Cooking Your Siblings

In The Joy of Cooking by Elaine Magarrell, the speaker characterizes her siblings. She conveys how she deals with them by comparing them to cooking a meal. Her sister has a nasty tongue. The speaker has found a way to keep her sister from saying mean comments but not forever. The sister will eventually say something mean or cruel. When that happens, the speaker will have something to keep her sister saying nice things. Her brother seems to be a brute. He seems to be all about muscle. He seems selfish and couldn't care less about the speaker. Futhermore, her brother is unwilling to help others and cannot be relied upon, "my brother's heart barely feeds two." (Magarrell). The speaker must have a tough life with her siblings.