Chapter 2: Focusing on Friends- Steve Tesich

Steve Tesich in his short story, Focusing on Friends, talks about how he felt about his good male friends and the reasons he could never express his feeling toward them. He also talks about how easily “he can tell a woman he loves her, but he can’t tell a man that.”(Anderson 41). When Tesich’s friend, Louie dies in Vietnam, he tries comforting his friend’s mother by telling her how much he loved her son, but the way it was coming out just did not sound right. He later says how he wished he would have told Louie himself. The reason he could never tell any of his male friends how much he loved them was because he believed it might ruin their relationship. Tesich thought the only way to show his male friends he loved them was by “looking for ways to prove it.” (Anderson 42). At the very end when Tesich says, “It is time to make adjustments.” (Anderson 43). I was surprised because throughout the story he talks about how he wished he had told his friends he loved them, but now he changes his mind. It really baffles me and makes me think something is wrong with him and his emotions.