Note: Larsen's text styles Brian junior with the lowercase "j."
Brian junior and Theodore, nicknamed Ted, are the school-aged sons of Irene and Brian Redfield. The boys contrast each other in personality. Brian junior is athletic, sociable, and assertive, while Ted is withdrawn and perceptive, exhibiting signs of having inherited his father’s sharp and inscrutable nature. The boys make occasional appearances in-scene in the novella, but they mainly exist as the objects of Irene’s utmost concern. Ultimately, Irene’s greatest anxiety is that the stability of her family will crumble, and that her boys will be hurt or left in a precarious position. There are multiple reasons for this anxiety – namely, Brian’s secrecy and restlessness, which threatens the family’s future, and the difficulties of raising Black children in a racist society.
Irene wishes to shield her sons from the reality of racism, sharing with Brian that she hopes to raise them with little knowledge of the extent of hatred and violence in the United States. On this issue, Brian and Irene butt heads. While Irene’s wish is understandable, it is unrealistic. Unlike Irene, her children are unlikely to be able to pass as white and will undoubtedly experience multiple instances of direct racism in their childhoods and adulthoods. Brian also mentions during an argument with Irene that he wants his sons to learn about women and their disappointments early on in life. The tone with which Brian expresses these comments suggests that he may be influencing his sons to have the same supercilious and derogatory view of women that he occasionally exhibits in his interactions with Irene. Ultimately, it is by way of their sons that Irene and Brian discover the vast differences in their parenting styles, life experiences, and worldviews. Over the course of their conversations about Brian junior and Ted, the lack of real love and compatibility in their marriage is exposed.