Friendship Essay: Ordinary People and At Risk A chum. An acquaintance. A comrade. No matter how you say it, they all lead to one common meaning: friendship. In the books Ordinary People and At Risk, the authors intentionally convey the aspect of friendship and how the main characters react to such an aspect, but it all leads to the conclusion that friendship is one of the most important ingredients in life. "Webster's Dictionary" defines friendship as: the state of being friends, attachment between friends, friendly feeling or attitude, but in life friendship and its importance cannot be defined. Instead it must be felt emotionally through a handshake, a loving embrace, or even through words. The relationships between Conrad and Joe Lazenby, Conrad and Jeannine Pratt, and Conrad and Dr. Berger in Ordinary People; and Amanda and Jessie Eagan, Amanda and Laurel Smith, and Charlie and Sevrin Stafford in At Risk are excellent examples of how important friends are in times of distress.
English: me and my friend
Original caption: Ne ties a friendship bracelet on...
Friendship, Göteborg, SwedenFriendship is also an important ingredient in our lives today.
In Ordinary People, Joe Lazenby had always and will always be Conrad's true friend through good and bad times. Being Conrad's best friend, he cares about Conrad's feelings even when Conrad tries to avoid him. Jeannine Pratt helps Conrad escape from his depression and makes him feel important and needed. When Jeannine is crying about her parents' divorce, Conrad hugs her and comforts her. In a way, they both help each other deal with their problems. Berger helps Conrad mentally by telling him to value his own opinion about himself more than the opinions of others. He also helps Conrad through his time of guilt of Buck's death by showing him that his death was no one's fault. He makes Conrad realize that he should...