs and tribulations.

Friendship provides a nurturing environment for personal growth and self-discovery. Through meaningful conversations, friends offer different perspectives, challenge our beliefs, and inspire us to explore new horizons. They encourage us to step out of our comfort zones, pursue our passions, and overcome obstacles. Friends become catalysts for self-improvement, motivating us to set goals, acquire new skills, and become the best versions of ourselves.

The influence of friendship extends to our mental well-being. Friends offer emotional support, providing a shoulder to lean on during difficult times. They lend a listening ear, offer advice, and validate our feelings, reducing stress and anxiety. The sense of belonging and acceptance fostered by friendships acts as a protective factor against loneliness and depression. Studies have shown that individuals with strong social connections have better mental health outcomes and a higher overall life satisfaction.

Friendship is not without its challenges. Conflicts, misunderstandings, and differences of opinion are inevitable. However, navigating these challenges with open communication, active listening, and a willingness to understand each other’s perspectives can strengthen the bond. Conflict resolution skills, compromise, and forgiveness play crucial roles in maintaining healthy and resilient friendships. The ability to acknowledge and learn from mistakes is essential for growth within the relationship.

Nurturing friendships requires time, effort, and genuine care. Regular communication, whether in person or through technology, helps maintain connections and strengthen the bond. Shared experiences, such as engaging in activities together or creating new memories, deepen the friendship. It is essential to prioritize and invest in these relationships, as they contribute significantly to our overall happiness and well-being.

Friendship transcends boundaries of age, culture, and background. True friendships can be formed with individuals from different walks of life, enriching our perspectives and broadening our horizons. Embracing diversity within friendships fosters empathy, global understanding, and tolerance. It allows us to learn from one another, celebrating our differences while finding common ground.

Friendship is a transformative force that shapes our lives in remarkable ways. By cultivating genuine connections, we unlock the potential for personal growth, mental well-being, and happiness. Through trust, support, and shared experiences, friendships become the bedrock of our emotional support system. Nurturing these connections and overcoming challenges strengthens the bond, creating lifelong companionship and a sense of belonging. Let us treasure and celebrate the transformative power of friendship, recognizing its profound impact on our lives.

Final Writing Tips

  • Use Personal Stories : Where relevant, include short personal stories or observations that illustrate your points. This personal touch can make your essay more relatable and engaging.
  • Include Quotes : Integrate quotes from famous personalities about friendship to add a layer of depth and universality to your discussion.
  • Be Concise : Given the short nature of the essay, keep your writing focused and avoid overly complex explanations. Stick to a clear and straightforward composition style.
  • Engage the Reader : Pose questions or propose reflections that encourage the reader to think about their own friendships and their value.
  • Proofread : Ensure your essay is free from grammatical errors and typos. Well-polished writing is crucial to maintain credibility and readability.

About Mr. Greg

Mr. Greg is an English teacher from Edinburgh, Scotland, currently based in Hong Kong. He has over 5 years teaching experience and recently completed his PGCE at the University of Essex Online. In 2013, he graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with a BEng(Hons) in Computing, with a focus on social media.

Mr. Greg’s English Cloud was created in 2020 during the pandemic, aiming to provide students and parents with resources to help facilitate their learning at home.

Whatsapp: +85259609792

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a good thesis for friendship

Patty O'Grady Ph.D.

Friendship: The Key to Happiness

Teach relationships and the connected life..

Posted October 26, 2012

a good thesis for friendship

From the first tentative meeting to fast friendship - and all along the way - children and adolescents deal with conflicting loyalties, heart-breaking rejection, sad breakups, and happy make-ups. Friendship is a highly complex and emotionally demanding transaction and meeting the challenges of friendship requires emotional awareness and applied strengths. Mr. Rogers taught young children the basic protocol of relationships and his was a happy neighborhood.

Aristotle, the happiness philosopher, wrote at length about friendship. Aristotle was the first person to distinguish between different types of friendship. He described friendships for mutual utility and friendships for mutual goodwill; and claimed that the hallmark of true friendship is reciprocal altruism. Likewise, positive psychology suggests that using signature strengths to promote mutually useful and altruistic friendship assures physical, mental, and emotional well-being. A recent article in the New York Times features the island of Ikaria - where people forget to die - and reports that friendship esnures that the population thrives. Ikaria sounds a little like Mr. Roger's neighborhood - 99 square miles of heaven.

Contemporary psychology identifies four different types of friendship that are defined primarily by the function of the relationship: Acquaintenance, Casual, Agentic, and True. Acquaintances are children and adolescents who are in frequent contact with each other such as text friends, Facebook friends, or playground friends. However, this group of friends does not know each other very well and interact in superficial ways. They do not share the emotional content of their lives and children and adolescents often hide their true emotional selves from acquaintances.

Casual friends share some thoughts and feelings in careful and cautious ways. They interact within closely held boundaries and rarely reveal their emotions or discuss their strengths. They tend to self-edit and do not discuss sensitive or difficult topics. They rarely share their innermost thoughts or feelings and are not emotionally close.

Agentic friendships are pragmatic friendships and typically share a common task, goal, or passion. This type of friendship is utilitarian in nature and students have many agentic friends in school. By definition, classmates, club members, and teammates are all agentic friends who learn to cooperate and collaborate for the good of all. Agentic friends often develop strong bonds quickly because they share a common goal and this type of friendship most easily morphs into true friendship. So the classroom is a laboratory for the incubation of true friendship.

True friends express authentic emotions to each other without fear . They understand that friends must be able to trust each other when they are most vulnerable. There is trust, honesty, empathy, and an exchange of material and social gifts. They offer to help each other without prompting and form committed relationships based on unconditional support. They are true friends who act in caring and generous ways – selfless and transcendent. They learn to share emotional experiences and use their signature strengths in the service of the friendship.

The mark of true friendship is mutual aid, regard, and concern for the other. True friends come to your rescue, celebrate your success as if it was their own, and respect the ebb and flow of your life. They show trust, forgiveness , gratitude , honesty, commitment, support, enthusiasm, and gladness toward their friends without expectation of gain or return . Children and adolescents who learn to take good care of their friends hearts, minds, and souls open the door to true friendship for themselves.

The teacher gives them the key.

Read : Hruschka, D. J. (2010). Friendship: Development, ecology, and evolution of a relationship . Berkley, CA: University of California Press.

Read : Neyfakh, L. (September 2012). How kids make friends and why it matters . Boston: Boston Globe. http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/09/01/how-kids-make-friends-and-w… .

Read : Pangle, L.S. (2002). Aristotle and the philosophy of friendship . Cambridge: Cambridge Press.

Read : Buenner, D. (October 28, 2012). The island where people forget to die . New York, New York Times, MM36. The Island Where People Forget to Die

Explore : Fred Rogers Company, Making Friends, http://www.fredrogers.org/new-site/par-friends.html

a good thesis for friendship

Visit : PBS Mr. Rogers Neighborhood http://pbskids.org/rogers/

I would love to hear from you. What kind of friends do you have in your life? Do you have many acquaintances? How about casual friends? Under what circumstances have you made agentic friends? Do you have a true or best friend? How did you make that friend? How do you keep that friend? Have you lost a friend? Why? Was there a time in your life when a friend was the difference between your success and your failure?

