Friends Make the Man Essay

The influence of friends is of massive importance in the novel Cry, the Beloved Country. Without his friends encouraging him, Absalom would most likely never have tried to rob Arthur Jarvis’ house, and he certainly would not have accidentally shot Arthur. Absalom said it himself when he told his father, â€Å"It was bad companions.† The reader is repeatedly reminded of this one condemning mistake: choosing bad friends results in dangerous activities. Another example of this message is the mother of Absalom’s child. Growing up, her family was practically nonexistent and it can be assumed that she didn’t have great friends to support and strengthen her. Instead, she always kept a man in her life and ended up the mother of a child out of wedlock with the father sentenced to death. If helpful family and friends had been available, her life would most likely have changed for the better. There are bad friends, nonexistent friends, but what about the good friends? These are the ones Kumalo kept. He made it clear what kind of friends he chose when he was speaking to Absalom, â€Å"You mean they were the kind of friends that a good man could choose, upright, hard-working, obeying the law?† Msimangu was exactly this kind of friend. Instead of just looking out for himself, he often put Kumalo’s well-being before his own. This man truly cared about others, a rare and wonderful quality. As if being there for Kumalo and helping him deal with Absalom’s incarceration in any way he could wasn’t enough, he gave Kumalo a large sum of money to replace all that was spent while trying to find and help Absalom. Msimangu was simply the epitome of a loving, caring, true friend. Of course, a friend doesn’t have to be a living, breathing, walking, talking person. Friendship can be found in something as simple as words written. Even after his death, Arthur Jarvis’ words reached out to comfort and impact his father—James Jarvis. Arthur’s words became a friend to his father to help James deal with his death and instigate a change in his view of the world. Those carefully chosen words eventually lead to James helping the people of Ixopo improve their lives. Other friendships that were formed and resulted in colossal changes are between Kumalo and James Jarvis as well as Kumalo and Arthur Jarvis’ son. The friendship between Kumalo and Arthur’s son was mainly responsible for the help that James sent. Kumalo and the boy were linked through the boy’s curiosity about the Zulu language, but because they spoke, the boy discovered the troubles of Ixopo and sought a way to resolve them. James and Kumalo’s friendship literally saved Kumalo’s livelihood. Without that connection, Kumalo would have been sent away from the only town he has known and loved. It would have destroyed him. He belonged in Ixopo and Ixopo belonged with him. Friends rightly make the man, whether for good or for bad. Kumalo’s friends made him more successful and lifted him up. Conversely, the mother of Absalom’s child was damaged by the lack of a strong base of good friends. Absalom, unfortunately, had his life decimated by his choice to trust the wrong friends. Friends can make the man kinder or meaner, wiser or more foolish. In Absalom’s case, friends made the man dead.