The Brother-sister relationship conflicts within Cell One and Tomorrow is Too Far

One of the main similarities that I discovered after reading Cell One and Tomorrow is Too Far is the tension within the sister-brother relationships. Both narrators hold some sort of bitterness against their brother because he is the favored child: in Cell One the mother consistently covers up for her son’s mistakes and wrongdoings, and in Tomorrow is Too Far the grandmother shows him more love because he is the son who will carry on the family name. However, while in Cell One the sister eventually reaches some sort of resolution with her brother, the sister of Tomorrow still retains this hatred.

When they visit her brother in Jail in Cell One, the sister seems to be feeling more frustration and annoyance laced with bitterness, as she mentions, “I wanted to ask him to shut up because he was enjoying himself in his new role as the sufferer of indignities, and because he did not understand how lucky he was that the policemen allowed him to come out and eat our food, how stupid he’d been to stay out drinking that night, how uncertain his chances were of being released” (13). For so long his mother has shown him favoritism and covered up for his mistakes that he now takes this mercy for granted, which frustrates his sister. However, though there is this undertone of bitterness throughout, she ultimately sees in her brother that he is not all she believes him to be, that he has changed. As the story ends, the sister describes how “it would have been easy for him, my charming brother, to make a sleek drama of his story, but he did not” (21). While the sister had acted out against her brother, throwing a rock against the car’s windshield to stop the family visiting, she has finally realized that perhaps there is more to him that she thinks. And, as she sees that he is able to change, she realizes that so can she.

However, the sister from Tomorrow is Too Far has no problem holding on to any resentment towards her brother. Tired of being second rate in everything through her grandmother’s and mother’s eyes, the sister lets her bitterness get out of control, so much that it results in her brother’s death. But even after her brother dies, the bitterness does not subside— She does not want to keep any of her brother’s things, and her mother and father still do not pay attention to her. Ultimately, she never finds resolution with the relationships in her life—her father, mother, grandfather, brother, cousin—while the sister of Cell One reaches some sort of closure with hers.