Contrasting Responsibility in Carvers Fever and Baldwins Sonnys B

What allows a human being to constantly face-up to the responsibilities of life? What makes a mother or become continue to clothe, feed, and pick up their child from school? What makes a person wake up every morning to go to a job he or she hates, come home, and begin the whole process the following morning? Is it responsibility that makes a person do what they have to do, or rather is it fearing the egress? Truthfully, this would depend on the situation. Parents would most likely fulfill their responsibility towards their child or children because of love but a person who hates his or her job probably continues to do it fearing the consequence of unemployment. In the end, one realizes that despite all the responsibilities a person has, the choice to execute it is ultimately left to the individual.Two short stories that understand the theme of responsibility are Sonnys blue devils by James Baldwin and Fever by Raymond Carver. In Sonnys Blues, the narrators elderly mother tells h im to never allow anything icky to happen to his younger brother, Sonny. Although Sonnys injurious decisions result in both brothers distancing themselves from each other, the older brother finds it within himself to love his brother and do everything he bed do to take finagle of him. In Fever, the other short story, the narrators wife, Eileen, abandons her life as a wife and mother of two children to pursue a career as an artist with another man. This sudden abandonment of all maternal responsibilities without reservation characterizes her as a free-flowing artiste that pursues her desires without regarding the impact it might have on others. Both of these short stories show how people approach the issue of familial responsibility.An init... ... what were supposed to get out of this life... one realizes that she has put her ambitions and desires above her family and paid no heed to her familial responsibility.Abraham Lincoln once said, You cannot escape the responsibility of to morrow by evading it today (www.quotationspage.com). Ironically, one actually can. The narrator in Sonnys Blues chose to care for Sonny and accept his responsibility as an older brother. On the other hand, Eileen in Fever chose a different path by leaving her family and act her own ambitions. Conclusively, one realizes that despite all the responsibilities a person has, the element of choice determines what happens.Works CitedCarver, Raymond. Fever The Harper Anthology of Fiction Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York HarperCollins, 1991.Baldwin, James. Sonnys Blues in Vintage Baldwin. New York Vintage, 2004.