Friendship in Miracle Mile Writing Assignment

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Friendship in Miracle Mile
The issue of what entails a good friendship in Alexander MacLeod’s "Miracle Mile" is displayed by the manner in which the characters interact with one another. The story is a reflection of the 1954 Vancouver meeting between John Landy and Roger Bannister. Two competitors were able to run a mile in four minutes in the same race. The race was famous for being the first international one to be broadcast live in North America. As a result, it made headlines which featured phrases such as the "a date with destiny." Hence, MacLeod's story is an allegory to this event because it describes a couple of athletes who have been training and competing with one another since they were in grade school by running a four-minute mile each day. Their life is characterized by other activities such as watching daytime TV, hopping from one clinic to the other in order to get steroids and traveling among others. It is the little things that they do together that has enabled them to maintain their relationship. MacLeod has used symbolism, characterization, and metaphors to bring out the theme of friendship.
The events carried out by the different characters have successfully brought out the issue of friendship. The narrator plays the role of the main character together with Burner. In addition, he has also developed various characteristics of the characters to depict the reasons why they do things in a specific manner. For instance, burner and the narrator seem to have a very close relationship that they spend most of their time doing the things that they like. "Burner and I were stuck in another hotel room, watching the sports highlights churn around and around, the same thirty-second clip of the fight. It was like watching the drier roll clothes" (MacLeod 10). They loved sports so much such that they could spend most of their time watching the TV as long as it was airing sports. In addition, the narrator is an understanding and a patient person, hence making it easy for them to maintain a strong friendship. "If I have learned one thing through all this, it’s that you have to let people do what they are going to do. Everybody gets ready in their own way" (MacLeod 10) This characteristic enables MacLeod to show that the key factor in maintaining a good friendship is by letting people do what they like. As a result, they will not feel obliged to adhere to certain rules of the friendship but will rather have a space of making personal decisions. Other characters such as the cleaning lady have contributed to the effectiveness of the author in bringing out the theme of friendship.
As well, the author describes a steam bath in preparation for the reader to understand the importance of having a vision in life. It is such visions among friends that enable them to bon...