My upcoming book, Positive Psychology in the Elementary School Classroom , is the first in a series intended to help teachers build positive psychology classrooms. http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Author.aspx?id=23961

Patty O'Grady Ph.D.

Patty O’Grady, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Tampa committed to transformational education. She is the author of Positive Psychology in the Elementary School Classroom.

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Expository Essay

Expository Essay About Friendship

Caleb S.

Expository Essay About Friendship: A Writing Guide

Expository Essay About Friendship

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Going to write an expository essay about friendship?

Expository writing about friendship can be a complex and interesting task. It requires research and analysis to come up with the right content for your essay.

Expository essays allow us to look at topics from new perspectives. That is also why they are not easy to write.

To help you out, we’ve prepared this guide on how to write an expository essay about friendship. You'll also get example essays to read and take inspiration from.

So let's get into it!

Arrow Down

  • 1. Expository Essay Definition
  • 2. How To Write Expository Essay About Friendship Step-by-Step
  • 3. Expository Essay Examples on Friendship
  • 4. Expository Essay Topics About Friendship

Expository Essay Definition

An expository essay  is a type of academic writing that seeks to explain or inform the reader about a particular topic. Expository essays typically provide readers with evidence, facts, and arguments related to the subject in question.

They are written using an objective tone, meaning they do not take sides or attempt to persuade the reader. Instead, they are simply providing information and allowing the reader to make their own conclusions.

An expository essay about friendship would attempt to discuss friendship from any perspective. It could discuss the different types of friendship or the different components that make up a strong bond.

Now, let’s move on to the first step – writing the essay!

How To Write Expository Essay About Friendship Step-by-Step

Having read the above examples and topic ideas, you now have a good idea of what a friendship essay is. But how do you write one yourself?

Follow these steps to write an excellent essay about friendship:

  • Choose a topic

Start by deciding what type of essay you want to write, and choose a topic related to friendship that interests you. For example, you could write about the different types of friendships or how people become friends.

  • Do research

Research is a crucial part of writing an expository essay. Look for reliable sources such as scholarly books, peer-reviewed journals, etc, that provide factual information about the topic. Make sure to keep track of which sources you used and take detailed notes on important points.

  • Make an Outline

After researching, create an outline for expository essay  that will serve as a roadmap for your essay. Decide how you want to format the essay and which points you’ll be discussing. This is also the time to decide on a thesis statement and any subtopics you want to cover in your essay.

  • Write Your First Draft

Now it’s time to start writing! Focus on each point in your outline and provide evidence, facts, and/or examples to back up your claims. Try to use a variety of sentence structures and don’t forget to proofread once you’re done.

  • Revise Your Essay

Once you have completed the first draft of your essay, look for areas that can be improved and revise accordingly. While making revisions , make sure that your essay is well-structured, logically organized, and coherent from start to finish.

Let's check out some essay samples to gain a deeper understanding.

Expository Essay Examples on Friendship

Here are some essay examples about the topic of friendship. You can use these for inspiration when writing your own expository essay about friendship. 

Example of Short Essay About Friendship

Expository Essay About True Friendship

What is Friendship Essay 300 Words

Expository Essay About Friendship 1000 Words

Expository Essay About Friendship 500 Words

Want more examples? Have a look at these unique expository essay examples to get inspired!

Expository Essay Topics About Friendship

When it comes to writing an expository essay about friendship, you have plenty of options. 

Here are some topics that you can consider:

  • How does a true friend help us cope with bad times?
  • How has technology changed the way we form friendships?
  • What roles do trust and communication play in a strong friendship?
  • What is the role of dogs in fostering friendship
  • Explore the friendship dynamics in relation to unique individuals
  • Addressing bullying and its impact on friendship circles
  • What is the importance of friendship?
  • How do different cultural backgrounds affect the way we form and think about friendships?
  • How can we define a good friend?

Remember to choose a topic that you are interested in exploring and one that resonates with your audience. This will help make your essay more engaging and interesting.

Need more topics to get started? Check out these creative expository essay topics on different themes!

To end the discussion,

Following these steps will make it easier to write an expository essay about friendship. Just remember to research as much as you can, stay organized, and don’t forget to proofread.

Do you still need more help in writing your essay? No need to worry, we're here to help you till the end.

At MyPerfectWords.com, we provide you with the top expository essay writing service you can find online. 

Our essay writing service promises to provide you with a 100% original essay that is free of plagiarism and mistakes. Whether you need an expository essay about a person , or a book , our writers can tackle any topic.

So if you're looking for help in writing an expository essay about friendship, get our essay writing help online today!

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Expository Essay

Friendship Essay: Writing Guide & Topics on Friendship [New]

Assigned with an essay about friendship? Congrats! It’s one of the best tasks you could get. Digging through your memories and finding strong arguments for this paper can be an enjoyable experience.

I bet you will cope with this task effortlessly as we can help you with the assignment. Just use the essay topics on friendship and tips described below.

  • 🖊️ Writing Guide
  • 💡 50 Essay Topics
  • 💬 10 Witty Quotes

1. 🖊️ Friendship Essay: Writing Guide

If you’ve been given to write an essay about friendship, then you have accepted one of the best tasks. It can be challenging as it requires recollecting the memories associated with the friend. Also, it requires following a particular guideline.

  • Choose a topic

To start writing an essay on friendship, you need to choose a good topic. There are several things you need to keep in mind:

  • When writing an essay about friendship, make sure the topic you choose corresponds to the type of the paper (e.g., opinion or narrative essay );
  • The topic you choose needs to be enough to develop it in the essay. If your idea is too broad, you will not describe it sufficiently. If it’s too narrow, you will not have enough information to write about.
  • Find evidence

Research your topic. Use the available sources for searching for information, such as books, dictionaries, and internet sources. Find enough data to support your argument. Also, think about life experiences that can be used under this topic. An essay on friendship usually requires using personal examples as evidence.

  • Outline your essay

Think about the information you will include in different parts of the essay. Usually, such papers consist of an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

Introduction : A paragraph that includes any necessary background information and a thesis statement .

Body Paragraphs : Generally, essays include three separate body paragraphs. They present arguments and additional support individually.

Conclusion : The last paragraph that summarizes major points and restates the thesis statement.

  • Write and proofread

As you have your topic and outline ready, start writing your friendship essay. When you finish, carefully proofread. Double-check your spelling, the accuracy of the information, and grammar. Make sure to format your essay according to the guidelines.

Ask someone to help you revise the text: a person might notice mistakes you didn’t see. Another great way to revise your paper is by checking friendship essay examples to get inspired and see what you can improve in your writing.

