Sibling Bonds Are Like Spiderwebs

In a lot of types of media, there are always two or more siblings that always seem to fight or argue. We've all seen it before. It happens in real life, too. I should know. But under the surface, these siblings are much closer than they seem. The arguments or conflicts between or involving siblings can generally show how much they truly care for one another.

Sans(right) and Papyrus(left). Two brothers that appear as main characters in the RPG, Undertale.
Credit for image goes to zjedz-goffra on DeviantArt.

Take, for example, the Skele-brothers from Undertale, Papyrus and Sans. They always seem to argue, as seen when Papyrus yells at Sans because of his horrible jokes, but they have a mutual, brotherly love for each other. Sans, being the older one, will call out the protagonist of Undertale for either sparing his brother or killing him, and if the player decides to kill Papyrus, Sans will attempt to destroy them in a rage of grief and revenge, calling them a "dirty brother killer."

Another example is in the book, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. The protagonist, Anna, who is a genetic copy of her older sister, seems to be heartless and not care about her cancerous sister when she files a lawsuit to retain her rights to her body to stop donating blood and various other needed substances. However, she was trying to help her sister reach her dying wish. In fact, her sister, Kate, wanted to die. Anna's realization that killing Kate, by letting the cancer consume her, was the only way to make her happy is ironically twisted, considering the fact that Anna was originally conceived to safe Kate's life. That's all she ever was in her mother's eyes, after all. Kate's Life Saver. Yet only Anna was the one who understood Kate's desperation and wanted to help ease her pain. This bond between Anna and Kate shows the bonds between siblings and how they are able to connect with each other more than a parent and child. Sibling bonds are extremely powerful, and siblings can easily perceive the strengths of each other's emotions and wants.

Even with the strong bond between them, Anna has moments of reluctance because she fears the judgement and reactions of her mother, knowing that her mom would be disappointed in her. However, her mother thinks she knows best, and stubbornly shuts out the needs and wants of her two daughters, blind to them in her desperation to save Kate when being saved was the last thing Kate actually wanted.

This conflict is present in many families, when teens want to take charge of their own lives yet are afraid of when their parent will think of their choices. Yet, they are able to talk to siblings and express whatever troubles they have. And siblings will fight, naturally, but they almost always help each other pull through hard times. This shows the bonds between siblings that are like spiderwebs, seemingly fragile, but surprisingly strong and able to support and withstand many things.