My Brother's Keeper

 My Brother's Keeper by Geoffrey Philp

    My brother's keeper follows a cynical young boy as he is forced to adjust his life after his half-brother moves in with him upon the death of his father. "I don't like hating people, but when him step in through the door with him new bag, new shoes, new shirt, and new pants, and me sitting there in the living room with no shoes tear up, tear up, I hate him even more"(434), this line definitely made me empathize for Umpire as he is living in poverty and now has to live with David who is younger but vastly more privileged. It doesn't seem fair that Umpire has all of these responsibilities like "always have to fetch uncle George" (435) and living in a single-parent household with an abusive family and having this kid blow into town seeming to have everything. Coming from a blue-collar and working-class background I definitely understand what it is like to envy those around you, those close to you, and even to feel spiteful towards them for what you have and what you don't have. If you are poor or less-than privileged and find yourself around those with vastly more or evident privilege you can choose how you react to that situation. You can be spiteful and resentful that they have more than you, or you can choose to let it inspire you, that's the difference between innovators and dreamers and everyone else. For a person who doesn't like to hate people I found Umpire's character to be very angry and cynical and spiteful, but to some extent rightfully so. Umpire has eaten loser's lunch for so long that he desperately wants to break out of it and is likely more resentful of anyone privileged then he thinks he is. Umpire clearly has some drive in him based on the fact that he "I always make sure people owe me, not me owe them"(438), this shows that he uses people for leverage but also that he wants to build his future on his own. The irony here is that at the end of the story Umpire ends up owing David for saving him from a potentially life-threatening beating. What I got from this is that you can try to live without help or on your own for as long as you want but eventually you will need help from someone, and it is better to build bridges than burn them because of that.

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