2. ⛔ Essay on Friendship: 5 No-Nos

Writing an essay about friendship can seem less challenging than composing a paper on some uncommon topic. Yet, there are still mistakes that a student can make.

Check the following five taboos that you should avoid:

  • Avoid complaining. Some students use this task as their chance to complain about someone having betrayed them. Bad things happen. Move on and find better ideas to include in your friendship essay.
  • Avoid flattering. Another extreme to be avoided is singing the praises to someone. Even if you badly want to include something like ‘I was blessed to meet Tom who was my best friend ever,’ try to refrain from writing just that and add more exciting details instead to create some context and let your readers know exactly why and how was Tom such a great friend to you.
  • Don’t add too much drama. Focusing on how you can’t imagine your life without your friends from school you left is a bad idea.
  • Don’t be too negative. Sure, you are free to defend any position in this paper. Yet, teachers would like it better if your essay is optimistic (and you might be happier writing it too).
  • Don’t forget to include examples. Examples from your personal life and books will make your paper more sincere and persuasive.

3. 💡 50 Essay Topics on Friendship

Any excellent essay starts with an idea that you can explore in detail. We’ve prepared 50 writing prompts and topics to help you pick the perfect theme for your paper:

  • Three kinds of friendships, according to Aristotle . The philosopher pointed out that there are three different types of friendship: the friendship of utility, the friendship of pleasure, and virtuous friendship. Which one resonates with you? Why?
  • Qualities of a true friend. People like seeing such character traits as loyalty, trustworthiness, and honesty in a best friend. But do all good friends have these qualities? Think of what makes a good friend. Describe the characteristics you like seeing in a person.
  • Is friendship relatable to love and vice versa? It’s suggested that any bond can develop into a romantic relationship . But, can romantic relationships transform into friendship? Write your opinion on the topic.
  • The similarity of interests vs. compatibility of temperaments . Both are equally important in any relationship, and you can discuss this. Do you think that any of the factors play a more influential role in friendship? Why?
  • A friend to everyone is a friend to no one. How do you understand that phrase? Can such people be true friends?
  • The power of friendship. Having a genuine friendship is believed to reduce stress and anxiety and improve our self-esteem . Are there any other possible effects of this attachment? Describe them. Mention the effects of friendship on your life.
  • Should you mix business and friendship? Working with your friends can be a pleasure or a liability. Do you think working with friends can positively influence your career? Why or why not? Or, maybe you believe that friends at a workplace can create a toxic situation?
  • Can you find good friends online ? Sometimes you may want to expand your social circle. One way to do so is to find a friend online. Share your opinion on whether it is possible to form true friendship online.
  • The need to have a friend. Having friends is an essential part of our lives. They motivate us to change and lift our spirits. What are other reasons to have a friend? Provide a personal example, if possible.
  • The most significant aspects of a friendship. Some people appreciate confidentiality or respect the most in a company. Name and describe the elements you appreciate in friendship.
  • An unexpected friendship. We all know that one person we didn’t like from the start but later became best friends. How did you meet them? What was your first impression ? Are you still best friends?
  • Friendship is a treasure. Do you think every person needs a true friend? Can friends be compared to treasures? Are real friends as hard to find as gold?
  • My best friend . Describe your best friend and their qualities. Reflect on your relationship. What impact did this friendship leave on your life?
  • Friendship with your parents. Some people suggest that being friends with their parents is wonderful. Others think it is nearly impossible. What’s your opinion on such a relationship with parents? Are you friends with them?
  • The psychological effect of a bad friendship. Friendship and social support are linked to the mental and physical well-being of people. But what about toxic friendship? What are its effects on a human’s health? Have you ever encountered it? How did you deal with it?
  • Friendship in the age of social media. 
  • Explain the destructive effect of jealousy on friendships and romantic relationships.
  • The importance of freedom in a relationship between friends.
  • Three main views on the term “friend.”  
  • Friendship concept in different cultures .
  • How friendly relationships improve employees’ performance.
  • Describe the positive impact of computer communication on people’s relationships.
  • Can friendship be destroyed by the lack of communication?
  • Why is friendship important?
  • Explain how you understand the statement that friendship is a two-way process .
  • Is friendship between students necessary for a positive classroom atmosphere?
  • Discuss if children’s friendship is a necessary part of their healthy development.
  • Resolving issues in friendship through interpersonal communication .
  • Why any form of abuse can destroy friendly relationships.
  • Explore the theme of friendship in Recitatif by Toni Morrison .
  • Describe the concepts of friendship according to St. Augustine .
  • Is generosity important for a strong friendship?  
  • Discuss the importance of friendly and loving relationships for a person’s mental health.  
  • Compare Boethius and Dante’s ideas of friendship .
  • Which type of friendship do you value the most?
  • Examine the friendship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu in the ancient Mesopotamian poem, The Epic of Gilgamesh .
  • How is the idea of friendship described in literary works?
  • The role of childhood friendship in your life.
  • Describe how your notion of friendship changed in a lifespan.
  • Discuss the ways social media platforms put additional pressure on teens’ friendship.
  • Analyze the descriptions of friendship in poetry.
  • What aspects do you consider when accepting a friend in Facebook?
  • Is social media to blame for the absence of close friends?
  • Explain why you like or dislike the idea of traveling with friends .
  • Describe the ways you communicate with your friends .
  • Can money cause issues in relationships between friends?
  • The importance of friendship in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian .
  • Discuss the importance of behavior in relationships with friends and loved ones.
  • Give advice how to keep healthy relationships with your friends.
  • Describe problems that can ruin your relationships with friends and the ways to avoid them.

We hope that you won’t find the task troubling with our friendship essay topics and tips.

4. 💬 Essay on Friendship: 10 Witty Quotes

  • “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”(Proverb)
  • “A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” (Elbert Hubbard)
  • “I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.” (Plutarch)
  • “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
  • “It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.” (Confucius)
  • “It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help.” (Epicurus )
  • “Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.” (Benjamin Franklin)
  • “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ( C.S. Lewis)
  • “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” (A.A. Milne)
  • “Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend’s success.” ( Oscar Wilde)

Now, with these tips and ideas, you won’t have any difficulties with your friendship essays. Don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the section below if you have any questions or suggestions.

Learn more on this topic:

  • How to Write an Impressive Discursive Essay: Tips to Succeed
  • Teamwork Essay: Quick Guide on How to Write a Good Paper
  • Compare and Contrast Essay Writing Tips and Examples
  • Transportation Essay: Writing Tips and Brilliant Topics
  • Outlining, Writing a Paper: Academic Guides at Walden University
  • Outlining: David Kornhaber, for the Writing Center at Harvard University
  • Friendship Essay: Bartleby
  • How to Do Research for an Excellent Essay, the Complete Guide: Oxford Royale Academy
  • Proofreading Your Paper, Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Research Guides at University of Southern California
  • 45 Cute Best Friend Quotes, Short Quotes About True Friends: Madison Alcedo, Country Living
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Opinion Let’s make this the golden age of friendship

We need a new way to talk about important people in our lives.

