“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies” Aristotle, Lives of eminent Philosophers, (2010) Wikipedia dictionary online. Available from: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle. Accessed 17 July 2010
Nowadays, People live in a new society where often nobody stops what they are doing in order to be worry about the others. People live in a selfish world where the people’s feelings have gone into the background, giving more importance to economic and social stability rather than emotional stability. Although, we believe that for these reasons the friendly relations have been missing; however, this is a serious mistake because people must communicate with others, and they must establish many types of human relationships, but one of the most important is friendship.

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“Friendship is a value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistent basis: the tendency to desire what is best for the other , sympathy and empathy, honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one’s counterpart, mutual understanding and compassion, trust in one another; and, able to go to each other for emotional support” Friendship definition.(2010).Wikipedia dictionary online. Available from: hHYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship”ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship. Accessed 17 July 2010
In this opportunity, I want to focus on the importance of friendship which is reflected in two interesting books of the twenty century: “The Great Gatsby” and “Motorcycle Diaries”. However, both books were written at different times, places and facts, but in both the characters created strong bonds of friendship in the book plots. It is very interesting to know how is developed the friendship between the main characters: Gatsby and Nick, and Ernesto and Alberto friendship. This is an interesting plot because without a loyal friend, they would not able to give the sense to their lives and the sense of the plots of the books.
First of all, “the Great Gatsby” was written in the 1920s by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. During this period, people tried to forget the shock lived because of the World War I, so the people wasted their money in trivial things such as going to parties and drinking in a crazy way. In this book, there is an omniscient narrator, who was Nick Carraway. For that reason, “The Great Gatsby” is narrated from Nick’s point of view. The novel started when Nick came from Minnesota and moved to New York to work in the bond business. After that, he rented a house in a popular and fascinating place called West Egg, where new rich people lived. They were a group of people who made their wealth too quickly to interact with the truly rich. In that place, Nick befriended his neighbor, the mysterious Jay Gatsby, who was famous for its populous parties. Gatsby was born on a farm in North Dakota; working for a millionaire, he made him dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth. The first time that the friends, Nick and Gatsby, met was in a party, but they did not interchange any word. After that, Gatsby sent an invitation to Nick to his home because he wanted to talk with him, so they met and talked. Besides in that occasion, they discovered that they participated in the World War I. Gatsby and Nick had a friendship that grew slowly over the course of the story, where Nick was discovering the mysteries of his friend Gatsby. As the novel progressed, Gatsby and Nick started a real friendship because inside the novel there were many trivial situations such as the populous Gatsby’s parties. Also, the people lived a life with lies, and they want to show off their wealth. Nick never showed off other thing, he always said the truth and tried to help to his friend Gatsby while Gatsby hide the truth in the being of the novel. In the Gatsby youth, he knew Daisy, who was Nick’s cousin, while he was training to be an army officer. They fall in love, and started a relationship, which they never forgot. Following that, Nick met with Daisy Buchanan and her husband, who attached to the real group of wealthy and lived in the swanky neighborhood of East Egg. Nick facilitated the rekindling of the romance between her and Gatsby because he invited at his home in some occasions to Daisy, and Gatsby gave the first opportunity to meet with Daisy. In this part of the novel, Gatsby needed Nick’s help, and Nick gave his support. In the novel, Nick also learns that Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activity, as he was willing to do anything to gain the social position he thought necessary to get Daisy, thus achieving upward social mobility and settle in a wealthy place. However, Nick knew the truth, he always went with Gatsby because Nick was tolerant, and honest, a person who kept secrets. After many events that took place, Daisy and Jay could not have a relationship because Daisy never loved him really, and also she was married with Tom Buchanan. When she had to decide between Gatsby and Tom, she preferred to continue her life with Tom. Gatsby was very sad because she was his real love, so Nick was there for him when Gatsby needed. Finally Gatsby was killed by Myrtle’s husband, and Nick was very worried about his friend, so he decided to go at Gatsby home, and he knew that his friend was died. In the Gatsby’s funeral, the only person who attended was his father, a man who lived in his house, and Nick, who was his real friend because Nick was with Gatsby ever in his death day as a good friend.
Secondly, we have “Motorcycle diaries” which was written by Ernesto “Che” Guevara as a result of his daily trips through Latin America. In 1952, one semester before Ernesto Guevara finished his medical studies, he and his old friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist, left Buenos Aires to travel the continent looking for fun and adventure. However, they have different ages they are close friends. They decided to travel because they wanted to intend to work in a leper colony in Peru, but the main purpose was tourism. They have same dreams such as, for example, they wanted to see Latin America for that reason they traveled many months. Initially, transport was the old and scruffy Alberto’s Norton 500 motorcycle nicknamed “La Poderosa II”. First, we headed north where they crossed the Andes, and then traveled over that of Chile, through the Atacama Desert and the Peruvian Amazon. In that part of the trip, they suffer many dearths such as they did not have food, water and a warm bed, but they always enjoyed that venture trip because they knew many people. Also, all friends have disagreements, but they passed them because they respect them such as when they had some problems, so they were forced to travel at a slower pace because his transport “La Poderosa II” could not fixed. For that reason, they arrived in Caracas on July. Ernesto Guevara had health problems, so during this trip Guevara suffered asthmatic problems, and Granado never let him alone because a real friend helps other in problematic situations. When they were traveling to San Pablo leper colony, Ernesto suffered asthmatic attack where Ernesto almost passed away, but he escaped certain death, and because his loyal friend. Alberto was there and applied the medical treatment, so Ernesto survived. Also, the friends encountered the poverty of indigenous people, and knew about the disparity between rich and poor people in Latin America. Both friends could live inside the poverty and they protected themselves as friends must do it. In Peru, they worked as volunteers for three weeks in a leper colony in San Pablo. Guevara knew there, the division of society between the working masses and the governing masses. Finally, the friends said good bye, Alberto revealed that his birthday had been on August 8th. Ernesto said that he had always known it. Also, Ernesto never judged his friend.
People think that who establish a positive connection in a relationship of friendship, or other positive bonding, they fell emotions that affect positively their immune systems. In both books there are clearly strong connections of friendship between the characters. On the one hand, “The Great Gatsby” has a relationship of friendship that grew slowly over the course of the story, where Nick was discovering the mysteries of his friend Gatsby. On the other hand, in the book “Motorcycle Diaries”, Ernesto and Alberto were already old friends but there were more precise in execution by living each of the experiences presented in their journey. Even though, today people live in a selfish society where nobody is worried about what happens with the others, or people’s feeling. There are people who think emotional stability is more important than social stability. People must communicate with others, and they must establish many types of human relationships, but one of the most important is friendship.
“There are a number of theories that attempt to explain the link, including that: 1) Good friends encourage their friends to lead more healthy lifestyles; 2) Good friends encourage their friends to seek help and access services, when needed; 3) Good friend enhance their friend’s coping skills in dealing with illness and other health problems; and/or 4) Good friends actually affect physiological pathways that are protective of health” Friendship definition. (2010).Wikipedia online dictionary. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship. Accessed 17 July 2010