29 pages • 58 minutes read
Branden Jacobs-JenkinsA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
One Somebody, now a Cousin, greets Everybody. Another Somebody becomes Kinship. Cousin offers Everybody food and drink, time to share secrets, and everything except sex. Everybody asks Cousin to accompany them into death. Cousin is terrified that Everybody’s instructions came from Death, reassures Everybody that “a defining feature of this family is our sort of vague inner strength,” and adds, “I’m absolutely 100% positive that you’ll find some family member other than me because I’m not going with you I’m sorry I’m just your cousin” (31).
Everybody asks Kinship, and Kinship also demurs, pretending not to understand Everybody’s pleading, announcing that they need to take a little girl in the audience to the bathroom, and dragging her off as she screams for her mother. Everybody complains bitterly that the promised bond of kinship isn’t real. Cousin interjects: “Real talk, cousin to cousin. Don’t you think you’re being sort of the asshole right now?” (33)—it isn’t fair to insult people for not being ready to die. Additionally, Cousin needs to work on their own presentation, now that they know about it. Cousin wonders if God wants them to spend more time talking about God.
Allegories of Modern Life
View Collection
American Literature
View Collection
Dramatic Plays
View Collection
Fear
View Collection
Good & Evil
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Pulitzer Prize Fiction Awardees &...
View Collection
Religion & Spirituality
View Collection
Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love
View Collection