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Analysis Of Emerson's Essay On Friendship

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Emerson 's essay on friendship is one of the most remembered and highly respected essays dating back to the 19th century. The information given in the essay is extremely valuable and has helped to explain the universal truth that is friendship. Emerson 's essay on friendship is his way of delineating the paths of coherence. These paths fall into two distinct kinds. The first is the consistent enunciation of a view which is the master-tone that Emerson uses from essay to essay while the second is the internal linkage of the views in the essay. Some scholars have argued that Emerson 's views on friendship are strange and radical while others feel that his logic is sound and valid. This argument can only be found by finding the deeper meaning in Emerson 's criticisms and praise of friendships. Many find that there is a critical connection between friendship and other earthly phenomena which Emerson shows through the use of …show more content…

Emerson also gives a logical argument regarding the "law of one to one" in friendship. Here he states that the common practice in friendship is to have two people and that a friendship between more than two people may not be feasible. This logic is lacking since what is required for a friendship is "affinity that determines which two shall converse" and not will. To point out, his essay concludes that what is commonly referred to as friendship is not really friendship, "Friends, such as we desire, are dreams and fables,". This logic is sound and valid since we often paint an image of friendship that gives it much more credit than it deserves. Emerson 's essay on friendship is a mediation or a set of variations on the themes of hope and disappointment that we suffer in life as a result of others. Emerson 's essay on friendship progresses from a diffuse friendship which begins at a distance to the disappointment that comes from having friends to the reality of having friends in our lives and the promise of something better anything we have ever

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