1/1/2016

Friendship by Clutton Brock

An overview of the essay

Presented to
Ayesha Niazi

Ali Sherazi
UMT C-23
Table of Contents
Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... 2
About the Author ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Gist ................................................................................................................................................................ 3
Summary....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Authors point of view .................................................................................................................................. 3
Slant on Essay ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Critical analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................. 5

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 Preface
Clutton Brook wrote this essay friendship in 1900’s. Theme of this essay was friendship.
Underneath I have tried to summarize the essay and used my analytical skills to show the
authors point of view and my own point of view. I tried my level best to justify the essay in my
summary even though I dint agree to most of the points.

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About the Author
Clutton-Brock was considered one of the greatest essayist, critic, and journalist as his time. He
was born at Weighbridge on 23 March 1868, He got primary education from Summerfield’s,
Oxford, and in 1882 gained a scholarship at Eton. From Eton he proceeded to New College,
Oxford. While studying there in oxford he developed the love for literature and art.
He was married to Evelyn in 1903. He worked as a critic at tribune and also worked as a speaker
for times literacy supplement. Even though he was a writer and a critic but internally he can be
considered as a religious and spiritual person. We cannot say that his work was perfect but still
he can be considered as one of the best essayist of 20th century.

Gist
Gist of the essay is friendship and what are the moral values or ethical responsibilities of a
friend. Essay is all about the unseen and unwritten rules of friendship according to the author.
He gave some suggestions and passed on several comments he also explained his view point
towards this that what friendship according to him is.

Summary
Author started with explaining that according to him friendship is a gift and it is priceless. It
cannot grow on the basis of calculations or barter system. Friendship requires a humble and
down to earth attitude. We are no one to judge the worthiness of a friend or of a lover as it is a
gift and gift has no materialistic value. Being judgmental of something is part of our social circle
and part of our society but friendship is beyond these social barriers. It’s the only thing which
makes us realize that these social grounds which requires us to be judgmental of everything are
not real. We do not leave our friends on the basis of their reputation, certainly we do not end
friendship on the grounds of their social repute. Nobody can be perfect as this is the imperfect
world. So we should not expect perfection from our friends as they are also human and can
make mistakes. The only thing we friendship needs to survive is we should accept our friends as
the way they are. Criticism kills the friendship.

Authors point of view

Clutton takes friendship to a new level. He is trying to set the rules of friendship. He is also
trying to explain that on what grounds we should make friends and accept friendship. Once we
have accepted someone’s love or friendship we should never end it.
We should not judge friends on the basis of their repute or social status. Just let it all be the
way it is, Clutton suggested not to friendship for granted in fact consider it a gift and a blessing.
According to him no body is unworthy for friendship. Everyone is worthy enough to be a friend
and we should be judgmental about our friends.

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Slant on Essay
I certainly disagree with many points which Clutton tried to make. First of all there is a famous
saying “A man is known by company he keeps”. Writer tries to say that we should not judge our
friends, we should not expect a lot, a friend does not have to be of a good character. Even a
non-virtuous or a bad reputed person can be a friend.
In Kerala there is a saying “after having 6 months of friendship, two people start to look alike”
ant it’s true. It’s in the human nature, we copy from each other and learn from each other
consciously or sub consciously. So if we consider authors point of view whole society can
become moral less and non-virtuous. As all the evil people will be friends with pious ones. And
as evil attracts more sooner or later whole society will become evil.
According to me an evil person or a non-virtuous person has to be left alone. So he feels that he
is out of the society and to be a part of it again he has to have ethics.
I agree with the concept that we should not be judgmental toward friends and should consider
the fact that they are imperfect. Expectations are natural, whenever we love someone we start
expecting things from him so author takes a wrong turn here. Every relation in the world works
on the basis of barter system. Even God expects you to be thankful towards him.
One thing on which I completely agree with the author is that friendship is a gift and we should
consider it as a blessing.

Critical analysis
Over all it’s a nice essay but it is hard to read. Complicated sentences may seem interesting, but
it was a chore to decipher them and according to me there was no purpose. The essay has
theme which is friendship." but it has nothing beyond that. It lacks structure all paragraphs
make different points about friendship, but it is difficult to tell as If you are making points you
should not make the reader guess. Lead them into thinking it, like you have done then state the
point if you do it right the reader will feel a sense of agreement. Otherwise either you will lead
the reader into confusion or he will feel a sense of disagreement.
There are some interesting analogies, such as comparing friendship to sleep. The writer tried to
make poetic statement, but do not have the writing skills to do so.
Over all I give 3 out of 5 stars. I guess the writer had potential but he lacked writing skills and
needed development.

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Bibliography
 J. L. Hammond, introduction to Essays on Life, 1925
 (Mrs.) E. A. Clutton-Brock, introduction to The Miracle of Love
 www.thepeerage.com/e2717
 www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/Best/CluttonFriendship