Kara Ireland
Professor Smith
ENGL 1102
Setting the Tone of Brotherhood
With the majority of my family as Arkansas natives, with the exception of me, they are constantly inclined to tackle the eight-hour road trip it takes to travel there. The car is brimming with four individuals that include my parents, my brother, and I. My mother is always in the front seat as my father drives, leaving my brother and I to reside in the back seat. Eight years my senior and twice my size, he feels overly entitled to his space in the small BMW we travel in. His name is Jordan and he usually gives no regard to personal space. Extending his legs over to my side of the car, taking up the entire armrest by leaning onto it, and playing his music through his headphones at an insufferable volume are just some of his many infringements. Having had to deal with this for years now, I can gauge my cracking point. The first couple of hours are bearable, he can be ignored – for the most part. However, as time ticks on, that annoyance becomes more deeply embedded into me with everything he does. Around the sixth hour and the final stretch, suddenly, he’s breathing too loud and it is bothering me, or his elbow is just barely grazing mine and I can’t stand it, or the way I see him dancing out of my peripheral vision is absolutely infuriating – for reasons unbeknownst to me at that point. Being confined to one space for a prolonged period of time contributes greatly to my negative, albeit irrational, feelings towards him. “The Rich Brother” features a similar case of trials and tribulations of a set of brothers that anyone with siblings can relate to. Being brought up within the same setting may give way to a multitude of frivolous problems, but can also nurture an unconditional love. These components of the relationship between two siblings are highlighted in the short story by Tobias Wolff. Pete feels suffocated by Donald and the miscellaneous settings portray and enhance his confinement in tangible, enclosed, claustrophobic surroundings such as outside Jonathan’s Mechanical Emporium, Pete’s Mercedes at various times of day, and the side of the road at nightfall.
Jonathan’s Mechanical Emporium is the first place Pete scoffs at his brother’s inadequacy, following a previous series of his perceived failures. Pete has a stunted, misunderstood perception of his younger brother in which he views him as dense and impulsive whereas he would consider himself to be the opposite. The way Donald regards his brother is also a little skewed, where he considers him to be threatened, insecure, and judgmental. They would prefer to be considered as two different individuals, with completely independent qualities from the other. Although only expressed through Pete’s mindset, written in third person limited, both of the brothers flaunt their differences and wear them proudly. Donald is undoubtedly proud of his religious endeavors, as is Pete with his material wealth and success. From the beginning of the story, it becomes apparent that Pete looks down on his younger brother and continues to deem him as a freeloader that is most likely incapable of fitting his idea of success, unable to secure a real occupation or provide for himself. That notion is emphasized early in paragraphs 21-24 in Donald’s peculiar request of retrieval. Pete’s response of “that’s one for the collection,” implies that Donald has a history of being a freelancer that has to be plucked from strange places, such as Jonathan’s Mechanical Emporium. It is indicative of his habits and his lack of security, which Pete assumes but doesn’t express verbally.
That feeling of claustrophobia manifested itself after reading the letter he received from the head of the household on Donald’s farm, in which Pete reported feeling “crowded and breathless” and he felt it again when he arrived at Jonathan’s Mechanical Emporium (paragraph 26). Using that letter as yet another example, Pete gains further confirmation of his suspicions that Donald cannot truly settle himself. It can be inferred that Pete thought of Donald as boneheaded and that he’d succumbed to his unappealing fate with being asked to leave the farm. Pete withholds that information but is already exasperated with his brother by the time he picks him up. His utterance of “I only have one brother, and that’s enough” in paragraph 9 accentuates exactly how he regards his brother under most circumstances. The setting outside of Jonathan’s Mechanical Emporium sets this relationship into stone with the striking parallel between Donald and the paper cup. It appears that Pete’s view of him had caught up to Donald as he was described as sitting against a wall with his head on his knees. That positioning is one of defeat and hopelessness, which is exactly how Pete has dubbed him internally. Donald is likened to the paper cup that tumbled past him in the sense that he also goes where the wind takes him, figuratively speaking. He has no security and no fixed source of income with all of his temporary endeavors. Pete’s exasperation reveals itself in his first acknowledgement of Donald, telling him to “grow up” and to “get a Mercedes” (paragraph 28). With the setting in Santa Cruz, California where the wealthy tends to reside, Pete’s compulsion with material wealth is dignified. Perhaps his own obtainment of such a nice car is his way of placating his insecurity of being surrounded by lavish living. Projecting that insecurity, perhaps even second-hand embarrassment, onto Donald was the way he greeted him. It isn’t the friendliest variation of hello and it established the tension they had to endure in the duration of the car trip.
