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Ra’Anne Davis
Dr. Hornsby
PHIL 267-001
December 8, 2014
Relationships, Love, and Friendship
Initially, I said love is a feeling that bonds people together through many different types
of relationships. Requirements and goals of love are left up to everyone to decide. Goals of love
are present as well. For example, people who love each other could make goals to stop putting
each other down or to live a healthier lifestyle together. There are different types of love. The
love that one feels towards a family member is different than the love one feels toward a
significant other. Either can be stronger than the other. With that being said, there are things that
will be done differently to show love. For example, significant others often kiss on the lips while
family members tend not to kiss each other on the lips. With these different types of love,
compromise is always present. A compromise is when people reach an agreement that was not
desirable to some before the agreement was made. Compromises are ways to show love. Love is
a powerful emotion felt by all different types of people. On the contrary, I now know that love
can bond people together but also people to other living things such as pets. Love can also be
shown to inanimate objects, even though it cannot be reciprocated. I still believe that
compromise is present. Some describe what should be known as compromise as sacrifice. This is
not correct. A sacrifice is doing something that you had no intention of doing just to appease an
aggressor. There should be no place in relationships for sacrifice. Since there is love in a
relationship, no one that you love will be satisfied with you doing something that you do not
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want to do or something that does not make you happy at all. I knew that there were different
types of love, but I was unsure of exactly how many. I now know that there are four types of
love; eros, philia, agape, and storge.
I knew that friendship was a type of relationship that incorporates love and amicableness.
With that being said, there are both requirements and goals of friendship. These requirements
include being nice and somewhat compatible with another person. After examining the work of
philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato, I know that friendship does not solely have to occur
among people that are compatible. I used to think that if two people get along with each other,
they will most likely be friends. This does not always happen. Sometimes, when people first
meet, they do not immediately like a person. Friendship is a type of relationship; therefore,
people can develop into friends, just the same people come together in a relationship with their
significant other. Goals of friendship include how long the friendship lasts. Some last all the way
from childhood to adulthood. Many people have that goal for their friendships. Another common
goal for friendship is to help and experience each other grow. It is not uncommon to find that
some friendships end after one friend reaches a new height in an area of their life that their other
friend is jealous of. It is possible to have a meaningful friendship with someone you have never
met. However, there are people who disagree with that. It is possible because of communication.
Communication is a very powerful thing. Communication allows two or more people to interact
as though they are spending time together, but they could be very far apart. Today, technology
plays a role in making communication successful. Phone calls, video chatting, and letter writing
are all things that could strengthen a friendship. Because of communication, a meaningful
friendship can be kept between two people who have never met. This type of relationship, known
as philia, a friendship, is demonstrated in the film Mary and Max.
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In the film Mary and Max, Mary Dinkle, an 8-year old Australian girl writes to 44-year
old Max Horowitz, a New Yorker, whom Mary found in a phone book. Although their friendship
is unlikely, they also have a pretty sufficient friendship. Mary lives with an alcoholic mother and
a father who is always working. Her only friends are “The Noblets,” from her favorite cartoon
and her pet rooster named Ethel. She made “The Noblets” from shells and chicken bones. Mary
loved this cartoon because everyone was brown, her unusual favorite color, and lived in a teapot
and had a large amount of friends. Mary had to make all of her own toys. Other than “The
Noblets”, her favorites were Shrinkies. Shrinkies are potato chip bags that she shrunk in the oven
and wore as buttons. Mary’s relationship of storge; one of familial affection, was lacking with
both of her parents. Her father, Noel, who worked in a factory attaching strings to tea bags, was
not around Mary much. When he was, he was stuffing dead birds he found on the side of the
highway. Mary wished that her father would spend more time with her instead of the dead birds.
