Friendship offers numerous blessings that enrich life. A good friend makes happy days brighter and sad days more tolerable by demonstrating loyalty, optimism, and a spirit of adventure. Loyalty is staying faithful to a friend through both good and bad times. Optimism is looking on the bright side no matter how bad the situation may be. An adventurous spirit is being willing to take risks and try new things. A Separate Peace’s Phineas clearly embodies all of these traits, proving him to be a great friend.
Loyalty is vital to a good friendship because it eliminates the fear of being left all alone. With loyalty comes trust and acceptance, which are necessary to create a lasting bond between friends. At the end of chapter two, Gene begins to lose his balance on the branch and immediately becomes panicked. (Core 1) Finny is so loyal that he reaches out to Gene and helps him steady himself, saving his life. (Core 41) As Finny saves Gene, good friends are willing to save each other when they feel as if they may fall out of the symbolic tree. (Core 12)
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(Core 22) Embracing the goodness in a situation rather than focusing on the bad aspects proves to be a policy carried out by optimists. Rather that whining about the increased difficulty he has while moving around in the snow with his broken leg, Phineas tells his friends about his love for winter. Finny even dances around at the winter carnival and starts a snowball fight, despite the trouble his leg is causing him. While most people would feel depressed by the limit of only one functional leg, Finny looks past his physical restriction and makes the best out of the unfortunate situation. As Phineas keeps a positive outlook, so too should good friends. It has been said that people are influenced by the friends they spend the most time with, making an optimist a great person to