Dragonwings Have you ever thought about how important friendship can be? Laurence Yep writes about how friendship can get you through tough times in life. Eight year old Moon Shadow sails from China to meet his dad in America. He got to meet his father for the first time and worked in San Francisco with his father and friends. He even survives the great earthquake by his father’s side. Daily life was very difficult for the Tang people during the Gold Rush. In the book Dragonwings, by Laurence Yep, one learns the importance of friendship when you are away from your family, when you have hard times, and when you need others to be there for you. First of all, friends can be significant even as close as family. When Moon Shadow gets to know the landlady, Miss Whitlaw, he feels that she is part of the family. “I even toyed with the idea that perhaps we had been close to each other in some former life—a mother and child, even.” Moon Shadow felt really close to Miss Whitlaw, even thinking that in a former life she could have been his mother. It is obvious that friends can be as close as family and is really meaningful when you miss your family. Secondly, friends are great during hard times. During Moon Shadow’s first year in America he had to work really hard to help build the Tang’s people’s village with a strange group of men. “We were brothers: strangers in a strange land who had banded together for mutual help and protection. There were arguments, of course, but they were always worked out.” This quotation shows the benefits of friendship because they had to work and cooperate to make it through that first difficult year in America. As you can see, getting through hard times can be okay with the support of your friends. Third of all, friends will always be there for you when you need them. Uncle and Lefty come to help bring Dragonwings up the hill when Moon Shadow and Wind Rider had given up trying to fly. “And all of a sudden I saw that if life seems awfully petty most of the time, every now and then there is something noble and beautiful and almost pure that lifts us suddenly out of the pettiness and lets us share in it a little. It did not matter whether Father flew or not. It was enough that the Company had come.” This quotation shows friendship between the Tang people when they were having a difficult time and their friends came and helped them. It is clear that friends are vital and can be supportive when you need them. In conclusion, friendship is precious and necessary for survival in a foreign land. Friends can be as close as family. Friends can help you through hard times. Friends will always be there for you when you need them. This is why I think friendship is essential in life.