Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Friend," Charles Olson delves into the complexities of friendship, power dynamics, and the inherent value—or lack thereof—assigned to individuals in relationships based on self-interest. Olson explores a relationship marked by manipulation, where one person exploits another's worth for future gain, turning friendship into a transactional experience. Through a casual yet biting tone, Olson critiques the ways in which people often use each other as means to their own ends, exposing how such a dynamic ultimately devalues both parties.

The poem introduces “a man made a bank of the present,” positioning this figure as someone who treats his friendships as investments, seeing people as "bills, for an account" rather than as individuals. Olson’s use of financial language, like "bills," "account," and "compound interest," underscores the transactional nature of the relationship, suggesting that the friend is viewed as a resource to be stored for future benefit rather than as someone with intrinsic worth. This dynamic is subtle and hidden, "you didn't know it but you was being racked up for da future!" This line highlights how the friend is unaware of being used, too absorbed in the present moment to understand the true nature of his treatment. Olson’s language here is direct, almost colloquial, reflecting both the casualness of exploitation and the delayed, painful realization of its impact.

The speaker’s perspective evolves as he questions the implications of such a relationship with the lines, "Now what happens, at this end? / You discover all this." The shift to "this end" suggests a retrospective realization, a late understanding of the friendship’s exploitative basis. The friend’s realization of his own worthlessness within this transactional friendship becomes an existential reckoning—he must face the fact that he has been treated as “small change,” a mere means to an end. This unsettling discovery prompts the question, “where are you? where’s he? what about the bank?” These questions signal a crisis of identity and relational value; the friend feels not only betrayed but fundamentally devalued, questioning what remains of the relationship once its underlying exploitation is revealed.

Olson’s critique of the man who treats friendship as a financial endeavor culminates in the image of “Confederate money.” By using this symbol, Olson likens the man’s wealth—accumulated through his friends’ efforts and worth—to currency rendered worthless. Confederate money, devalued after the Civil War, becomes a metaphor for the hollowness of relationships founded on self-interest. This imagery drives home the futility of investing in others purely for personal gain; just as Confederate money is now “for cereal ad prizes”—a relic turned trinket—the manipulator’s friendships, once sources of perceived value, have become meaningless. Olson’s phrase, “the interest is all his,” underscores that while the manipulative friend may have profited in some abstract way, the real value of friendship, its mutual respect and understanding, is irretrievably lost.

Ultimately, Olson’s "Friend" presents a harsh yet insightful critique of relationships grounded in exploitation. By reducing people to assets, the man has unwittingly devalued not only those he sought to use but also himself, ending up with “small change” instead of meaningful bonds. Through this poem, Olson warns against the corrosive effects of treating human connections as currency, suggesting that in doing so, one is left with only empty symbols rather than the true substance of friendship.

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