Anna Goldfarb is a journalist, author and speaker. Her book “Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections” is out Tuesday.

Thanks to astounding technological advances, it has never been easier in the history of civilization to keep in touch with friends . There are natural barriers that make maintaining connections challenging, from attending new schools to changing jobs to moving to new neighborhoods. Our digital worlds have removed time and distance as obstacles. But, while most of us follow dozens of people who may have slipped from our memory before the age of social media, we rarely reach out to them even though they’re only a few clicks away. We should be enjoying the Golden Age of Friendship, but we’re not.

I explored this paradox while researching and writing my book, “ Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections .” I talked to more than 100 people of different ages, economic and racial backgrounds, and gender identities. I listened to their most intimate, vulnerable stories about their friendships. I asked about their friendscapes — how they gravitate toward certain friends over others as their mutual interests and passions evolve. I consulted academics, researchers and mental health professionals. I learned that even though friendships are just as crucial to our well-being as romantic and familial relationships, we do not organize our lives to include them regularly. We lack the language to discuss these bonds. We apply the ambiguous heading of “friends” to our entire social circle, which doesn’t account for these relationships’ varying degrees of closeness. We also struggle with articulating our wants and needs to one another. But we can change that. Here’s what I’ve learned about how to understand modern friendships.

More connections, fewer friends

According to a May survey by the Survey Center on American Life, the number of Americans’ close friends has plummeted compared with levels recorded in 1990.

Researchers point to a variety of reasons for the alarming shift. Several boil down to changes in our personal and professional lives: Most of us work longer hours, we have longer commutes for work, and those of us who are parents spend twice as much time with our children than previous generations.

At the same time, how we prioritize spending our free time has also changed. Modernity has allowed us to embrace equality, individualism, choice, self-expression and freedom, so our friendships naturally reflect those values, wrote author and essayist William Deresiewicz in the Chronicle for Higher Education.

“The modern temper runs toward unrestricted fluidity and flexibility, the endless play of possibility, and so is perfectly suited to the informal, improvisational nature of friendship,” Deresiewicz wrote. “We can be friends with whomever we want, however we want, for as long as we want.” That’s the beauty and burden of modern friendship.

Friendships need a ‘why’

Our phones are full of friends we love, but we rarely contact them. That’s not a knock on us. This lack of communication is because friendships aren’t just about caring. They need an about , a clear and compelling reason to stay active. If you’re feeling a friendship start to cool, the reason to be in the friendship might be unclear or outdated for one or both people. This is a problem because every active close friendship needs a reason for both people to pursue it wholeheartedly.

“Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice,” C.S. Lewis wrote in his book “The Four Loves.” “Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers.”

​​Lewis said the biggest mistake people make when looking for friends is not focusing on the reason both individuals should want to be in the friendship. As you forge new friendships or reignite old ones, ask yourself: Do we have a clear and compelling reason to seek each other out? What can we do together that will incite passion and irresistible excitement?

British anthropologist Robin Dunbar identified seven cultural dimensions that indicate friendship potential in his book “Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships.” He said he discovered these “seven pillars of friendship” working on a project with a group of computer scientists to determine how likely people were to trust others. These are common abouts we find in friendships:

  • Speaking the same language
  • Growing up in the same location
  • Having the same educational and career experiences
  • Enjoying the same hobbies and interests
  • Sharing the same worldview (morals, religious views, political leanings)
  • Having similar senses of humor
  • Sharing the same musical tastes

“The more of these boxes you tick with someone, the more time you will be prepared to invest in them, the more emotionally close you will feel toward them, the closer they will lie to you in the layers of your social network, and the more willing you will be to help them out when they need it,” Dunbar wrote. “And the more likely they are to help you.” That’s the power of having a clear and compelling reason to keep in touch.

Communicating expectations

Another insight Dunbar shared in his book is that we should organize our personal friendships in tiers of varying intensity and intimacy. In researching my book, I discovered the same trend but found the categories to be more fluid than rigid. Milestone events, lifestyle changes and evolving personal enthusiasms impact whose friendships we seek out and why.

After analyzing data he collected on small-scale societies, Dunbar identified our circles of friendship. He found that adults usually have one or two people in their most intimate tier, which is usually a significant other and/or a best friend. I found the same to be true in dozens of interviews. I call this the “bathtub tier” because there’s not much room in there.

Then there’s the three to five people in your Jacuzzi tier. These are your closest friends, the people you’d thank if you won an Academy Award. Next, there’s 10 to 15 people in your swimming pool tier. This could be your work friends, school friends, relatives, couples you go on double dates with and so on. These are the people whose friendships matter the most to you — the people you seek out, spend time with, encourage and support.

It’s important to understand these tiers because friendships are unusual in their ambiguity. I know my husband is my husband and that my sisters are my sisters. But adult friendships aren’t so defined.

This is a problem. Uncertainty creates anxiety. Giving your friends the gift of clarity about the status of your friendships will lessen anxiety on their part, which, in turn, will strengthen the friendship. Let your closest friends know that they — and their goals and dreams — are important to you. Tell them that you consider them a close friend and share why you love being their friend. Are they thoughtful? Caring? Intelligent and hilarious? Tell them!

When it comes to friendship, many people imagine they’d be happier with a web of close, highly engaged friends. But studies show that it feels better to be considered someone’s best friend than to have oodles of friends. That’s because being considered someone’s best friend is a powerful measure of your integrity, good character and inner beauty.

Letting your friends know that you cherish them in this way will make them more invested in the friendship. It can be scary to be so vulnerable and let someone know you value their friendship, but if they’re in your Jacuzzi tier, it’s wise to let them know that.

Next, find ways to spend in-person time together doing things you both care about. Create happy memories. Make them in person . Commit to staying in the friendship and being an exceptional teammate to one another.

What strategies do you use to keep your friendships active? Share your thoughts with us .

About guest opinion submissions

The Washington Post accepts opinion articles on any topic. We welcome submissions on local, national and international issues. We publish work that varies in length and format, including multimedia. Submit a guest opinion or read our guide to writing an opinion article .

a good thesis for friendship

a good thesis for friendship

Friday essay: on the ending of a friendship

a good thesis for friendship

Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, The University of Melbourne

Disclosure statement

Kevin John Brophy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

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Friendship is an incomparable, immeasurable boon to me, and a source of life — not metaphorically but literally.
  • Simone Weil

About eight years ago, I went to dinner with a dear friend I had known for more than 40 years. It would be the last time we would see each other and by the end of that evening I was deeply shaken. But more lasting and more unsettling than this has been the feeling of loss without his friendship. It was a sudden ending but it was also an ending that lasted for me well beyond that evening. I have worried since then at what kind of friend I am to my friends, and why a friendship can suddenly self-destruct while others can so unexpectedly bloom.

