Queen Sugar Novel

Ralph Angel has lost his father, mother, wife, sister, and his old best friend Hollywood. He is also unable to sustain a job and make a living.

The sibling rivalry that Charley and Ralph Angel harbor against one another is very different. Charley's disgust with Ralph Angel comes from things her mother and father told her as she was growing up without him in her life and what she hears later from Violet and Uncle Brother. Ralph Angel is so far removed from Charley's life that she forgets all about him, even at the reading of her father's will. It isn't until she reaches Miss Honey's house and someone mentions his name that the sinking feeling hits her.

In addition, the rivalry is different for Ralph Angel, however. As the first child, he remembers having his father all to himself every summer before Charley came along. He stopped making the summer trips to see Ralph Angel after Charley was born. When he moved in with his father and step mother, he witnessed all the attention they gave to the baby and was jealous. He wants everyone to think he is just as good as she is and just as deserving without any consequences for not action as such. He believes he is entitled to part of the inheritance regardless of his father's wishes. When Ralph Angel takes the Cane Cutter sculpture, he does it to hurt Charley, to ruin her so she will be like him. He knows how important the money from the cane cutter will be to her farm. Even though he admits later that he couldn't sell it, his plan to hold onto it for a couple of days was long enough to still ruin her chances of saving the farm.