Character Analysis
Vincent and Winston are Waverly's big brothers. Vincent "was the one who actually got the chess set" (13) that began Waverly's journey, but otherwise, we don't see a whole lot of them. Basically, they seem like typical big brothers—fun-loving, a little exasperated by Waverly, and basically wrapped up in their own little world. Just check out Vincent trying to teacher Waverly chess:
''Why is the sky blue? Why must you always ask stupid questions?" asked Vincent. "This is a game. These are the rules. I didn't make them up." (22)
Classic big brother move, right? Of course, when Mom eventually releases Waverly from chore duty and makes her brothers pick up the slack, we're thinking they get their comeuppance in spades for all the times they've treated Waverly like a pest in the past.
Beyond this, though, Winston and Vincent basically act as a Greek chorus. They watch what happens between Waverly and her mother, but they don't really get involved. For example, at the end when Vincent says, "Boy are you in trouble" (64), he's letting Waverly know what's up, but he's not really getting involved—he doesn't leap to her defense or anything like that. Instead, he just watches.
And that's kind of the point. Even though they're older than Waverly, Winston and Vincent get to have more of a childhood than she does. In the early scenes, they're all running and playing together (5), but while Waverly eventually gets stuck with her chess set, Vincent and Winston get to keep doing cool kid stuff outside (28). In a quiet way, they demonstrate what Waverly loses by sole virtue of the fact that they don't lose it.