And there the story ends. After a long moment, the father turned back to walk into the house. His older boy just stood, watching him go. There is no indication as to whether Sonny ever went in or not. The greatest short story ever written.
Every shot makes somebody happy.
Until we think specifically about Sonny, we probably do not realize that almost half of the parable is about him. We hear lots about his father and brother, but only little about the older boy. I think the answer is that there is a whole lot more Sonny in most of us than there is Junior. Sure, most all of us have fallen to sins of the flesh during our lives. But we are not drunken derelicts, pushers or pimps.