At the beginning of the story, what does the narrator reveal about her family and her own responsibility in the family? How does she feel about...

The first paragraph of the story introduces readers to the narrator, Squeaky. She quickly introduces readers to her family and the fact that her family has set up a system of labor for each family member. Her mom is a stay at home mother, George runs errands, and her dad takes care of anything that needs taking care of:

George runs errands for the big boys and sells Christmas cards. And anything else that’s got...

The first paragraph of the story introduces readers to the narrator, Squeaky. She quickly introduces readers to her family and the fact that her family has set up a system of labor for each family member. Her mom is a stay at home mother, George runs errands, and her dad takes care of anything that needs taking care of:

George runs errands for the big boys and sells Christmas cards. And anything else that’s got to get done, my father does.

Squeaky's job is to take care of her brother, Raymond. Raymond is her older brother, but it is her job to take care of him due to his mental and physical disability. Squeaky never gives her readers a diagnosis, but she does tell readers that Raymond's head is larger than normal. She hints at some mental handicap when she says that Raymond is not "quite right":  

But a lot of people call him my little brother cause he needs looking after cause he’s not quite right. And a lot of smart mouths got lots to say about that too, especially when George was minding him. But now, if anybody has anything to say to Raymond, anything to say about his big head, they have to come by me.

Squeaky does not seem to resent having to take care of her brother. She does not claim to love it, but she does not claim to dislike it either. What is very clear is that Squeaky takes her job very seriously. It does not matter who Raymond needs protecting from; Squeaky protects him like lion:

“What grade you in now, Raymond?”

“You got anything to say to my brother, you say it to me, Mary Louise Williams of Raggedy Town, Baltimore.”

“What are you, his mother?” sasses Rosie.

“That’s right, Fatso. And the next word out of anybody and I’ll be their mother too.”