By Alicia Carchedi
What makes a friend? Is it the person who cares about you the most, the person who listens to you the longest, or the person who tells you the truth when you wish it were a lie? The definition of a friend out lines the mutual affection two individuals have with one another; this not only encompasses the fact that a friend is an ‘ally’ of the person, but also someone you can trust with your true self. Aman embraces all these aspects of friendship in Fusion of Reality, while he takes us along his journey of becoming friends with a stranger he meets in the park.
At the beginning of the book, we begin to see Aman settle into a loneliness as a result of his stressful work life, developing family struggles and sudden unexpected grief from the loss of his closest friend Raff. This sudden loss of his friend was the most significant turning point in Aman’s story as this event affected the continuing aspects of his life.However, it also meant that one day he happened upon the park, and joined an old lady on a bench which changed the course of his emotional and physical journey. She is depicted in the book as being strong minded and verbally powerful, which is implied through how she listens and helps Aman with his struggles.This newfound friendship with the lady in the park encouraged Aman to better himself; it also allowed him to start healing from his emotional wounds because he had found someone he trusted to confide in.
Fusion of Reality in the way of friendship has meticulous correlation to reality, in a way that shows how life may take an unpredicted horrible turn, yet someone unexpected may turn it around once more for the better. This is what makes friendship so wonderful because it may come out of nowhere but support you in times of need. At different stages in the book when Aman was struggling with his unfortunate situations whether it work or family troubles, the lady in the park was always there to speak to, and willing to help, telling him the truth he needed to hear even if he didn’t agree. The symbolism here behind the truthfulness of her words towards Aman, really puts their friendship into perspective and creates a sense of comfortability and love between characters.
This love is continued through many moments of the book, however, the most significant moment which truly portrays Aman and the lady from the parks friendship, is the poem she wrote just for him.The words written to him and about him were truly beautiful, and so delicately gave example of their close friendship.The words and rhyme gracefully described how life may pull you in lots of directions, but everything will work itself out in the end. These words of wisdom not only were the best parting gift Aman could’ve received from their friendship, but it was a true gift that showed the affection they shared for one another. It showed their true understanding of each other’s minds.
This strong symbolism of friendship in Fusion of Reality, is once again one of the reasons why this book is so enjoyable to read. While the readers are experiencing a brilliant written fictional story, they’re also experiencing realism in the essence of true friendship.