Resentment is the very thing that drives contention between even the closest relationships. It is resentment that is the revolving force in the battle between Donald and Pete in Tobias Wolff’s The Rich Brother. Antipathy in The Rich Brother seems to branch from an awareness of a personal character flaw in which the sibling possesses its positive reciprocal. Pete’s contention towards Donald’s trusting nature is the exact flaw that leads to dissatisfaction in Pete’s own life, while Pete’s cynical attitude is what lacks in Donald, leading to his being taken advantage of. The actions we observe in a person’s past, the attitudes we project in our interactions with others, when evaluated by someone who lacks those qualities, are integral to internal reflection. It can create extreme contention in a relation ship but also co-dependency. It is why opposites attract and why despite the resentment either might have, both brothers need each other.
Wolff illustrated Donald’s resentment for Pete in an interesting way. It would seem under the circumstances presented in the story that Donald’s contention would come from his lack of money and stability and his brothers firm grasp on both. While undoubtedly those things play a part in Donald’s assertion, Wolff gives us a wonderful narrative detailing Pete hurting Donald at his most vulnerable state. Pete attacking him targeting specifically the wound stitched up from a previous surgery is what has caused the most profound umbrage between the brothers from Donald’s perspective. However Pete’s calm shrugging off of the story, and certainly his unwillingness to completely acknowledge its account, hides the true impact the incident truly has had on Pete’s attitude toward Donald. First off speculation into why a young Pete would hurt Donald at his most vulnerable state may be irrelevant. I think that simply the fact that it was done and Pete’s reaction to the incident is what Wolff truly wants us to see. Pete says “It might have happened once or twice. Kids do those things. I can’t get all excited about something I maybe did twenty-five years ago” (Wolff 6). Perhaps he is exactly all excited over what he had done to his brother who he looked at as vulnerable and helpless and perhaps this is what drives him to support and rescue his brother so often. It may also be a driving force behind the codependency between the two brothers, as this has instilled a sense of guilt into Pete that only saving Donald may be able to cure.
When the brothers meet a man, Webster, who is hitchhiking, the differences between the brothers’ attitudes are never more apparent. While Pete certainly does not want to help the traveler Donald is eager to do just that. Donald is taken by Webster’s bogus business opportunities and in the end is swindled by Webster because of his overabundance of trust and lack of cynicism. Immediately, Pete is skeptical of Webster’s story and Wolff makes this cynicism apparent to the reader even before the reader has become suspicious of Webster. Wolff does a wonderful job of making the reader wonder why Pete is so skeptical. However Pete was right, and Donald was taken for the one hundred dollars given to him by Pete. Nevertheless this causes Pete to evaluate his own character, one who holds the power and is desperately afraid to lose that. Wolff depicting Pete, evaluating his own cynicism states:
And it came to him that it would be just like this unfair life for Donald to come out ahead in the end, by believing in some outrageous promise that would turn out to be true and that he, Pete, would reject out of hand because he was too wised up to listen to anybody’s pitch anymore except for laughs.” (11)
Pete has begun to wonder if one of the very things that he can’t seem to stand about Donald is a trait he needs to acquire. For if he was more trusting, as is his brother, he may gain more than the trouble he is preventing himself from.
The brothers may engage in sibling rivalry like all others, however despite their rivalry their co-dependency is evident in the narrative. Pete’s obvious financial support of Donald is a loud example of the need these brothers have for one another. However this symbiosis is not parasitic as it may seem. Pete needs to take care of Donald and his dream of being blind and being taken care of by Donald is testament to that. Wolff is showing the reader that Donald being taken care of by Pete- is taking care of Pete. However it also showed Pete’s fear of vulnerability and need to be the brother with the upper hand.
It is the very things that we find fault in ourselves that tends to aggravate us when noticed in others. In “The Rich Brother” both brothers needed each other because each one lacked a quality the other possessed, however this also led toward the resentment they had toward one another. Pete always supporting Donald and Donalds horrible memories of childhood trauma have put these two brothers at contending ends of the ring. But it is these very things that tie the two brothers so closely together. The ending to the story depicting Pete driving just far enough away before returning to pick up his brother is a perfect resolution. It illustrates brilliantly Pete’s need for Donald despite his willingness to let Donald know how co-dependent he truly is. At the same time Pete, in desperate need of Donald’s help tells him “You’d better go,” (12) suggesting his attempt to hide his vulnerability and co-dependency. Both brothers are too proud to allow themselves to be humbled in front of their brother. Wolff certainly teaches us a lesson about siblings- that the bonds that tie us are not always with ribbons of silk but sometimes with the frayed edges of course twine.
Works Cited:
• Wolff, Tobias. The Rich Brother. ENC 1102 Scanned online document