Mary longed for the companionship of siblings. Mary’s mother, Vera told her that she was an
accident. Vera is an alcoholic and a kleptomaniac. She always “borrows” things and Mary does
not understand why. When Mary questions her mother on why she drinks the “special tea for
grown-ups and borrows things” so often, Vera never gives Mary an absolute response. This is
one of the reasons that their relationship is not what it should be. Max lives alone and has a fish
named Henry VIII whom he kills and collects flies for, a pet cat named Hal, and a parakeet
named Mr. Biscuit. He also has an imaginary friend named Mr. Ravioli. Max has trouble
forming relationships with other people because he has social and mental problems, one of them
being Asperger syndrome. Mary chooses Max from the phone book at random and writes him a
letter and sends him a chocolate Cherry Ripe. Mary chooses to write to Max because she is
inquisitive on where babies come from. Her grandfather told her that babies come from the
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bottom of beer bottles. Mary thinks that babies in America must come from Cola cans since
American’s drink a lot of those. She chooses Max Horowitz, whom is possibly the last person
who can explain where babies come from. Max also watches “The Noblets” but the reason that
the show is his favorite is slightly different than the reason the show is Mary’s favorite. They
both agree that they like the show because the characters have tons of friends. This is
understandable because they both are lacking friends. “The Noblets” is Max’ favorite television
shows because “The Noblets” live in a “delineated and articulated social structure with constant
adherent conformity.” Max likes this because he has Asperger Syndrome and
structure is a
necessity. With Max craving this particular social construct, New York is not the ideal place for
him to live. New York is a place known for its differences. The people all express themselves in
unusual ways and are far from comforted by conformity. When Max receives Mary’s letter, he
has an anxiety attack but responds anyway. He sends chocolate back to Mary and the two begin
their relationship of philia that is desperately needed on both parts.
Max’ pet fish, Henry VIII passes away. Because of the sudden change, Max is having
trouble dealing with this change and it throws his life off. Approximately six hours after he
passes, Max decides that he has to go to the pet store the next day and get a new fish that he
plans to name Henry IX. After reading Mary’s letter four times, Max is stressed and his existence
is questioned again. His anxiety attack yields him staring out of the window for 18 hours before
writing back to Mary Daisy Dinkle. In his letter, he tells Mary that he read her letter after his
Overeaters Anonymous meeting. Max is morbidly obese, and eats too often. His psychiatrist tells
him that a healthy body equals a healthy mind, neither of which Max has. Max’ mother is dead
and his father left his mother and him when he was younger. He insists that babies come from
eggs that are laid by Jewish rabbis. Max considers himself to be a Jewish atheist and tells
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explains to Mary that babies come from the leaders of any respective religion. Max enjoys
playing the lottery and has played the same exact numbers for nine years. Not being able to
accept change well, max also has 8 tracksuits which are all the same color and size. During this
exchange, Max and Mary learn everything about each other and Mary begins to save her money
in hopes of one day going to New York to meet her friend Max. Mary becomes deterred from her
vision when she has her birth mark removed. She has this removed because she believes that her
neighbor Damian, who she is in love with, will like her more after it’s removed. The birthmark is
brown and her classmates at school insist that it looks like poop. Mary’s beliefs are correct and
Damian loves the new look. She has admired Damian for years and wants him to be her
boyfriend. Once again, she seeks advice from her friend Max. She asks him if he has ever had a
girlfriend and how she can be loved. This sent Max into another attack and he was hospitalized.
Mary began thinking that Max was ignoring her. She and Damian marry but she never stops
trying to contact Max. After Mary and Max’ child is born, Damian leaves Mary. She is
heartbroken and her plans to travel to New York resurface. She finally gets to New York and
finds the home of her friend Max. She goes into the small apartment to find Max has taken his
last breath. He is looking up. She follows his gaze, and what she sees makes her cry. Max had
compiled all of their letters onto the ceiling. She is happy to see that he passed happily. Even
with max gone, she is still happy that they had a chance to be friends and is thankful for his life.
This is true friendship.
The relationship between Paul and his former self; Perfect, is one of storge. Perfect Peace
was born on the 17th of May of 1940. Being the seventh child born into the Peace family and the
only girl, Perfect was sure to have the life her mother, Emma Jean never had. Being the only
female child, Perfect had a good life. She was beautiful and everyone loved her. Emma Jean did
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everything to make sure that Perfect had the life that all little girls should. Of course, this
statement was unsettling to Emma Jean’s husband, Gus who didn’t want any more children after
the last boy; Mister was born. Gus did not believe that the family could afford to take care of
another person, especially a girl. Of course, everyone had a problem with Emma Jean naming her
baby Perfect. Gus, whose relationship with God was very strong, suggested that no one is perfect
except the Lord. Emma Jean defended herself and her baby by saying that her baby was, in fact,
perfect. Everyone at the church also had trouble accepting the name of the baby. Emma Jean did
not budge. Emma Jean had no problem with doing everything in her power to make her only
daughter happy. She sacrificed greatly for Perfect. For the christening of the baby, she made a
dress using the white lace tablecloth from the dinner table. “Sweet little Perfect, you’re real fine,
Emma Jean’s baby, yes, you’re mine. And if these folks don’t love you right, I’m gonna love you
with all my might,” (Black, 84).
As Perfect grew up, she had trouble making friends. Her only friend was a doll named
Olivia that her mother bought for her. She and Olivia did nearly everything together. One day,
Emma Jean watched Perfect as she watched her brothers playing outside. Perfect whined and
begged her mother to allow her to play with her brothers and of course, Emma Jean refused.
Emma Jean informed Perfect that girls have no business playing outside with boys and
encouraged Perfect to ask two little girls named Eva Mae and Caroline to play with her.
Eva
Mae and Caroline lived down the street from Perfect. After taking her mother’s advice and
asking them to play, the three were nearly inseparable. Eva Mae and Perfect declared that they
were best friends and spent nearly every day together playing outside. Typical for little girls,
they began to play a game known as “house.” “House” is a game where young girls play together
and possibly recreate the atmosphere of their home. Each member of the family in house has a
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different role. Caroline played the daughter; Eva Mae played the father, and Perfect played the
mother. As the daughter, Caroline’s role was to play with her friends in the front, while the
mother, Perfect, prepared dinner. As the father, it was Eva Mae’s responsibility to gather wood
for the stove so Perfect could cook dinner. “Perfect scurried back and forth in front of the porch,
huffing complaints about sweating over a hot stove for niggas who didn’t appreciate it,” (Black,
96). Here, Perfect is simply repeating something she heard from her mother. This game of
“house” is a lot more complex than it seems. These young girls are fed a false reality of what
being a family is about and they believe it. They believe these are the elements of family life
because it is all they know. After Eva Mae is finished gathering the wood, she asks Perfect if
there is any dinner prepared in a tone that is everything but loving. The way that Eva Mae talks
to Perfect and Caroline is extremely possessive. Eva Mae tells Perfect to shut up, and following
after her mother, Perfect tells Eva Mae “I speak when I want to, man, you don’t own me,”
(Black, 97). Eva Mae then slaps Perfect. Both Perfect and Caroline are shocked at this but Eva
Mae sees this as normal. Her father hits her mother often. After this fictional dinner, Eva Mae
and Perfect relocate to a space under the wood porch which they declare is their bedroom. Once
there Eva Mae begins to touch her inappropriately. Though Perfect is unsure about this, Eva Mae
reassures her that everything is okay and this is a part of the game. As the wife, Perfect is
required to do whatever her husband, Eva Mae tells her to do. Since this is not the way Emma
Jean behaves with her husband Gus, perfect insists that Eva Mae is playing the game wrong. Eva
Mae then tells Perfect that the way that her mother is behaving is not correct and that Reverend
Lindsay the bible both say that it is a woman’s job to “mind the man.” Perfect finally gives in
and this happens on more than one occasion after this. Pretty soon, Emma Jean begins to worry
about Perfect figuring out that she is different than other little girls. She does not want Perfect to
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discover this on her own. Emma Jean’s realization is too late. Perfect has a special type of
relationship with her brother, Bartimaeus, who is blind. One day, while Perfect and her brother
are walking, she sees a bull mating with a cow. Perfect asks Bartimaeus why the cow is sticking
“her thing” inside of the other cow. Bartimaeus explains that the cow is not a female, but a male.
Perfect tells Bartimaeus that he is wrong. The cow with the thing is a girl, because she also has a
“thing” and is a girl. Bartimaeus hollers, “What? You ain’t got no thing, girl!” Perfect tells him
that she does and take his hand and moves it to her private area to prove it. Bartimaeus feels
exactly what she said and is shocked and confused at how she has a thing. Bartimaeus tells her
that she is not a normal little girl. He tells her to never let anyone else ever touch her there.
Perfect immediately thought of Eva Mae touching her in the area, but notes Eva Mae’s failing to
ever notice her “thing.”
The day of Perfect’s eighth birthday party, Perfect asks her mother if she will ever start
bleeding “down there.” She explains that her friend Caroline told her that she would start
bleeding down there soon. Emma Jean has to think of a lie quickly, and her hands begin to
tremble. She tells her daughter that some women have to bleed so that they can be reminded of
the sacrifice Christ made for them. She explains that some women don’t get periods because they
never forget the sacrifice that Christ made for them. That night, after all of the children had
returned home, Emma Jean could not stop thinking about Perfect’s question. She knew that her
secret was about to be exposed. Emma Jean knew that her secret would come to the light one
day; she just didn’t expect the day to come so soon. She then imagined the lives of her husband
and her children’s lives after they heard the truth about the sister they had grown to love. She
imagined that Gus and the brothers would be so upset that they never talk to her again. Emma
Jean knew that she had to take immediate action. Emma Jean had previously known about
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Perfect and Eva Mae and had a hunch to ask what they did when they played outside. She never
did. The day of Perfect’s eighth birthday party, Emma Jean’s mistrust of Eva Mae returned.
Thinking of how she could find out if Caroline or Eva Mae knew the secret, Emma Jean made
herself sick. She stopped eating and her family worried about her. She knew that something had
to be said to Perfect; and it couldn’t wait. She instructed Perfect to follow her to the forest.
Once in the forest, Perfect’s life changed forever. Everything that Perfect knew as her life
would soon be the reason she wished her life was over. Emma Jean begins “years ago, I
did…um… something I shouldn’t have done.” Emma Jean explained how badly she wanted a
girl before Perfect was born. She explained that she wanted a girl so bad, that she made her into
one. Perfect does not believe what her mother is saying. Perfect insists that she is a girl because
she has long hair. Emma Jean fights back by telling Perfect that she is a boy who she decided to
raise as a girl. She then tells her mother that she doesn’t want to be a boy because she likes being
a girl and having pretty things. Emma Jean was so frustrated with her daughter that she showed
her what girls are supposed to have. This is when Perfect finally accepted that she was, in fact,
what Emma Jean said she was; a boy. Perfect is distraught and doesn’t know how she will be a
boy. Emma Jean starts with handing Perfect a pair of overalls and telling her to remove her dress
and replace it with the overalls. Perfect then has to remove her undergarments and replace those
with a foreign pair of boy’s boxers. Perfect doesn’t like the immediate change in wardrobe but
has no choice as her impatient and sorrowful mother stands nearby. She feels humiliated and
longed for her friend Olivia to remind her that she was a girl. The last and final step from
transforming Perfect to her true male self was the removal of her hair. Emma Jean sat her down
and even though they both cried, cut off her hair. Emma Jean informs Perfect that this is a new
beginning and drags her from the forest to return home where they will face the other members
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of the family. Upon their arrival, the eldest brother, Authorly, saw them first and was so shocked
that he cussed. Emma Jean then begins to explain to her husband and boys how badly she wanted
a girl when Perfect was born. Emma Jean then tells them she turned Perfect into a girl by
dressing her up as a girl and making her feel pretty. Gus gets so angry at the news that he slaps
Emma Jean so hard that the boys gasp and hold their breath. Gus yells at Emma Jean to prove
that Perfect is a boy. He turns to Perfect and tells her to take her clothes off. Emma jean reaches
to assist her in the removal of her clothes but Gus stops her. He tells Perfect to remove her
clothes instantly. Once Perfect removes her clothes and Gus sees that she is a boy, he crumples
to his knees and begins to cry. Gus is in disbelief that all of these years his only daughter has
been a male.
Almost immediately, Perfect began to feel a change in the way her family treated her.
She knew that Gus didn’t want anything to do with her and that she was no longer beautiful. She
knew that to her brothers she was now normal, common, simple, and ordinary. Perfect no longer
felt safe around her brothers. She also didn’t like how her whole world was changing without her
permission. She wondered who would hold her when she cried, now that she was a he. He knew
then that he was different than how he used to be. At the same time, he knew that he was no
different than the other boys. His life was no longer special. He would no longer receive special
treatment. All Gus could do was pray and cry. Right after this confrontation with Emma Jean he
went to the river and wailed throughout the night to join his son, Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus was
present and couldn’t help but feel like this whole incident was his fault. He thought that if he had
mentioned something to Authorly, this whole thing could have been avoided. After gaining
clarity, he returned home and summoned for everyone to come into the living room. After
gathering the family, he told them all that life would now be different. He begins to address
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Perfect as a “he.” For the first time since his transformation, Gus looked directly at Perfect. Gus
tells him that they will remain a family but they can’t stop others from talking. “You a Peace
man just like the rest of us now. And Peace mens is strong,” (Black, 141). With everything
happening so fast, Perfect was now stripped of her former name. Gus insisted that everyone
would refer to the boy as “Paul.” after the family meeting, Gus and Emma Jean return to the
bedroom where Gus informs Emma Jean that she will now be sleeping on the floor of the
bedroom. This is the point in their marriage where there is absolutely no trust. In their
relationship of eros, or romantic love, this will be a problem. Although their marriage was never
a fairy tale love story, they were functional together. They each played the roles of father and
mother in the family respectfully. Their relationship is one of utility. When Emma Jean first
accepted that Gus would be hers, it was because he was a hardworking man and she knew that
her family would always be taken care of. Along the claims of Ortega y Gassett, their marriage
was loveless over time but continued because of their values.
Honesty, respect, and love are the top three things that are crucial for a successful
marriage. Honesty must be established for a healthy relationship, especially a marriage. Along
with honesty, trust must be established. Respect must also be present for a successful marriage. If
one respects their spouse, there are things that will not be done nor said, just out of respect.
Lastly, love must be incorporated into a marriage to make it successful. Love should be a
defining factor in a marriage, not anything else. In Gus and Emma Jean’s case, they did not
initially marry because of love, but necessity. They grew to love each other. There are people
who marry for other reasons such as money, status, and power. Marriage is a sacred joining that
should only be ended if one or both members of the marriage are experiencing levels of pain
brought onto each other by the other person. This level of pain would be a notification that they
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cannot go on being together any longer. For any other reason than this, it is their responsibility to
decide if they want to end the marriage. Gus felt pain and betrayal at the hands of Emma Jean.
He could not ascertain why anyone would do this to their own child. After being hurt by Emma
Jean, Gus could no longer trust Emma Jean. She prayed that one day that she could earn his
forgiveness.
The rest of Paul’s life was extremely difficult. Right after his transformation, he was
treated as an outcast by his community. Although it was something Paul had no control over, he
longed that everything would go back to normal and he continued to wonder if he would ever be
a “normal boy.” “All he knew was that he represented an abnormality, a maladjustment, an
aberration that folks in Swamp Creek knew nothing about.” Paul’s best friend, Eva Mae, quickly
accepted the transformation and decreed that he would always be Perfect to her. As good as this
appears to Paul, this is one of the reasons that he can never move on from being his former self.
As a child, his mother always told him how he was going to grow up and marry a handsome man
and live happily ever after. After the transformation, Paul still wanted this. He could not let go of
expectations from his previous life. As his older brother Authorly, tried to teach him how to “be
a man,” frustrations were released on Paul and he began to despise his mother for what she did to
him. Everyone around him expected Paul to jump right into his new life as if he was doing
something as simple as changing his shoes. Paul did not understand how he was expected to
jump into life as a boy when he was just a girl. He had so many questions. He attempted to
mimic his brother’s rich baritone but could not escape his soprano voice. When he failed to
deliver and behave like a boy, he was often chastised by his father and brother, Authorly. He
longed to make his brother proud, and didn’t want to be called a sissy. He made a promise to
himself that he would work harder to please him.
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Paul caught on how he was expected to behave. Although he was Paul now, Emma Jean
still treated him as if he were her favorite. Eva Mae still treated him as if he was Perfect. These
two women contributed to Paul never being able to forget his days as Perfect. He was so familiar
with being Perfect, his storge relationship with his previous self, based on familiarity, would
never disappear. Every day, sights, memories, and smells served as a constant reminder of his
life as Perfect. Being raised as a girl, everything he was taught still stuck with him. This is the
reason that he could never fit in with others. Around his brothers and others, he hid Perfect. In
private, he thought of his childhood crush, Johnny Ray. Even though he was grown up, he didn’t
grow out of his feelings for Johnny Ray. He often wondered what it would be like to be with
him. He knew that Johnny Ray would never give him the time of day. When Paul found out that
Johnny Ray and his older brother Mister, were together, Paul was crushed. He wanted his brother
to be happy, just not with Johnny ray. When his mother passed, he was not ready to let her go. It
was nearly as bad as him having to let go of Perfect, something he had not yet done.
In Disney’s animated adventure film, Up, Carl Fredricksen floats away from reality in
search of Paradise Falls, a promise that he made to his late love, Ellie. When Ellie and Carl first
met, they were both just young adventurers and idolized the adventurer Charles Muntz. Charles
Muntz was known for claiming to find the skeleton of a large bird that he encountered in
Paradise Falls. Of course no one believes Muntz. Carl and Ellie agree that they will go to
Paradise Falls one day. They instantly become friends and later their friendship develops into
one of eros. Carl and Ellie marry and build a house together. They do practically everything
together and Carl enjoys her company only. This relationship represents eros because Carl only
wants her company. “Eros makes a man want one particular woman. The lover desires the
beloved herself, not the pleasure than she can give.” (C.S Lewis) They begin to save for paradise
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falls but before they reach their goal, they are victims of circumstance. They have to deplete the
funds because they need a new tire. Shortly after they start saving again, Carl breaks his leg.
Determined to take their trip, they start saving again until a tree falls through their roof during a
storm. After this, the jar is put away and the trip is no longer a goal of theirs. Carl notices that his
wife is growing old and he has not yet kept his promise to travel to Paradise Falls in South
America. One day, he buys tickets to Venezuela and takes his wife to a place that was their
favorite during their childhood. She used to make it up the hill before him. This time, she
stumbles and later dies of old age. Although Ellie is no longer with Carl, there are constant
reminders of her in their home. The home that he and Ellie built is very special to him. When
redevelopment in Carl’s neighborhood threatens to ends his lifelong bond to the house and Ellie,
Carl hits a member of the team with his cane. After this, he is summoned to court and it is
required that he goes to live in a retirement home known as Shady Oaks. When the men come to
pick him up and take him to Shady Oaks, Carl outsmarts them and makes the great escape in his
house. He floats away from the area with a large amount of helium balloons attached to his
house. He is planning that the house will land in Paradise Falls, as he and Ellie always dreamed.
Before Carl leaves his house, a wilderness explorer named Russell knocks on his door and begs
to assist him so he can get his last badge for assisting the elderly. Annoyed, Carl declines the
offer and slams the door in his face.
When Carl gets off of the ground and settled into the air, traveling south, he hears a
knock on the door. Thinking that it must be in his head, he ignores the knock. Soon, there is
another knock at the door, this time, it is more urgent. He opens the door and finds Russell
hanging on to the side of the porch begging to be let in. Carl refuses but changes his mind and
allows him to enter his home. Carl is very annoyed by Russell and his constant questioning. As
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the floating house encounters a storm, Carl struggles to grab all of the items in the living room
that have sentimental value. He makes sure that nothing that reminds him of Ellie gets destroyed.
The house serves as a symbol of their love. When Carl wakes up, Russell sighs with relief that he
is still alive. Once they go outside, they try to find paradise falls. With the help of a talking dog
named “Dug” and a bird that Russell named Kevin, Carl and Russell find Charles Muntz. Carl
informs Charles that he and his wife Ellie used to be huge fans of the explorer. Since the two are
brought to Charles by dogs that he has given the ability to talk through collars, Muntz thinks that
the two have the bird he is looking for. He appears nice and invites the two into his blimp for
dinner. The tables are quickly turned and Muntz makes it clear that he does not want Carl and
Russell there. They don’t know where the bird, Kevin went until he squawks and they see him on
top of Mr. Fredicksen’s house. Immediately, Muntz sends his pack of dogs out to the house to
attempt to capture the bird that he has spent most of his life searching for. Russell and Carl
escape to the house and move it away with Kevin inside. Dug is also with them. Since he still has
the tracking collar on his neck that allows him to speak, Muntz knows exactly where they are.
Carl and Russell are trying to get Kevin to her nest. They finally make it and let Kevin off of the
house. As Kevin is running to get to her nest, Muntz blimp closes in and Kevin is captured in a
net. As Carl tries to cut Kevin out of the net, Muntz legion of dogs drag Kevin away. At this
point, Carl loses hope. He knows that there is no way that they can save the bird. Russell
disagrees with Carl and decides to go off on his on to find his beloved friend. As Russell is
floating away with a mini bundle of balloons, Carl must think quickly as to how he can catch
Russell. He begins throwing everything out of his house to make the house weigh less, allowing
it to float. Although nearly everything in the house represents Ellie and their special relationship,
he throws it all away to save Russell. This shows growth in Carl. At first, he was only using
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Russell to get to paradise falls. Aristotle says, “Between sour and elderly people friendship arises
less readily, in as much as they are less good-tempered and enjoy companionship less; for these
are thou to be the greatest marks of friendship productive of it. This is why, while men become
friends quickly, old men do not; it is because men do not become friends with those in whom
they do not delight; and similarly sour people do not quickly make friends either. But such men
may bear goodwill to each other; for they wish one another well and aid one another in need; but
they are hardly friends because they do not spend their days together nor delight in each other,
and these are thought the greatest marks of friendship,” (Nicomachean). Before Carl met Russell,
he enjoyed being alone and enjoyed being in his home. Now that they are together often and Carl
has grown to like the company of Russell, their friendship can be labeled as great. It is obvious
that a friendship has risen and it means as much to Carl as Ellie meant to him. This proves that
philia is just as necessary as eros. This negates the claim of philosopher C.S Lewis who declares
that philia is the least necessary of loves.
In conclusion, all of these loves are extremely important. They can each be applied to the
lives of everyone and their presence is greatly appreciated. They are far too complex to sum up
and they have no limits. No one can function alone. All of the loves are equally necessary. These
are all cases where the types of love were incorporated into these different relationships. With
each type of love, there are goals. Also, there are phases of each love. In one way or another,
they all require philia, or friendship. Love and friendship work together to create the most
meaningful relationships between people.
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Works Cited
Aristotle. "The Internet Classics Archive | Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle." The
Internet Classics Archive | Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. W.D Ross, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.
<http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.8.viii.html>.
Black, Daniel. "Perfect Peace: A Novel Paperback – December 6, 2011." Perfect Peace:
A Novel: Daniel Black: 9780312571658: Amazon.com: Books. St. Martin's Press