“You’re Ugly, Too”

“You’re Ugly, Too” by Lorrie Moore

Zoe’s relationship with her sister

Zoe and Evan have a healthy sister relationship. However, the roles of being an older sister to Evan have switched with Evan growing and finding companionship. Evan and Zoe regularly keep in contact with each other despite living far away from each other. Evan has been successful in her relationships, especially with her boyfriend Charlie. On the other hand, Zoe has had great difficulty in this area because her lack of maturity when it comes to relationships. Evan now plays more of the “big sister” role in giving Zoe advice and trying to help her with her relationships. This switch of roles provokes Zoe to feel jealous of Evan. “Zoe had always taken care of her, advising, reassuring, unitl recently, when it seemed Evan had started advising and reassuring her. It startled Zoe,” (Moore, 360).  Zoe grows more jealous upon finding out that Evan is engaged to her boyfriend. Most often, older sisters get married before the younger sisters. This short story exhibits that being an older sister does not necessarily come from order of birth, but from growth and maturity in life.