Top Ten Literary Friendships

           

13: Anne Shirley & Diana Barry - Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea           

             I know that these two did feature in more books, but these were the ones that I read as a spry young thing. I did not discover the rest of the Anne books until I was a bit older so they don't count. That being said - how could I not include 'bosom friends' Anne and Diana on this list? These two went though a lot together, not the least being adolesence, and came out on the other side stronger for it. Anne is the dreamer - always escaping into her fairytale daydreams while Diana is the more practical of the two and is constantly bemused by her friend's supposings even while she is supportive and kind.


12: Wilbur & Charlotte - Charlotte's Web

              This film can and still does make me tear up to this day - and this is honestly the first book I can remember reading that had a bittersweet ending and for that I will always hold a special place in my heart for the unlikely duo of a spider and a pig. There is just something magical about the way the two of them bond and work out their problems together. You can practically smell the barnyard while you are reading and, far from being repulsed by it, I just can't get enough. I love watching the way Charlotte cares for Wilbur, the naive spring pig, as he first has to deal with the news that he is to be butchered and then with the knowledge that Fern (his beloved caretaker) is growing up and starting to be interested in something other than her childhood fantasies. Those are some deep messages to deal with and this book does it beautifully by neither confusing nor talking down to its audience. Even the ending is rather sad with Charlotte giving the last few days of her life to ensure Wilbur's survival and then Wilbur steadfastly guarding Charlotte's eggs in return. Theirs is truly an epic, if unusual friendship.

11: Jesse Aarons & Leslie Burke - Bridge to Terabitha             

                 When I first sat down to read this book I had been forewarned that it had a rather sad ending. Heh - 'sad' they say...'sad' doesn't even cut it! This is one of those stories that as soon as you've finished it you have to go back and read the beginning two chapters again. Not because it's necessarily so gripping either in terms of plot or universe but because if you walk away without doing so you will spend the rest of your day depressed. The whole reason that the plot climax is so devastating is the way that the friendship between Jesse and Leslie is built up over the course of the story. They're just two best friends having the time of their lives in a little fantasy world where they can be anyone and anything they want. They are best friends who are just trying to cope with life and so they become each other's worlds for the whirlwind summer/fall that they play together. So whenever one of them is snatched away by a freak accident, the other (and the audience) is left struggling to deal with being left behind and alone. It is traumatising because they were so happy before and because they felt like real people with a real relationship. This book is surprisingly mature with some of its themes and the friendship between Jesse and Leslie was certainly one that stuck with me as I grew up.


10: Black Beauty & Ginger - Black Beauty

        This is such a depressing book and yet it is probably the one that I read the most between the ages of 10 and 12. It's a classic. Black Beauty and Ginger more than earn their place on this list despite the fact that for most of the book they're not even together. The story is written entirely from the horse's point of view, which makes for some interesting moments, and it is great fun to hear them tell their different stories of different masters and jobs to each other. What makes Black Beauty and Ginger stand out, though, is that Ginger is a horse as snappish as her name, due to some terrible masters, yet she decides to open up to Black Beauty and share her story. After that the two horses become good friends (pulling a carriage together, despite not being 'matched') and continue to think of and worry about each other for the rest of their lives. Black Beauty is present at Ginger's death and mourns her and Ginger, even while rebelling against some of their harsher masters, always has an eye out for Black Beauty. They truly look out for each other to the best of their abilities.


9: Mole, Rat, Badger, & Toad - The Wind In The Willows, The Willows in the Winter
        
              Not the most inspired of character names, perhaps, but given that this book has little to no plot until nearly the third quarter we had better hope that the characters are better developed. Thankfully Kenneth Graham delivers beautifully with some of my personal best-loved characters and interplay. The conversations between all of these personages is so compelling and enjoyable to watch that you forget the fact that what you are reading is essentially a collection of moments without any real plot driving it. If anything the book is a collection of conflicts that don't really intersect, save for the fact that they are happening to any number of these four friends. But it is their characters and their loyalty to each other that makes these four friends so compelling.


8: Jo March & Laurie Lawrence - Little Women, Little Men

             Now this is a friendship that managed to weather the stormy waters of 'oh dear - he proposed to me but I don't really love him like that, he's just a friend' issues. That has to count for something, right? Jo and Laurie are neighbors and best friends, though from Laurie there has always been a bit of a crush to his relationship. Jo considers Laurie to be 'her boy' and insists on alternately mothering and swatting the fellow in the absence of his actual mother. She stands up to his sometimes out-of-touch grandfather for him whenever things spiral out of control and is always supportive of his struggles to get through college. Laurie is very loving and respectful towards Jo and her three sisters, treating them like ladies and never failing to do a favour for them. He cares for their mother and father and tries to help the family in any way he can that wouldn't be condescending. After having his affections rebuffed by Jo, Laurie heads to Europe where he is eventually brought back to his senses by Jo's youngest sister, Amy, who he eventually marries before returning home to man up and admit to Jo that she is right. Even after they are both happily married (Laurie to Amy and Jo to a German professor) the two friends remain supportive of each other and Laurie sends his children to Jo's school. We are led to believe that they remain friends for the rest of their lives.


