Question

The short story "Halves" (PDF below) by Benji Whalen appeared in a Washington-based literary magazine called The Crab Creek Review in 2002. Write a four-to-six paragraph literary analysis essay in which you examine the relationship between the two half-brothers, being sure to include the narrator's subtle indications of how the relationship will develop in the future.

Answer 1

Answer:

This story revolves around two step brothers and their mother. One of the brother Alexis lives with his father and other brother is Aaron who lives with his mother. Both of the brothers have never seen each other.

Alexis returns to meet his mother since his father is going to India for some religious matters. When Alexis reaches the airport he meets his step brother Aaron for the first time.

During their journey from airport to home Alexis shows off his seventeen scars to Aaron and tells a story for each scar. Aaron is not interested in these stories and does not believes in the stories narrated by Alexis.

Alexis has a habit of using abusive language but his mother interrupts and forbade him to use these type of words but he continues using this language without letting his mother know as he then speaks in lower tone so that his mother doesn't notices his abusive language.

They stop their car at Burger King for dinner but Alexis does not eat anything except for fries since he is vegan. When they return to car due to some issue his mother starts crying and worrying about the problem but Alexis helps his mother in fixing the issue.

When they reach the house, Alexis went to backyard and Aaron follows him to see. Alexis have coke in his hand along with 1 white envelopes in which he has several white pills. He eats 2 pills and has it with coke and also offers these pills to Aaron and he has 1 of it. When they go to dining table suddenly everything seems slow to Aaron and he feels that his mother is talking in underwater. Aaron and Alexis both look at each other and laugh loudly.