If you want to send brother D into a fit of hysterical rage, mistake him for A. And then when he goes "I AM NOT A. I AM D." Tell him "well, you DO look just like him."
And watch him stomp around going "NO I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T" for twenty minutes until he wears himself out.
(A will just shrug and go "People are idiots." Which is kinda weird because A is FAR AND AWAY the more high strung twin. He's just more sanguine about being mistaken for D.)
From what they've told me, they don't look at each other and see themselves. They see all the things they do differently, all the things one likes and the other doesn't, and so on. So I think your guess there isn't off base at all. My brothers don't even LIKE each other half the time (...although don't mess with one, because then they will team up on you and destroy you. The rule of 'only I am allowed to &^%$ with my twin' is in full force.)
Glad to hear how twins view themselves from a reputable source! I had a feeling that was the case, but that Oppel, intentionally or no, wanted to play up the whole jealousy bit, the "it looks like me, it SHOULD be me," mentality of Victor.
Yeah, I don't think that's that common, although I'll grant that Victor Frankenstein wasn't exactly a model of mental health and stability. But on a very fundamental level my brothers DON'T see themselves as "identical" and and they will go through backflips and twisties and all sorts of contortions to make themselves different.
Case and point: they have the same voice. This makes sense, they're identical twins, they have identical vocal cords, or very nearly. But they don't *sound* the same: D pitches his voice lower and A pitches his voice higher. They speak very differently. They pronounce words differently. They are very rarely mistaken for each other on the phone.
I've read some really interesting twin studies discussing that twins raised together tend to try to differentiate, whereas identical twins raised apart will be more alike: they don't have a reason to differentiate.
I've read some really interesting twin studies discussing that twins raised together tend to try to differentiate, whereas identical twins raised apart will be more alike: they don't have a reason to differentiate.
Okay, I didn't even know of this book's existence until just now (or a couple of minutes ago--however long it took me to read the review). But now I am convinced that I must read it.
So I was a little miffed with then the eyes of the wolf didn't just dilate the pupils to make it easier to see in the dark. Victor and Elizabeth actually started taking on wolfish characteristicsOkay, not having read the book, I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to here, but it actually reminds me of something that people once believed was real science. It was, once upon a time (Victorian era, I believe), in vogue to inject oneself with hormones/blood/whatever from animal organs to increase...well, I guess "machismo" would be the word--it was that era's version of the little blue pill, I guess. But there was also this idea that injecting yourself with, say, hormones from an animal could possibly cause someone to start acting like the animal in question
( ... )
Tribute it may be, but this is a modern author who knows better, whereas in Doyles' day, they didn't, so it seemed really plausible that such a thing could happen. So yes, I can see where it may be a nod to the literature at the time, but... I can't roll with it. :)
It was actually that theory that led some people to transplant goats' testicles into the human body. I'm not kidding, they really did that. And this was as recently as the 1910s.
Incidentally, not really relevant, but I thought the author's name sounded familiar--and then I realized he's the author of Silverwing, which I read a long time ago and really enjoyed. I've had the sequel to that book sitting on my shelf forever and haven't read it yet.
Comments 10
If you want to send brother D into a fit of hysterical rage, mistake him for A. And then when he goes "I AM NOT A. I AM D." Tell him "well, you DO look just like him."
And watch him stomp around going "NO I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T" for twenty minutes until he wears himself out.
(A will just shrug and go "People are idiots." Which is kinda weird because A is FAR AND AWAY the more high strung twin. He's just more sanguine about being mistaken for D.)
From what they've told me, they don't look at each other and see themselves. They see all the things they do differently, all the things one likes and the other doesn't, and so on. So I think your guess there isn't off base at all. My brothers don't even LIKE each other half the time (...although don't mess with one, because then they will team up on you and destroy you. The rule of 'only I am allowed to &^%$ with my twin' is in full force.)
Reply
Reply
Case and point: they have the same voice. This makes sense, they're identical twins, they have identical vocal cords, or very nearly. But they don't *sound* the same: D pitches his voice lower and A pitches his voice higher. They speak very differently. They pronounce words differently. They are very rarely mistaken for each other on the phone.
I've read some really interesting twin studies discussing that twins raised together tend to try to differentiate, whereas identical twins raised apart will be more alike: they don't have a reason to differentiate.
Reply
That's fascinating, and it makes perfect sense.
Reply
So I was a little miffed with then the eyes of the wolf didn't just dilate the pupils to make it easier to see in the dark. Victor and Elizabeth actually started taking on wolfish characteristicsOkay, not having read the book, I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to here, but it actually reminds me of something that people once believed was real science. It was, once upon a time (Victorian era, I believe), in vogue to inject oneself with hormones/blood/whatever from animal organs to increase...well, I guess "machismo" would be the word--it was that era's version of the little blue pill, I guess. But there was also this idea that injecting yourself with, say, hormones from an animal could possibly cause someone to start acting like the animal in question ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment