Category: Friendships

My next example of a quality friendship in my series, New Year; New Types of Friends qualifies as both printed literature and a cartoon. The Jungle Book was written as a book in 1894 by Rudyard Kipling about a boy named Mowgli, who grows up in the jungle among his animal friends. Kipling’s book became even more popular after the 1967 Disney animated movie which humanized the animals. In particular, the film features Baloo, the bear, who helps Mowgli learn the “bare necessities” of life. Baloo has stripped down the unnecessary complications to enjoy a life of simplicity. Baloo is a great example of a friend who helps us eliminate stress and find happiness; something every man needs.  About Rudyard Kipling  Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of

As I continue my series, New Year; New Types of Friends, and specifically this subset of friendships from literature, I present Calvin and Hobbes to show how friends help stretch our imagination and expand our creativity. The strip also shows that we need a dose of reality sometimes. While some people do not consider comic strips part of serious literature, animated stories do have a message to convey to people. The definition of “comic strip” is a series of adjacent drawn images, usually arranged horizontally, that are designed to be read as a narrative or a chronological sequence. The comic strip is essentially a mass medium, printed in a magazine, a newspaper, or a book. Comic strips usually contain text inscribed within “balloons” inside the picture frame that tells an amusing story. But some comic strips aren’t always funny. Most are simply observations about life. While Calvin and Hobbes does not specifically represent one of the archetypes of

My next post with examples of friendships from literature has a local flare. I live in the western suburbs of Chicago, so the death of Aurora-born author Clive Cussler gave me the opportunity to include his characters Dirk Pitt and his childhood best friend, Al Giordino, as part of this subset of adventure literature. In my earlier posts, Discovering My Wild Heart and Men Need Get-Aways and Retreats, I wrote that every man needs adventure in their life. The friendship between Pitt and Giorino exemplifies this sense of adventure, even if it is based on fictional characters.  About Clive Cussler Clive Eric Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. He was the founder and chairman of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), which has discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites and numerous other notable underwater wrecks. Cussler was the sole