Quotation Connection

                           "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” J. K Rowling,  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  This quote relates to a book I read this year. This book was Along Came a Spider by James Patterson. Patterson's main character, Alex Cross, has to make brave decisions that effect his enemies and friends. Cross's actions are directly related to J.K Rowlings quote.
                               J.K. Rowling's quote "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends," has a lot to do with bravery. He used this quote in his book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Rowling uses this quote in his book to teach the protagonist, Harry Potter, an important lesson. Harry's professor, Professor Dumbledore, tells this to Harry to prepare him for challenges that he will face later in his magical life. He tells Harry that he must be brave and courageous or else his enemies and even his friends will destroy him. Without this advice, Harry would've have been defeated and killed in the first book.
                               J.K. Rowling's quote also applies to James Patterson's book, Along Came Spider. Alex Cross, the protagonist, is a homicide detective in Washington, D.C. Cross faces many challenges every day that require the use of bravery. In this particular book, Cross uses his bravery and skills to arrest a psychopath named Gary Soneji. It took a lot of bravery and courage to stand up to Soneji. Also, Cross had to stand up to his friend. Her name was Jezzie Flanagan. Flanagan was one of Cross's new friends, and they worked together to capture Soneji; however, Flanagan was using Cross to commit a crime behind his back. She knew what Cross knew about the case they were working on and purposely did the unexpected to confuse him. When Cross found out, he had to use all of his bravery to bring Flanagan to justice. It took a lot more bravery to arrest his friend than to arrest a wanted criminal. Without Cross's bravery, Soneji and Flanagan would've kept commiting crimes, making D.C. an unsafe place to live in.
                          So you can see, J.K. Rowling's quote was directly related to James Patterson's book. I think we can all learn something from Rowling's quote. If we do not use bravery to stand up for ourselves and others, we will be taken advantage of our enemies and sometimes even friends. If you are being bullied, you must use bravery and take action by telling an adult so the bully knows that you will not tolerate his or her behavior. If your friend is making fun of you, you must be brave and make sure that he or she knows that those insults are not acceptable. We must be brave because bravery is essential for life.