Friendship In Bryson And Katz's A Walk In The Woods
1006 Words5 Pages
Friendship is a concept that is seen by most people as beneficial to themselves and those around them. Many humans seek and rely upon the companionship of others for assistance and support through the trials and tribulations of life. However, when one is asked to define friendship, their answer will most likely differ from another’s answer because all people value different qualities in a friend. In the novel, A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson, Bryson and Stephen Katz develop a friendship as they travel together on the Appalachian Trail. As the book progresses, they gradually begin to exemplify three main characteristics of friendship: exhibiting honesty, providing assistance and having a mutual understanding and compassion for each other.…show more content… In order for two people to grow closer together, they both must know that they can trust the other through both positive and negative events. Throughout the book, both Bryson and Katz make questionable decisions. However, when both men make mistakes, they are quick to apologize to each other. One such decision by Katz occurs during their first day of walking the trail when he throws some of his supplies off of a cliff and later complains about the trail and putting up his tent (Bryson 39-40). In this example, Katz doesn’t explicitly apologize to Bryson, but he does acknowledge that his behavior was unnecessary and makes coffee, which Bryson considers to be Katz’s way of apologizing (41). Early in the book, Katz is willing to be honest enough to admit his mistakes but is not willing to reveal his emotions to Bryson as well. Another component of honesty in a friendship should be the willingness to reveal emotions to someone considered a friend. In the example detailed above, Katz does not tell Bryson why he struggled to control his emotions. However, by the end of the book, Katz is less hesitant when speaking about how his emotions affect his decisions. After his outburst toward Bryson about Bryson’s decision to not buy alcohol for Katz, Katz chooses to explicitly apologize and detail the recent troubles that he has had with alcohol (Bryson 257). Katz shows a greater amount of honesty toward Bryson by stating his true emotions…show more content… People who are friends commonly have similar interests, beliefs, and opinions and understand each other's virtues and shortcomings. Bryson and Katz do not share many of the same interests, mainly due to the fact that they did not communicate with each other for about twenty-five years. However, as the events of the story progress, it becomes clear that they share common beliefs and opinions about the events that occur during their time on the Appalachian Trail. One example of this occurs when the men stop in Gatlinburg. While in a store, they both look at a map of the trail and collectively realize that they could never hike the entire trail (Bryson 105). They both mutually realize that the task that they set out to accomplish was impossible for them to finish and accept this realization without issue. Later in the book, after being together on the trail for a long amount of time, Bryson states that a one-word conversation between him and Katz was “the longest conversation that [they] had in two or three days, but there was no need to say anything more” (127). The two friends became so close that they developed an unspoken communication that was mutually understood. Both men also show a mutual compassion for each other. Two events that occur in chapter eleven showcase this quality. In Waynesboro, Bryson calms down Katz when Katz is being chased by two angry men by listening to him and helping him to