After Ever After

Steven is Jeff’s older brother. He only appears at the end of the novel, though Jeff mentions him throughout the story; he is also the protagonist of Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, the book that precedes After Ever After. After unwaveringly supporting his younger brother during his cancer treatment and being treated as the family’s golden child, Steven went to college with his girlfriend, Annette. However, he soon left both school and Annette to go to Africa and learn to play drums. At the beginning of the story, Jeff and his family are still grappling with Steven’s decision, which was very unexpected.

Jeff is especially confused about and resentful toward his brother because they used to be very close. Their relationship is now strained, as Steven only writes occasionally and Jeff feels like he cannot share his problems with him. At first, Jeff believes that his brother abandoned him. He then comes to understand that Steven tried to compensate for Jeff’s cancer diagnosis by being a perfect son and brother. However, the pressure eventually got to Steven, and he decided to separate himself from his family to find himself. As he explained to his parents, “I have to leave. I want to find out what it’s like to worry about myself for a change. I want to do what I want” (69).

Jeff begins to see Steven’s perspective as he himself copes with Tad’s relapse. However, he also points out that their differing reactions reveal their different levels of emotional maturity: “Wow, it never occurred to me until just now that maybe I’m a bit more grown-up than my brother is. He still thinks life is supposed to make sense” (99). At the end of the story, Steven comes home because, having gained clarity and a better sense of his identity, he realizes that he needs to be close to his family.

Tad is Jeff’s best friend. They met in fourth grade, when Tad was a new student at school and was reluctantly paired with Jeff, the only other cancer survivor in the class. Tad is characterized by his quick wit and cynicism. He is prone to sarcastic, provocative comments about everything, including himself and sensitive topics like death and disability. Jeff respects this, seeing it as a sign of Tad’s honesty and courage: “I knew he had it ten times worse than I did with the late effects, and I knew a lot of people didn’t like the way he never, ever held anything back, but at moments like that I always wished I could be even a tenth as brave as Tad” (18-19).

Tad has already had cancer twice as the novel opens, and he relapses again toward the end. Like Jeff, he has developed disabilities due to his treatments and requires accommodations at school. For example, Tad finds it difficult to walk and usually uses a wheelchair to get around, although he makes a pact with Jeff that he will walk across the stage for graduation. He also has a respiratory condition and nerve damage.

Despite his apparent cynicism, Tad cares deeply about his loved ones. For instance, his cruelty to his younger sister Yvonne is in part an attempt to save her the pain of losing her brother: “Truthfully, I always figured I’d probably die. And I thought, Maybe it will be easier for everyone if Yvonne doesn’t get too attached to me” (180). Additionally, when he realizes the unfairness of Jeff being required to take standardized tests without accommodations, Tad stages a walkout and alerts local media, leading to the cancellation of the tests.

Tad is also concerned with performing a beau geste, which suggests that he is looking for a way to ensure that his life has had a purpose. He tells Jeff, “You’re my biggest beau geste. Getting you onto that stage is way more important to me than strolling across it” (204), before making his friend promise to “kick butt in high school” (239). At the end of the novel, Tad dies from complications of surgery. Jeff grieves his best friend by visiting his grave over the summer and talking to him, stating, “Tad isn’t going anywhere. He’s right with me in this clearing on the edge of a little town by the Delaware River. And he’s right with me in the center of my chest” (259). Jeff’s determination to carry Tad’s memory with him underscores that he himself has become Tad’s legacy.