James Howe's Short Story 'Everything Will Be Okay'

Do you always feel alone and as if you don’t belong? Do you ever wish to have control over at least one thing? Well, in this short story, “Everything Will Be Okay” by James Howe, there is a younger brother who had always felt alone and out-of-place. All he has ever wanted was someone to really notice, care and play with him. He was always disregarded by his family and his concerns were always dismissed without much thought. No one in his family really took their time in explaining things to him or trying to reason out why they did what they did. The younger brother was never really highly regarded by his family. He was always being neglected and unnoticed. The fact that he is the youngest of the four children mattered with him always

Throughout the story, the younger brother’s family never really cared and noticed the younger brother’s feelings. For example, near the middle when the younger brother is explaining about Paul going away and his actions, it is clear that sometimes, Paul doesn’t respect his brother for who he is. This is shown through on page one in Howe’s writing, when the younger brother reveals that Paul “shaves every day and kisses girl's right in front of me like it was nothing.” This quotation shows that the young boy doesn’t want to see this. He is only ten and does mind whether or not he is exposed to this at such a young age. Paul, on the other hand, is not respecting and does not care the fact that his younger brother is too young. He still kisses girls right in front of his younger brother. He doesn’t respect his younger brother because he is showing him something that he shouldn’t see at such a young age. Another example that shows how the younger brother is never respected is when the younger brother didn’t want Paul to put the kitten to sleep, but Paul still believed that he should. The young boy’s thoughts are never accepted and are always rejected. On page four, the Howe wrote, “ ‘You do have a choice’ is all I say. I hug the box for dear life and move to the door. Paul moves faster… I don’t know what he means, but I do know that no matter what I say he

Paul never respected him and always makes his younger brother do what he wants him to do. His family always makes decisions for him that he doesn’t want. He can’t help it, and that doesn’t help with the fact that he is always ignored by his family. But he did learn a very valuable life lesson that will change his life