A Reflection on

“ The hardest habit to break, since it was the habit of a lifetime, would be listening to myself listen to him. That habit would destroy any chance of seeing my brother on his terms; and seeing him in his terms, learning his terms, seemed the whole point of learning his story.” (Wideman 767) It is sometimes difficult to imagine ourselves in someone else’s shoes. We see, hear, absorb and interpret all that which is going …

…cares for. The narrator seems to have the desire to thoughtfully examine each side of what happened to his family, longs to know how society can only push a person so far, how his brother came to be a criminal. The narrator ponders all these thoughts but has trouble not getting caught up in examining how he himself perceives information, as opposed to truly listening, and concentrating on what is right in front of him.