FYS Endeavor - 2021-2022
Abstract
This essay offers an analytical perspective on friendship, including how the concept is defined and can be created in one’s community. It is argued that friendship can act as a unifier amidst the challenges of its creation but only if actioned with love, virtue, and goodwill by all members of a society. The philosophies of Western and Eastern culture, including prominent authors such as Confucius, Aristotle, and Cicero, are first used to demonstrate the complexity of friendship and how it can function within a community; afterward, social critiques by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and James Baldwin on patriarchy and white supremacy, respectively, are implemented to illustrate the importance of utilizing communal friendship to spur social justice and heal division.
Recommended Citation
Gagnon, Maxwell
(2022)
"Why Can't we Be Friends: Piecing the Puzzle of Division Through Communal Friendship,"
FYS Endeavor - 2021-2022: Vol. 1, Article 12.
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/fys-endeavor/vol1/iss1/12