Brotherhood

Brotherhood cannot be walked away from. It is a lifelong relationship with who you call brothers. From my experience with brotherhood, its a promise they have between one another. Brothers stay together when they are at their best, and their worse, that’s the respect that is given and received with brothers. The difference between friendships and brotherhood’s are the internal bond you have and the pure love between them. But how far will a fake brotherhood go? Pat Conroy’s, The lords of Discipline and Tim O’Brien’s, The things They Carried, and other works show how brotherhood is essential to survival in difficult situations.

When peoplee are going through a difficult situation in life, sometimes they just need someone by their side to make it through. Brotherhoods in war are more important than romantic or familial ones back home. These brotherhood’s are what keeps them going, they carry their brothers emotionally. In the brothers did more for each other than support one another during the way: “ They shared the weight of memory. They took up what others could no longer bear. Often, they carried each other, the wounded or weak” (Tim O’Brien 39).

CBrotherhood’s were formed because they shared ocommonproblems, that are not understandable putside the brotherhood in the war becauyse those problems become to great. These brothers experienced things together that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, and use each other to over comer obstacles and gain success. The necessity of brotherhood is also represented in going to school’s like the Carolina Institute and going through a plebe year are one of the most challenging things you could do alone, in The Lords Of Discipline a breakable bond is created by four boy’s being brought together during the cruelty of the plebe system.

Mark, Will, Tradd, and Pig come together during their tough time as plebes and would do anything for each other, along with the rest of the plebes in R company. The boys in the R company that were going through plebe year together stuck up for a fellow plebe Bobby Bentle to prove he was not alone since suffering with uncontrollable urination: “The sound they heard was the sound of the other thirty seven freshman pissing in their own pants, in affirmation of our own allegiance to Bobby Bentley of Ocilla, Georgia” (Conroy 170).

The boy’s all exposed themselves under the watch of the upperclassmen to demonstrate the strength of their brotherhood. Without the brotherhood between the plebe’s in R companty Boby Bentyly would not have had the courage and condifence to stay another day at the inttitue. His brothers kidness was essential to his servival of the pleve system. The plebe system and going to war are just the few times that brotherhood’s form, but they are what keep you sane at the end of the day.

In fraternity’s the frat process can be very stressful and growing brotherhood’s through your college years can almost change your college experience, Ray Plaza a fraternity alumni say’s he has “ found that the bond of brotherhood is a valuable one as it has helped me to grow as an individual and also a man. The fraternity has allowed me to develop meaningful relationships ” (Plaza 1). For Ray, knowing his brtohers were going through the same struggles as him, made it easier to not feel alone, and to have brothers to go to.

A similar brotherhood exists in the West Point Military Academy where our guest speaker Patrick Ellison attends who believes, “your room and your brothers are your escape” (Ellison). When you attend the institute you need someone to to go when things get tough, and for him it was going to his room which he shared with his “brother”. Not only is your brother someone you can go to, its someone that will have your back and be with you through thick and thin, and to Patrick it was the escape from his problems and worries, which made it able for him to survive.

When Brandon Davies violated a honor code and was kicked off his basketball team, although he disappointed his team, “Davie’s teammates, whose hopes were also crushed, said they bore him no malice and considered him a brother” (Gibbs 1). Without the support of his teammates through a time when they could have easily turned their back’s to him, David would have been all alone through his time of struggle. How far will a fake brotherhood go? Theirs people who use a brotherhood for their own benefit, not considering their fellow brothers, how long can that last?

When will find’s out that Tradd was in the Ten and their brotherhood was a lie, Tradd does anything to take it back, “I just can’t lose you. I can’t afford afford to lose you. Do you hear me, Will? I’m begging you. I’ll do anything to get your friendship back, you have no idea how important it is to me” (Conroy 555). When you betray a brotherhood, you learn that you were never truly apart of it, because you would have never betrayed it like Tradd did.

When you go through the institute you wont make it without your brothers, the guest speaker spoke of his years at the institute saying, “It’s necessary to have brotherhood” (Ellison). So when what’s gotten you through turns out to be a lie, it’s the worst feeling you could have. In life, there will always be a time when we need help. And when we do, we turn to our brother’s, someone we know will be there for us through everything in life. There’s a comfort in knowing you have someone to talk to about anything, share anything, or someone that will back you up or help you when you’re in need.