My friend and I were used to going to dinner together, though it had become an increasingly tricky matter for us. We had been seeing each other more infrequently, and our conversations had been tending towards repetition. I still enjoyed his passion for talk, his willingness to be puzzled by life’s events, our comically growing list of minor ailments as we entered our sixties, and the old stories he fell back on — usually stories of his minor triumphs, such as the time his car burst into fire, was declared a write-off by insurance, and ended in an auction house where he bought it back with part of the insurance payout and only minor repairs to be made. There were stories of his time as a barman in one of Melbourne’s roughest pubs. I suppose in a lot of long-lasting friendships it is these repeated stories of the past that can fill the present so richly.

a good thesis for friendship

Nevertheless, both his opinions and mine seemed to have become too predictable. Even his desire to come up with the most unpredictable viewpoint on any problem was a routine I expected from him. Each of us knew the weaknesses in the other’s thinking, and we had learned not to go too far with some topics, which were of course the most interesting and important ones.

He knew how politically correct I could be, and shrewdly enough he had no time for my self-righteousness, the predictability of my views on gender, race and climate. I understood this. He knew too that his fiercely independent thinking was often just the usual rant against greenies or lefties. Something had begun to fail in our friendship, but I could not properly perceive this or speak of it.

We were a contrasting pair. He was a big man with an aggressive edge to his gregarious nature, while I was lean, short and physically slight next to him, a much more reserved person altogether. I liked his size because big men have been protective figures in my life. At times when I felt threatened I would ask him to come with me to a meeting or a transaction, and just stand next to me in his big way. During one long period of trouble with our neighbours he would visit when the tension was high to show his formidable presence and his solidarity with us.

I was always reading and knew how to talk books, while he was too restless to read much. He knew how to sing, bursting into song occasionally when we were together. He had been unable to work professionally since a breakdown that was both physical and mental. By contrast, I was working steadily, never quite as free with my time as he was.

Nearly two years before our last dinner together his wife had suddenly left him. As it turned out, she had been planning her departure for some time, but when she went he was taken by surprise. I saw a more confused and fragile side of him during those months when we would meet and talk through how he was dealing with their counselling sessions, and then how the negotiations were proceeding over belongings and finally the family house. He was learning to live alone for the first time since he had been a young man, and was exploring what it might be like to seek out new relationships.

Read more: Research Check: is it true only half your friends actually like you?

A safe haven

We had met when I was a first-year university student boarding at my grandmother’s home in an inner Melbourne suburb. I was studying for a Bachelor of Arts, staying up through the nights, discovering literature, music, history, cask wine, dope, girls and ideas.

He lived in a flat a few doors away in a street behind my grandmother’s place, and I remember it was the local parish youth group, or the remnants of one, that used to meet in his flat. In my friend’s flat we would lie around the floor, half a dozen of us, drinking, flirting, arguing about religion or politics until the night was strung out in our heads, tight and thin and vibrating with possibilities. I loved that sudden intimate and intellectually rich contact with people my own age.

My friend and I started up a coffee lounge in an old disused shopfront as a meeting place for youth who would otherwise be on the street. I was the one who became immersed in the chaotic life of the place as students, musicians, misfits, hopeful poets and petty criminals floated through the shop, while my friend kept his eye on the broader picture that involved real estate agents, local councils, supplies of coffee, income and expenditure.

Perhaps the experience helped delay my own adulthood, allowing me time to try out a bohemian, communal alternative lifestyle that was so important to some of us in the early 1970s. My friend, though, was soon married. It was as if he had been living a parallel life outside our friendship, outside the youth group, coffee shop, jug band, drugs and misadventures of our project.

This did not break us up, and in fact after his marriage he became another kind of friend. I was at times struggling to find some steady sense of myself. Sometimes in those years I would not be able to talk or even be near others, and I remember once when I felt like this I went to my newly married friend’s home, and asked if I could lie on the floor in the corner of their lounge room for a few days until I felt better.

They indulged me. I felt it was this haven that saved me then, giving me the time to recoup and giving me a sense that there was somewhere I could go where the world was safe and neutral.

a good thesis for friendship

In time, and more bumpily and uncertainly than my friend, I was with a partner raising a family. He was often involved in our children’s birthdays, other celebrations, our house-moving, and just dropping in on family meals. It worked for us. I remember him lifting our cast iron wood-burning stove into its place in our first renovated Brunswick cottage. He lived in a more sprawling home near bushland on the edge of Melbourne, so one of my pleasures became the long cycling trips out to see him.

My partner and I were embraced by a local community thanks to the childcare centre, kinders, schools and sport. Lasting friendships (for us and for our children) grew in the tentative, open-ended, slightly blindly feeling way of friendships. Through this decade and a half though, the particular friendship with my songful friend held, perhaps to the surprise of both of us.

‘Tolerating much, for the sake of best intentions’

In his thoroughly likeable 1993 book on friendship , the political scientist Graham Little wrote under the bright light of writings by Aristotle and Freud, that the purest kind of friendship “welcomes the different ways people are alive to life and tolerates much in a friend for the sake of best intentions”.

a good thesis for friendship

Here perhaps is the closest I have seen to a definition of friendship at its best: a stance imbued with sympathy, interest and excitement directed at another despite all that otherwise shows we are flawed and dangerous creatures.

On that evening, the evening of the last time we went out to dinner together, I did push my friend towards one of the topics we usually avoided. I had been wanting him to acknowledge and even apologise for his behaviour towards some young women he had spoken to, I thought, lewdly and insultingly nearly a year before in my home at a party. The women and those of us who had witnessed his behaviour felt continuing tension over his refusal to discuss the fact that he had wanted to speak so insultingly to them and then had done it in our home in front of us. For me, there was some element of betrayal, not only in the way he had behaved but in his continued refusal to discuss what had happened.

The women were drunk, he said, just as he had said the last time I tried to talk to him about this. They were wearing almost nothing, he said, and what he’d said to them was no more than they were expecting. My friend and I were sitting in a popular Thai restaurant on Sydney Road: metal chairs, plastic tables, concrete floor. It was noisy, packed with students, young couples and groups out for a cheap and tasty meal. A waitress had put menus, water and beer on our table while she waited for us to decide on our meals. Wanting to push finally past this impasse, I pointed out to him that the women had not insulted him, he had insulted them.

If that’s the way you want it, he replied, and placed his hands on each side of the table, hurling it into the air and walking out of the restaurant as table, bottles, glasses, water and beer came clattering and smashing down around me. The whole restaurant fell silent. I could not move for some time. The waitress began mopping up the floor around me. Someone called out, “Hey, are you all right?”

This was the last time I saw or heard from him. For many months, I thought of him every day, then slowly I thought of him less often, until now I can think of him more or less at will, and not find myself ashamed of the way I went for him in a conversation where I should have been perhaps more alive to whatever was troubling him.

