The Significance of Relationships

"Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind" (Lilo & Stitch).  The importance of family is large in our culture.  Mother's share a very unique bond with their child since they gave birth to them and father's tend to be role models for their children.  Siblings may disagree at times but they love one another and look out for eachother.  Husbands and wives are married because they posses the most powerful emotion towards one another, love.  The relationship between individuals and friends is also extremely important for our culture since human beings are social beings.  
In the short story, Sonny's Blues, by James Baldwin the relationship between individuals is exemplified.  The characters in this text do not openly communicate with one another on a regular basis, but when the final chance approaches they finally open up.  For instance, the narrator does not possess the knowledge that his father had a brother until he is talking to his mother for the last time before her death.  Also while visiting his mother she asks for her son to promise her that he will watch our for his brother Sonny because she senses that she will not be around anymore and that Sonny will need guidance (mother's intuition).  Yet the narrator loses contact with his dear brother for over a year and then one day see's his brother's name in the newspaper because he has "peddling and using heroin" (Baldwin 402).  But later that day a friend of Sonny's comes around and discusses Sonny's situation with his brother.  The relationship of beings is what gives us the will to push through.
Some of the relationships in this story are bumpy and the individuals do not always know exactly how to communicate with one another.  Not all families are completely open though so this scenario is perfectly realistic.  At one point the narrator attempts to communicate with his brother after the service for their mother had ended but he did not know how to say what he wanted to in a way that his brother would listen and actually take into consideration what he was saying.  The relationship between Sonny and the narrator break the cultural code of siblings watching out for one another at all times.  And the mother breaks a cultural code by keeping a secret from her children about their father's brother until her children's adulthood.  Families are supposed to be there for each other and share important things with each other whether they be good or bad.  Family is supposed to be of utmost importance to all.