Carson Mcculler's Short Story Sucker

Carson McCullers‘ short story “Sucker”, is about two cousins who share a room and some experiences. Throughout the short story, Pete and Sucker grow and change. Their relationship and attitudes affect the way they act towards each other and Pete learns a very important lesson, to treat others the way you wish to be treated because they will treat you the same. “Treating others the way you wish to be treated” is a saying that is very often thrown around. In Carson McCullers’ short story, I found that she used her characters to show her readers that by not treating others the way you wish to be treated that they too will forget how to treat you properly. I felt that this was a very important message throughout the short story for many reasons.

Pete admitted during the course of the story, that he treated Sucker poorly. When he was not yelling at him, he would ignore him or send him out of their room. For a brief period, they began to bond while Pete was having a good time with a girl that he was interested in; she affected his relationships with others. “And another thing- sometimes this look in his eyes makes me almost believe that if Sucker could, he would kill me.” The author specifically used the look in Sucker’s eyes to represent how Pete’s previous actions changed the way Sucker matured. Sucker was introduced with “having the look of a kid who is watching a game and waiting to be asked to

It is about two friends who travel from ranch to ranch to find work during the Great Depression. The two men have formed and important bond and look out for each other. At their new job on Tyler Ranch, they befriend and rancher named Slim.

I think that both Of Mice and Men and “Sucker” share the common theme of treating others the way you wish to be treated because their attitude towards you will change. In Of Mice and Men, Slim is described as being loyal and understanding. He is well trusted throughout the ranch that he works on. The character Pete in “Sucker” had the opposite attitude towards others. Pete was rude to Sucker and made it hard for Sucker to open up to him. Whenever Sucker would try to talk to him, Pete would tell him to shut up or to leave him alone. Whereas Slim made it so that George could confide in him.

One chapter in Of Mice and Men showed George talking to Slim about how him and Lennie were not actually cousins. During the time that the novella is set in, it was very hard for people to trust each other. Slim was loyal to others because he wanted others to be loyal to him, which they were. Pete was not loyal to Sucker and made it very difficult for them to create a bond. Nearing the end of the story he commented on how he missed the short period of time where they had bonded. He realized that he should have kept that in mind when he was mistreating someone