The thing about a tragic victim is that each has a penchant for victimizing. Subtly, in “ shows this to his readers. Two parent-child relationships are on display in this short story. One is shared by the main character, who remains unnamed, and his mother. The main character’s two neighbors share the other.
Brandi is nine years old and is the title character. She “latched onto” (Sedaris, 2009, p.1) the main character shortly after he moves into her building. Her relationship with her mother can be best summed by the following: “A normal mother might have wondered what was up—her nine-year-old daughter spending time with a twenty-six-year-old man—but this one didn’t seem to care” (Sedaris, 2009, p.1). The main character’s relationship with his mother can be summed also: “She liked to take my problems back to the source, which was usually me” (Sedaris, 2009, p.1).
His mother is overbearing, while Brandi’s is neglectful. Though the main character claims to be reaching out to the young girl, he cannot help but use her vulnerability to help himself feel smart, strong, and capable—a stark contrast to the insufficiency he must endure in his dealings with his mother. Brandi steals from him, at which point the major conflict emerges. The important thing to notice is that both of these children victimize each other in proportion to the extent of their own victimizations. In response to this conflict, the main character’s mother stays true to her overbearing nature. She insists that he leave the building and finances his move into an apartment some blocks away.
References
Sedaris, David. (2003). The Girl Next Door: How Much Trouble Could a Nine-Year Old Be? The New Yorker: 1-6. Web.