Hollis West

Hollis West is Auden’s brother, whose unexpected professional and romantic stability marks a departure from the patterns she associates with his past. Though their contact is sporadic, he becomes the only family member Auden is speaking to during the summer. His call from a new job brings news of his own changes and a plea that Auden give their mother another chance; later, the possibility of a photograph with Hollis and Laura becomes one of the images Auden considers for a frame he gave her, linking his changed life to her uncertain hopes about what comes next.

Identity and Background

Auden describes Hollis as continuing to buck both convention and his own history. She is surprised that he remains madly in love with Laura long after, in her account, he would usually have lost interest and moved on. The contrast gives his relationship a particular significance: it is not simply another development in his life, but evidence that the pattern Auden expects him to repeat may not be inevitable. The text does not explain the details of that history, so the change is defined through Auden’s comparison between what she expects of Hollis and what she now sees him doing.

Hollis’s connection with Laura also becomes concrete in the family’s later recollection of their engagement. Auden remembers the day they officially announced it and considers using a photograph of herself with the couple in the frame Hollis had given her months earlier. His place in her imagined photograph is therefore not just that of a brother she calls: he is part of a developing household and future that Auden can picture, even as she remains undecided about which memories she wants to preserve.

Work and Emerging Change

Hollis’s career is another surprise. When Auden calls, he answers in a professional tone that briefly makes her hesitate, although she knows she dialed his number. He explains that he is at Main Mutual, working with what he calls the personal finance specialists. The job is already familiar enough for him to refer to his coworkers and to describe an upcoming brainstorming session, details that present a working life beyond the one Auden had vaguely heard about from their mother.

He has been at the bank for about three weeks and says that the time has passed quickly because he is really clicking there. The short duration matters: this is a new beginning, not a long-established career Auden has simply overlooked. She remembers only a vague mention from their mother about a bank, suggesting how little she has been following family news. Hollis’s easy report of his new work contrasts with that distance; he can tell her what has changed, while her knowledge of his life is still catching up.

Relationship with Auden and Their Mother

During this period, Auden says Hollis is the only family member she talks to, though their communication is sporadic because he is so caught up in his new life with Laura. Her silence toward their parents is more deliberate. She has ignored their calls and messages, recognizing that the choice is childish but also treating it as part of her unfinished effort to make up for lost time. She fears that even a brief conversation with either parent might release feelings she has barely begun to confront. Against that withdrawal, Hollis’s call is a rare opening within the family.

Hollis uses it to urge Auden to speak with their mother. He tells her that their mother misses her, a claim that shocks Auden because she thinks of her mother as entirely self-sufficient. He also reports that their mother is having difficulties with Finn, a graduate student who sleeps in his car and is in love with her, while she will not commit. Hollis characterizes the situation as stirring up her issues and asks Auden to try talking to her, first seriously and then as something to consider for his sake. The request is direct, but he does not claim that reconciliation will be easy or offer a solution to their mother’s troubles.

His appeal carries weight partly because of the position he occupies between family members. Auden is estranged from both parents, and Hollis’s own contact with her is limited, yet he passes along the information she lacks and tries to bring her back into conversation. He does not erase her grievances; instead, he asks her to make another attempt despite them. The scene shows him acting as a family connection at a time when Auden is choosing distance, without suggesting that he can decide for her or repair the relationships himself.

Narrative Role and Significance

Hollis’s changes complicate Auden’s assumptions about the people closest to her. In his case, continued love for Laura and a promising start at Main Mutual depart from the history Auden expects him to repeat. These details do not establish that every part of his life has transformed, but they give his story a quiet counterexample to the fixed patterns Auden sees in her family. His new life is presented through ordinary facts—a bank job, coworkers, a brainstorming session, an engagement—rather than a dramatic declaration.

That modest evidence resonates in the closing image of the empty frame he gave Auden. She has several possible photographs: one from the prom, others with Maggie, Esther, and Leah, and one with Hollis and Laura on the day they announced their engagement. Unable to choose, she leaves the frame empty until she is sure. The decision holds open the possibility that the best times are still ahead, rather than fixing the frame around one past moment. Hollis is part of that possibility: his engagement signals a future taking shape, while his earlier appeal leaves open whether Auden will renew her relationship with their mother. His role is not to resolve those questions, but to make connection—and change—visible within a family Auden has largely withdrawn from.