That tension seemed to increase significantly upon Donald’s entrance into Pete’s Mercedes, where they were then both cramped into the intimate space. Spilling his orange soda was a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things, but Pete reacted as conservatively as he could to reign in his annoyance. Donald is immediately aware of Pete’s hostilities and opts to leave him alone as the daylight fades into the evening. The atmosphere shifts within the confined space of the car as they drive, and Pete probes at his little brother knowingly, as older siblings tended to do. It is an odd conversation to follow as it varies from Donald’s lapse at the farm to dreaming. Donald exercised that youthful, imaginative quality that is found in those that are younger, and Pete was annoyed with him at once for his broaching of it. The hostilities crept into Donald as he once again revisited his misfortunes and Pete’s smug expression set him off. Siblings often face indignation in a multitude of ways, and Donald was offended by Pete’s entertainment by his mistakes. Donald felt particularly antagonistic as he mentioned the scar story from their childhood, which Pete denied and flipped the situation for his own aggressions. This encounter served to deepen Pete’s initial grudge by providing him with something to gripe over.
The looming trees and red glow of the tail lights were symbolic for the way Pete succumbed to his frustrations with his brother and those descriptions of setting foreshadowed the climax of the story (paragraph 215). Including their passing of the fields and their entrance of a “tunnel of trees” symbolizes Pete’s tunnel vision of how simplistic Donald was. He homes in on all of Donald’s shortcomings after he’d been swindled by Webster, because it was such a typical situation for him to be fooled by. After being forced to accept that his money was gone, just like that, Pete is silently seething as he drives beside Donald. Being in the restricted space of the car has parallels to his feelings towards Donald and that air of claustrophobia makes its return, just as Pete feels completely smothered by Donald. He even mentions that he’s “stuck” with Donald in paragraph 244. The strong diction there finally verbalizes his true feelings without sugarcoating it because Pete makes sure he’s aware of the burden he gives him.
Pete’s displeasure with having to deal with Donald peaks after the incident with Webster and Pete allows himself to be consumed by his vitriol as they passed the landscape setting on the road. Trees that “loomed” overhead insinuate a daunting appearance, giving the impression of the foreboding twist in the story that was to come (paragraph 251). The “red glow of the taillights” gives a menacing visual, painting Pete as nothing short of the devil. Feeling that Donald’s religious endeavors were superfluous, hearing him say “God bless you” caused Pete to lose his composure. This brief episode of rage gave evidence for the story Donald told in paragraph 99 about Pete’s presumed attempt to kill him. It was dark in their bedroom, just as it was on the side of the road. Dropping to his knees in the darkness in search of something to harm Donald with is the same savage tactic as purposely striking someone where they’d had stitches. “He would know when he found it” stresses how enraged he was, avidly seeking out something to strike him with without awareness of what it was, exactly. That scene was foreshadowed early on in paragraph 128 with Donald’s utterance of “dark night.” It was seemingly pointless commentary, just to overpower the awkwardness that had settled between them after inviting Webster. With further scrutiny, it is revealed that it had an underlying meaning as Donald announced his own fate.
“The trees gave way to fields” is a metaphor, followed by many, in relation to the brief exculpation Pete experienced when he was rid of Donald (paragraph 264). The fields are clear, just like his mind is for the time being as Donald’s weight is temporarily lifted from his shoulders. The metal fences described as being plastered with “windblown scraps of paper” is analogous to Pete and Donald, where Pete is undoubtedly the resilient metal fence and Donald embodies the pieces of paper littering its structure (paragraph 264). The fog surrounding him symbolizes the haziness in Pete’s mind about being forced to deal with Donald, how he can neither overcome it nor ignore his needs. It only takes a few minutes’ worth of deliberation before he returns to him, despite his anger, as indicated by the final paragraph. That kind of unconditional love is evident all throughout the story in both brothers.
Setting had an integral role in setting up the climax of the story, pun intended. After assessing this story and comparing it to my own archive of memories with my brother, Pete’s attitude is wholly justifiable. Being cooped up in a car with an individual that’s as insufferable as Donald (or, my brother) can be grounds for anyone to go mad. Those several enclosed settings heightened Pete’s credibility throughout the story. His lapse in composure was justified after being forced to be around him, especially with that obligation weighing down on him because it was yet another favor that he had to perform for him. The notion of continuously giving without receiving anything had been in the back of his mind, then Donald’s many blunders chipped away at his resilience. Jordan, my brother, and I clash just as often as Pete and Donald seem to in the story, but we can overcome our differences when the situation becomes dire enough, just like Pete did. The reality of abandoning Donald on the side of the road on such a stygian night was daunting enough to make Pete return for him, as insinuated by the final paragraph. It reminds me of after an extensive road trip in which my brother managed to be just as annoying as always, when he suffered an asthma attack. Despite my anger with him and my own frustrations, I rushed to the scene to aid him with my own inhaler. All of those vexing moments that had been building up my outrage towards him were proven insignificant when he encountered something that dangerous, just like Pete in relation to the uncertainty of the night. The restriction of the car validated Pete’s behavior, but it was overcome in the end – offering the real resolution of the story and introducing an underlying theme: unconditional love. In the middle of the story, Pete is confronted with the fact that he will never escape Donald, that this was going to be a lifelong commitment. Although he expresses unwillingness, he ultimately accepts his fate and succumbs to it because despite all of his shortcomings, he loves his brother. The presence of unconditional love between two siblings can be expressed in as drastic of a situation as my own, or as subtly as Pete digressing and choosing to act as Donald’s saving grace after all.