This is the story of two little boys. They know each other vaguely as toddlers, then circumstances thrust them into the same household. The first little boy is Yusef. He is the youngest of a large family. He is treated with benign neglect by his parents and older siblings. By accident of heredity, he is neither as physically large as his siblings, nor as adept at winning over his teachers in school with his intellect. His family has no contempt for him, but no particular degree of admiration either.
The second little boy is Itzak. He is the only child of a horribly abusive mother and father. He has been physically and emotionally abused since birth, and the whole neighborhood knows it but does nothing out of fear of his violent father and viciously vindictive mother. A breaking point arrives when his father kills his mother in a drunken rage.
Once Itzak's father is in prison, there are no other relatives for him to go to. Yusef's parents, being kindhearted people and wracked with guilt for their lack of action during Itzak's brief life so far, agree to adopt the child and take him into their home. This does not sit well with Yusef, who already is attention starved and resentful. Itzak, experiencing stability and a lack of violence for the first time in his life, vows never again to willingly endure such treatment. He becomes active in athletics, excels in school and cultivates a rather charming and engaging personality, all in order to "make friends and influence people".
The two boys are at odds from the day Itzak arrives. Yusef constantly takes potshots at his new brother, which Itzak rebuffs instantly and overwhelmingly every time. As the years go by, Itzak grows bigger and stronger, and by the time the boys are in high school, Itzak has become the handsome, popular hero of the football team, while Yusef is a skinny nerd harboring tremendous resentment towards his brother. Itzak feels some responsibility for his sibling, and so endeavors to take care of him, yet keep him at arm's length because of the ever present physical attacks (the moment Itzak's guard is down, Yusef will punch him in his sleep, stab him with an Xacto knife or other small yet annoying things). Yusef's rage at his bigger and stronger brother is volcanic, and he cannot help but act out his resentment.
Itzak tires of this behavior, and frequently beats the tar out of Yusef in an attempt to get him to stop once and for all, to no avail. Their parents are quite dismayed by the fighting between their youngest sons, but are at a loss about how to stop it. They can no more remove Itzak from their family as they can Yusef, as both are much beloved children.
Who is at fault here? Can anyone really say?
Discuss...