Improvised, tentative

For some years after this, I felt I had to learn how to be myself without him. I have read articles and essays since then about how pitiful men can be at friendship. We are apparently too competitive, we base our friendships on common activities, which means we can avoid talking openly about our feelings and thoughts. I don’t know about this “male deficit model”, as some sociologists call it, but I do know that the loss of this friendship took with it a big part of my shared personal history at that time. It dented my confidence in ever having properly known this man or understood our friendship — or in knowing how secure any friendship might be.

a good thesis for friendship

I was drawn to read and re-read Michel de Montaigne’s gentle and strangely extreme essay on friendship where he was so certain that he knew with perfection what his friend would think and say and value. He wrote of his friend, Etienne de Boëtie, “Not only did I know his mind as well as I knew my own but I would have entrusted myself to him with greater assurance than to myself.”

Against this perfection of understanding between friends, there is George Eliot’s odd excursion into science fiction in her 1859 novel, The Lifted Veil . Her narrator, Latimer, finds he can perceive perfectly clearly the thoughts of all the people around him. He becomes disgusted and deeply disturbed by the petty self-interest he apparently discovers within everyone.

After 40 years of shared history, there was not the disgust Eliot writes of, nor Montaigne’s perfect union of mind and trust between me and my burly friend, but there was, I had thought, a foundation of knowledge whereby we took each other’s differences into ourselves, as well as our common histories of the cafe we had run, and as it happened our common serving of time in semi-monastic seminaries before we’d met — differences and similarities that had given us, I thought, ways of being in sympathy with each other while allowing for each other.

Read more: Guide to the classics: Michel de Montaigne's Essays

Montaigne’s dearest friend, Etienne, had died, and his essay was as much about the meaning of this loss as about friendship. His big idea was loyalty, and I think I understand that, though not in the absolute way Montaigne wrote of it.

Loyalty is only real if it is constantly renewed. I worry that I have not worked enough at some friendships that have come into my life, but have let them happen more passively than the women I know who spend such time, and such complicated time, exploring and testing friendships. The sudden disappearance of my friend left me with an awareness of how patched-together, how improvised, clumsy and tentative even the most secure-seeming friendship can be.

When the philosopher and brilliant essayist, Simone Weil wrote shortly before she died in 1943,

I may lose, at any moment, through the play of circumstances over which I have no control, anything whatsoever that I possess, including things that are so intimately mine that I consider them as myself. There is nothing that I might not lose. It could happen at any moment ….

she seemed to be touching on the difficult truth that we run on luck and hope and chance much of the time. Why haven’t I worked harder at friendships, when I know that they provide the real meaning in my life?

Some years ago, when I was told by a medical specialist that I had a 30% chance of having cancer, as I waited for the results of a biopsy, I remember that in response to these dismal odds I had no desire to go back to work, no desire to even read — all I wanted to do was spend time with friends.

Inner worlds laid waste

To know what it is we care about, this is a gift. It should be straightforward to know this and keep it present in our lives, but it can prove to be difficult. Being the reader that I am, I have always turned to literature and fiction for answers or insights into those questions that seem to need answering.

I realised some time after the ending of my friendship that I had been reading novels dealing with friendship, and was not even sure how consciously I had chosen them.

For instance, I read The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber, a novel about a Christian preacher, Peter Leigh, sent to convert aliens in a galaxy ludicrously far from earth on a planet with an equally unlikely atmosphere benign to its human colonisers.

a good thesis for friendship

It is a novel about whether Leigh can be any kind of adequate friend to his wife left behind on Earth, and whether his new feelings for these aliens amounts to friendship. Though my suspension of disbelief was precarious, I found myself caring about these characters and their relationships, even the grotesquely shapeless aliens. Partly I cared about them because the book read like an essay testing ideas of friendship and loyalty that were important and urgent to the writer.

I also read at that time Haruki Murakami’s novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage , a book that came with a little game of coloured cards and stickers, and I found that I cared about Tsukuru Tazaki too, for I felt all along that Murakami’s character was a thin and endearing disguise for himself (what a beautiful word that is, “en-dearing”).

The novel centred on lost friendships. I heard a tone in its voice that was the oddly flat, persistent, vulnerable and sincere searching of a man for connection with others. If Murakami’s novel has a proposition it wishes to test it would be that we only know ourselves in what images of ourselves we receive back from our friends. Without our friends we become invisible, lost.

In both those novels, the friendships are crashing to pieces in slow motion in front of the reader’s helpless eyes. I wanted to shake those characters, tell them to stop and think about what they were doing, but at the same time I saw in them mirrors of myself and my experiences.

a good thesis for friendship

I read John Berger too , on the way a human looks across an abyss of incomprehension when looking at another animal. Though language seems to connect us, it might be that language also distracts us from the actual abyss of ignorance and fear between all of us as we look, across, at each other. In his book on the savage mind , Lévi-Strauss quotes a study of Canadian Carrier Indians living on the Bulkley River who were able to cross that abyss between species, believing they knew what animals did and what their needs were because their men had been married to the salmon, the beaver and the bear.

I have read essays by Robin Dunbar on the evolutionary limits to our circles of intimacy , where he suggests that for most of us there needs to be three or maybe five truly close friends. These are the ones we lean towards with tenderness and open ourselves to with endless curiosity — those in whom we seek only the good.

My partner can name quickly four friends who qualify for her as part of this necessary circle. I find I can name two (and she is one of them), then a constellation of individual friends whose closeness to me I can’t easily measure. It is this constellation that sustains me.

Recently I was away from home for three months. After two weeks away I wrote a list in the back of my diary of the friends I was missing. A little more than a dozen of these were the friends, men and women, with whom I need contact, and with whom conversations are always open-ended, surprising, intellectually stimulating, sometimes intimate, and often fun. With each of them I explore a slightly different but always essential version of myself. Graham Little wrote that “ideal soulmates are friends who are fully aware that each has himself as his main life project”.

To live this takes some effort of imagination, and with my friend at dinner that night I might in myself have been refusing to make this effort.

There are also, it occurs to me, the friends who came as couples, with whom my partner and I share time as couples. This is itself another manifestation of friendship, one that crosses over into community, tribe and family — and no less precious than the individual intimacy of a personal friendship. For reasons I can’t properly fathom, the importance of this kind of time with coupled friends has deepened as I have grown through the decades of my fifties and sixties.

Perhaps it is that the dance of conversation and ideas is so much more complex and pleasurable when there are four or more contributing. It could be too that I am absolved from the responsibility of really working at these friendships in the way one must when there are two of us. Or it might be the pang and stimulus of the knowledge that opportunities to be together are brutally diminishing as we grow older.

But to lose an individual friend from one’s closest circle is to have large tracts of one’s inner world laid waste for a time. My feelings over the end of this particular friendship were a kind of grief mixed with bewilderment.

a good thesis for friendship

It was not that the friendship was necessary to my existence, but that perhaps through habit and sympathy it had become a fixed part of my identity. Robin Dunbar would say that by stepping away from this friendship I had made room for someone else to slip in to my circle of most intimate friends, but isn’t it the point of such close friends that they are in some important sense irreplaceable? This is the source of much of our distress when such friendships end.