7: Mary, Dickon, & Colin - The Secret Garden   

            This is also a book that I read over and over as a young person and I still make a point of getting out my beloved audio drama and illustrated edition every spring for a re-read through. It is just wonderful to read about the transformation of Mary, Colin, and the titular garden, and the book evokes a sense of wonder and magic about the everyday things of life such as flowers or soil. Themes of friendship and family are prevalent throughout the text, made all the more obvious by the fact that the families of Mary and Colin are so frightfully dysfunctional. Mary's parents didn't care squat about her and then died in a cholera plague, leaving her to be sent off to an unknown uncle in England. Colin's mother died when he was born and his father (Mary's uncle) went off on a ten-year-long sulk, leaving his infant son in the hands of impatient servants. Both children are extremely spoiled and so both are extremely good for each other as their fights help to teach them both that neither 'own the entire orange'. Dickon, on the other hand, is the younger brother of Mary's sort-of maid, Martha Sowerby, and is an animal whisperer who loves nature and growing things. He introduces the two other children to the outdoors and basically gives them a perspective on life that comes from outside their brocade tapestries and china teacups. They all make each other better, because ultimately that is what friendship should be all about.


6: Don Quixote & Sancho Panza - The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

           Okay - so maybe I'm cheating a little bit with this one because, while I did start the story while I was 15 I didn't really finish it properly until age 17 (other projects kept getting in the way) but I still consider it fair game because I was introduced to this friendship before my cutoff age and I still consider it to be one of the greats. Don Quixote is a man who has become so immersed into his novels that he goes quite mad and can no longer separate fiction from reality. He goes off on a noble quest, self-styling himself as a knight, and vows to slay dragons and rescue fair maidens and engage in other feats of valor and chivalry. Sancho is the poor guy who gets conscripted to be this madman's squire. He is responsible for making Don eat and sleep and not make a total raving fool out of himself (not to mention putting up with all of the madness on a daily business). They stick together by necessity and because, over time, they do come to appreciate each other for what they truly are. Sancho is there whenever Don regains his mind at the end of his life.


5: Jill Pole & Eustace Scrubb - The Silver Chair, The Last Battle   

         Oh Narnia, what fond memories you call up! The sometimes antagonistic relationship between Jill and Eustace, classmates and ex-enemies, is a staple of the stories where these two children find themselves in a more perilous Narnia from the one Eustace remembers. They both save each other's lives more times than I can count and are both supportive and helpful towards the other. Sure they have their fights, but that just makes them real people experiencing a real relationship. Besides; those times of arguing only make it all the sweeter whenever they come out the other side stronger for it. Along with their companion, Puddleglum the Marshwiggle, Jill and Eustace set out on a quest to rescue the lost prince of Narnia Rilian. In The Last Battle, they will then aid Rilian's descendant, Tirian, in one last fight for the land of Narnia.


4: Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

           I can remember the very first Sherlock Holmes mystery I ever read. It was The Speckled Band and it was in one of my school readers for English. I must have read that thing a million times - drawn in not only by the extremely intense mystery but also by the friendship between Holmes and Watson. At this point I was still very young and hadn't read much beyond Narnia or Redwall, so I had never encountered any characters like these before...and I LOVED them! Something about their partnership just drew me in and, to this day, I still enjoy reading about them and watching movies to feature them.


3: Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn

                  These two bad boys are an interesting pair of friends as Tom is all about the romantic adventure of life and Huck is a bit more cynical when it comes to his outlook on life. But that makes perfect sense because their lives are so, so different. Tom is a mischievous school boy who is raised by his stern, prissy aunt and who harbors a crush on a fellow student named Becky. Huck, on the other hand, lives life on the streets whenever he isn't dodging his drunken and abusive father. Yet despite it all these two boys become rather good friends, culminating in Tom's helping Huck with smuggling an escapee slave to freedom and getting shot in the process.

2: Christopher Robin & Pooh Bear - The Many Adventures of Winnie-The-Pooh 

            For many of us this was the first literary friendship that we encountered, whether it was through the Disney movie or the original A.A. Milne books. These stories about a young boy and his beloved stuffed companion are so heartwarming (and I use that term reluctantly, given how overused it is) that it is easy to see why they have become such classics. In fact - do I even have to explain what makes this one so great? It explores the implications of childhood and growing out of your daydreams and stuffed animals. That's all you need to know. Now go read the books.


1: Frodo Baggins & Samwise Gamgee - The Lord of the Rings

            Did you really expect me to put anyone else at the top of my list? Ever since I first read these books (which was about age thirteen...so it's been a while) these two have become the friendship that I go to whenever I'm feeling a bit down and disgusted with the world at large - which happens more often then you might realize. I either pull out my tattered, much-read copy of the books and flip to my favorite chapters or I find an excuse to watch the movies back-to-back and let the amazing characters therein drag me into their world where the dragons can be slayed and the darkness is not forever. These two friends went to Hell and back and actually carried each other up a flaming volcano, knowing that once their task was completed they would be doomed to starvation and burning alive. I don't know what else to say about them.