Siblings in Short Stories
Q: “What do the sibling stories we’ve read have to say about sibling relationships?” A: All the sibling stories we’ve read have shared some common features. They’ve largely focused on an older/younger pair (which makes sense, as that is an important factor in family dynamics) but not on people similar in age/twins, or three or more siblings. They take place from one sibling’s point of view, limiting our knowledge of the other sibling’s feelings, and tend to feature lack of understanding (“Sonny’s Blues”; “If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi”) or jealousy (“If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi”). They mostly take place over a long period of time– because sibling relationships by nature are lasting. Except for “Black-Eyed Women,” they’ve been about two siblings in conflict and feature internal fights between them rather than external forces taking apart the siblings, except for the passage of time of course. I think these features are all done somewhat necessarily, as it’s a lot harder to fit in ...