Still learning

When I told people about what had happened in the restaurant that night, they would say, reasonably, “Why don’t you patch things up and resume your friendship?”

As I imagined how a conversation might go if I did meet my friend again, I came to understand that I had been a provocation to him. I had ceased to be the friend he needed, wanted or imagined.

What he did was dramatic. He might have called it merely dramatic. I felt it as threatening. Though I cannot help but think I provoked him. And if we had “patched” a friendship back together, on whose terms would this have been conducted? Would it always be that I would have to agree not to press him on questions that might lead him to throw over some table between us again?

Or worse, would I have to witness his apology, forgive him myself, and put him on his best behaviour for the rest of our friendship?

Neither of those outcomes would have patched much together. I had been hurting too over what I saw as his lack of willingness or interest to understand the situation from my point of view. And so it went inside me as the table and the water and the beer and the glasses came crashing down around me. I had been, in a way, married to my friend, even if he was a salmon or a bear — a creature across an abyss from me. Perhaps this was the only way out of that marriage. Perhaps he had been preparing for (moving towards?) this moment more consciously than I had been.

The ending of this friendship, it is clear, left me looking for its story. It was as if all along there must have been a narrative with a trajectory carrying us in this direction. A story is of course a way of testing whether an experience can take on a shape. Murakami’s and Faber’s novels are not themselves full-blown stories, for there is almost no plot, no shape, to their stumbling episodic structures, and oddly enough in both books the self-doubting lovers might or might not find that close communion with another somewhere well beyond the last page of each novel.

These novels cohere round a series of questions rather than events: what do we know and what can we know about others, what is the nature of the distance that separates one person from another, how provisional is it to know someone anyway, and what does it mean to care about someone, even someone who is a character in a novel?

When an Indian says he is married to a salmon, this can be no stranger than me saying I spent a couple of weeks on a humid planet in another galaxy with an astronaut who is a Christian preacher and an inept husband, or I spent last night in Tokyo with an engineer who builds railway stations and believes himself to be colourless, though at least two women have told him he is full of colour. But do I go to this story-making as a way of keeping my experiences less personal and more cerebral?

a good thesis for friendship

When I got home that night eight years ago, I sat at my kitchen table, shaking, hugging myself, talking to my grown-up children about what happened. It was the talking that helped — a narrative taking shape.

Dunbar, like me, like all of us, worries at the question of what makes life so richly present to us, and why friendships seem to be at the core of this meaningfulness. He has been surveying Americans with questions about friendship for several decades, and he concludes that for many of us the small circle of intimate friendships we experience is reducing.

We are apparently lucky now, on average, if there are two people in our lives we can approach with tenderness and curiosity, with that assumption that time will not matter as we talk in a low, murmuring, hive-warm way to a close friend.

My friend cannot be replaced, and it might be that we did not in the end imagine each other fully enough or accurately enough as we approached that last encounter. I don’t know precisely what our failure was. The shock of what happened and the shock of the friendship ending has over the time since that dinner become a part of my history in which I remember feeling grief but am no longer caught in confused anger or guilt over it. The story of it might not have ended but it has subsided.

Perhaps in all friendships we are not only, at our best, agreeing to encountering the unique and endlessly absorbing presence of another person, but unknown to us we’re learning something about how to approach the next friendship in our lives. There is something comically inept and endearing about the possibility that one might still be learning how to be a friend right up to the end of life.

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Importance of Friendship Essay Example, with Outline

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Importance of Friendship Essay Outline

Introduction.

Thesis: Friendship brings people together in a bond that helps them realize and experience a meaningful life.

Paragraph 1:

A good friend is always available irrespective of the circumstances.

  • A true friend cares for their friends, accepts them unconditionally, tolerates their shortcomings, and encourages them even in the face of hopelessness.
  • A loyal friend makes one to be who they are without fearing victimization or judgment.
  • A good friend can know one more than one knows themselves.
  • A friend can tell one without fear what one does not want to tell oneself.

Paragraph 2:

Friendship is like a partnership since it brings two people together on equal terms that are binding to both of them.

  • Friends give their all and love each other unconditionally and do even more so as to sustain it.
  • The ugly, the bad, and the good should be endured in friendship.
  • A good friend brings out the best in someone.
  • A person in friendship expects their initiatives to be attended to even when they are down with illness.

Paragraph 3:

Friendship can be compared to family and can even do more than a family could do for a person.

  • Sometimes, the friends one has are the family they wish they had or the family they find easier to deal with as compared to their blood family.
  • One’s blood family may ignore, ridicule, judge, or even misunderstand them.
  • One may get from their friends that which they do not get from their family.
  • A true family is not linked by the bond of blood but the bond of joy and respect in each other’s life.

Paragraph 4:

“A friend in need is a friend in deed” is an old cliché that speaks about true friendship.

  • It essentially means that a true friend will always help in times of need.
  • I fully understood the meaning of this saying when a classmate friend of mine once handed in my takeaway assignment in my absence.

Friendship brings people together to form a greater and stronger whole than its individual parts. Friends act and react in ways that show that they love and care for each other.

Importance of Friendship Essay Example

Almost every human being has friends or at least a friend with whom they spend time together. Friendship is about knowing someone better than others do and counting on them whenever the need arises. A friend is like a gift that one gives oneself. It is doubtless that out of friendship, one lives the fullness of life. Some of the qualities that are expected from friendship include trust, honesty, and authenticity. These are qualities that are majorly concerned with remaining true to a friend and providing them a shoulder to lean on all the time. Friendship brings people together in a bond that helps them realize and experience a meaningful life. Gudwriter offers two paragraph essay examples from any topic.

A good friend is always available irrespective of the circumstances. A true friend cares for their friends, accepts them unconditionally, tolerates their shortcomings, and encourages them even in the face of hopelessness. Even at that moment when everyone decides to walk away from a person for whatever reason(s), their true friend would walk in and be with them and support them. With a loyal friend, one can be who they are without fearing victimization or judgment because they know the friend fully understands them. A good friend can as a matter of fact know one more than one knows themselves. In addition, a friend can tell one without fear what one does not want to tell oneself. If one is on a wrong path, the friend would tell them as soon as they notice it.

Additionally, friendship is like a partnership since it brings two people together on equal terms that are binding to both of them. They give their all and love each other unconditionally and do even more so as to sustain it. In a friendship, there should be expected to be the ugly, the bad, and the good, all of which should be endured. A good friend brings out the best in someone by encouraging them and prevailing upon them to make the best out of their abilities and strengths. Just like in a business partnership, a person in friendship would expect their initiatives to be attended to even when they are down with illness. This is why it could be true to say that life is partly what one makes it and partly what the friends they choose make it.

