AJ Wells Professor Sharron Cherry COMM 102 80N-N1-201410 27 July 2014 Soup Questions in Life William Forrester enlightens Jamal in “Finding Forrester” (2000) on a soup question that “the object of a question is to obtain information that matters to us and to no one else.” He was explaining how Jamal’s mother valued milk too much to put it in the family soup so Jamal’s soup as a child wasn’t as smooth as Forrester’s soup was. Interpersonal communication also is of value and matters to our own life as opposed to only prying into other people’s business. Our lives cross others in many ways. With interpersonal communication friendships are formed, and with conflict bonds can be strengthened or differences may promote better understanding. …show more content…
On a dare Jamal breaks into Forrester’s apartment and as he escapes leaves his backpack containing his writings. Forrester reads and corrects the writings and this is the start of their friendship. Our book explains Roy Baumeister’s theory of the need to belong as the inborn human inclination to bond with others and to fulfill the drive we use interpersonal communication to form social bonds. Forrester helped to fulfill Jamal’s desire to write and Jamal filled the emptiness that Forrester’s seclusion had left him in. They both voluntarily had opened to the other and the relationship developed to provide emotional, health, and material rewards. Their friendship went through the six stages of the developmental approach. The first stage is role-limited interaction by being polite and civil. They only revealed and communicated what was common knowledge. Then they entered the friendly relations stage as they shared personal stories and history. While Forrester was guiding Jamal’s writing their communication explores to learn more about each other and their values. This allows them to get to know each other better and moved the relationship toward friendship. Then Jamal invited Forrester to a sports event. When Forrester suffered an anxiety attack while trying to enter the event, Jamal protects him from the crowd and escorts him safety. Knowing Forrester’s love of the Yankees, for his birthday Jamal takes him after dark to the empty ball field. This touches Forrester and he shared with Jamal, his personal reasons for his withdrawal from others. This passed in the nascent stage of friendship. Their trust grew into the stabilized stage as they became comfortable with each other. Finally when Forrester decides to leave for Scotland their friendship enters the waning