We need all the support we can give and get for the race of man to survive the challenging times ahead, and even more our personal travails. Loss and Grief: Angelou’s poem sounds a warning about the value of friends during troubled times: Am I being taken advantage of? Does he like me for myself or because I am a wealthy heiress? Does she like me as a man or because I pitch for the New York Yankees? Parasites could care less about you as a person, whereas a devoted friend isn’t swayed by your newsworthiness. Rather, they may be con artists, users or manipulators with their own agendas whoever is the center of their attention, the King to his courtiers, should suspect seemingly good intentions and genuineness. The entourage that inevitably maneuvers to envelop and leach off of a famous or wealthy person cannot be counted as friends. Nor does being celebrity mean you can trust fans or supporters, let along hangers-on who glom onto you. Angelou knows that millionaires can be friendless, with hearts of stone, and wretched because: Wealthy or Celebrity: Money can’t buy the reassurance and pleasure of a beloved friend who will come runnin. In his book, Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam argues that in the United States, a malaise spreads because we have become increasingly disconnected from one another as social structures that held us together have weakened. Robinson Crusoe was alone and might certainly have been lonely. Extroverted people thrive in groups or at least hanging out with buddies and they fret if no one else is around. Introverts relish their Walden Pond and deny feeling isolated or lonely. They are more self-sufficient and independent than extroverts, who draw energy from and flourish around other people. A solitary existence does not mean a sad existence for those who are self-reliant. Introverts can be alone, all by themselves, and be perfectly happy without a thought to being lonely. Being alone simply means no one else is present being lonely means you wish you had a companion (a pet or a person). “Alone” and “lonely,” however, are not synonyms. The poem raises several other points about friends.Īlone or Lonely: Angelou suggests that being alone – which I take to mean friendless – hurts the most, as you are lonely in a cruel world. A friend, for her, would be a soul mate, a close companion who buffers you and strengthens you when water parches and bread hardens. All of us need support in this hard-hearted world. Maya Angelou’s “Alone” speaks to the difficulties for all of us if we lack friends.
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