Friendship can also be compared to family and can even do more than a family could do for a person. Sometimes, the friends one has are the family they wish they had or the family they find easier to deal with as compared to their blood family. One’s blood family may ignore, ridicule, judge, or even misunderstand them. In such a case, they would get from their friends that which they do not get from their family. However, in the best case scenario, friendship can also develop between or among family members. Normally, a true family is not linked by the bond of blood but the bond of joy and respect in each other’s life. One should consider a good friend of theirs as their greatest relation because just one loyal friend is more than a thousand relatives.

“ A friend in need is a friend in deed ” is an old cliché that speaks about true friendship. It essentially means that a true friend will always help in times of need. I never really gave much weight to this saying until I once had to rely on a friend and classmate for an important favor. I had missed school due to an unavoidable circumstance on a day everyone in the class was to hand in their final takeaway assignment in print format. I tried calling people I had thought were my friends among my classmates but none was willing to help. When I was just about to give up, Jasmine, a classmate who was not so close a friend, called and asked me to email her my assignment. I later learnt she downloaded the assignment, printed it, and handed it in together with hers. From then, I am careful about people I treat as friends.

Friendship brings people together to form a greater and stronger whole than its individual parts. Friends act and react in ways that show that they not only love each other but care for them too. It is akin to striking a partnership in which one partner is always there for the other partner in his or her absence. Friends broaden each other’s horizon by opening new doors for each other. They seek to soar beyond limits as a single determined force. Indeed, friendship guarantees one a meaningful and fulfilling life.

  

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Gilgamesh and Enkidu Friendship Essay

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  • As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Gilgamesh and enkidu: friendship in the epic, what do we learn from enkidu and gilgamesh’s friendship.

All through history, stories, poems, and songs have common themes. This fact played a significant role in explaining some aspects of societal life. One of these is friendship. No one in the world does not need a friend; therefore, it is a necessary aspect of life.

The role of friendship in the Epic of Gilgamesh is vital. The epic was appearing in a period of nearly a thousand years from about 2500 to 1500 B.C. Gilgamesh, who is two-thirds god and one-third man, is the oppressive fifth king of Uruk while Enkidu is the ruler of the animals. This essay unfolds the theme of friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu that develops in the course of the story.

As the story begins, King Gilgamesh of Uruk is depicted to be in mature manhood and superior to all other men in both beauty and strength. No one could match up with him in the ancient Mesopotamian society. The unsatisfied cravings of his demigod nature could not find a suitable mate for him in love or war. Besides, his unsatisfied daemonic energy made the people of Uruk be dissatisfied with his reign.

Because he lacked love and friendship, Gilgamesh turned to excess and indulgence, and he celebrated his victories with too much debauched partying, which annoyed the individuals in the city as well as the gods in the temples. Because of his oppressive rule, the people asked for help from the gods since they feared that someday Gilgamesh would ask for a more significant part of his divine heritage, challenge the gods and even rock the pillars of heaven if he was not controlled.

Therefore, to counter the threat, the gods devised a plan of creating Enkidu, who was the Gilgamesh’s friend and his mirror image. They believed that the king would divert his dangerous energies toward that rival, thereby stop challenging heaven. The gods then made Enkidu from clay and left him in the wilderness to live and eat as the animals do.

In the wilderness, though he somehow established a friendship with the wild animals, his cravings for a mate were not adequately satisfied. Therefore, when a harlot from the city seduced him, he quickly agreed to leave and live in the great-civilized city of Uruk. When Enkidu goes there, he seems not to like Gilgamesh at first since the two engaged in a fight soon after they met.

However, Gilgamesh and Enkidu quickly started to like one another. How did they become friends? In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the theme of friendship appears when the two giants become very close and begin to rely on one another in conquering their enemies with ease. After that, the solidarity between the two of them helps in developing the plot of the story. All in all, it is a mixture of morality, pure adventure, and tragedy, as subsequent experiences are based on this newfound eternal comradeship.

The newly found comrades soon grow weak and become indolent with city life. Therefore, Gilgamesh suggests an exciting activity, which involves going to the forest to cut down trees to construct a memorable monument to the gods. However, since the terrifying demon called Humbaba is endowed with the responsibility of protecting the forest that is also prohibited to mortals, they have to kill him first.

At first, Enkidu disagrees with this proposal but gives in after persuasion from his friend. The importance of their friendship gave them the astounding courage and unwavering confidence to succeed in killing Humbaba. As the King of Uruk cleans himself, Ishtar offers to become his wife because his beauty was appealing to her; however, he turns her down with insults, recounting to her the dire fates that all her mortal lovers have met.

Ishtar, the goddess of love and beauty, is infuriated at the rejection and goes to heaven to request his father, Anu, to send the Bull of Heaven to terrorize the people of Uruk. However, Gilgamesh and his compatriot work together to defeat the bull sent by the gods from heaven.

For example, after the success of their missions, Enkidu dreamt that they had gone contrary to the wishes of the gods so much that one of them must be sacrificed for murdering Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Thereafter, he quickly succumbed to a fatal disease after twelve days of suffering.

The loss of Enkidu brings remorse to Gilgamesh, and he realizes that death is inevitable. Because of the loss of the great friendship, he sets out on a journey to find Utnapishtim, the one man holding the secret of everlasting life. On the way, he encountered various obstacles, and on finally meeting Utnapishtam, he successively failed different tests that could have given him the secret of immortality. In the end, Gilgamesh, though being the King of Uruk, succumbed to the same fate that befell his friend.

Although the type of friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu corresponds to contemporary friendship, it differs in some way from it. All through the ages, humans have treasured friendship since it determines our survival in this world.

In the current society, human relationship is essential for helping one another in times of difficulty, just as Gilgamesh and Enkidu assisted one another in conquering their enemies. Most people look for various traits in friends, mainly attributes that they may have in common. However, the current society takes friendship for granted. Many people see it as something that exists naturally.

How many yearn for their better halves, as did Gilgamesh and Enkidu for each other? Who can go in the world to search for a suitable mate in love? What does the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu tell us about friendship? The Mesopotamian society, as depicted by taming of Enkidu so that Gilgamesh could accept him, valued friendship such that they could go in search of it.

I do not think that two ordinary peasants in Mesopotamia were capable of forming the kind of bond that existed between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. For me, this is the most important thesis of the essay. Epic of Gilgamesh depicts its main hero as being a two-thirds god. Therefore, to make him have his equal, the gods created Enkidu to satisfy his cravings for a mate. That’s why Gilgamesh and Enkidu needed each other. This fact implies that the gods predestined their friendship, a thing that could not just happen among ordinary peasants in Mesopotamia.

Before the coming of Enkidu, Gilgamesh had a cold heart, and he never befriended anyone. However, the arrival of Enkidu changed all these as he placed a check on Gilgamesh’s powerful energies. On the other hand, Gilgamesh pulled him out of his egocentricity. This even matching of characteristics is only possible when someone is specially created for the other, but not otherwise as may be in ordinary men.

  • Epic of Gilgamesh
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  • Quote Explanation From “The Epic of Gilgamesh”
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Bibliography

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COMMENTS

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