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07 Oct 2011, 1:50 am
And there are some parts I don't quite understand.
Julia is the older Poole twin. She's protective of her sister Valentina, whom she calls "Mouse". As the twins were preparing to go to London, Valentina sewed two identical violet dresses. She mentioned to her mother,Edie, that "Julia wanted me to make them in pink." Edie said that "We could have made hers pink."
Quote:
Valentina caught her mother's eye, then looked away. "It wasn't worth the hassle. She wanted whatever I was making for myself."
After that Edie encourages Valentina to stand up for herself.
But going back to the chapter "The Mirror Twins" where they are introduced, it is mentioned that
Quote:
They had originally matriculated at Cornell; Julia had stopped attending classes in the spring semester, and when she was asked to leave Valentina came home with her. At the University of Illinois they'd lasted a year, but Julia refused to go back.
When the Poole twins got to London and met their solicitor, they had this exchange:
Quote:
Valentina said, "Can we work here?"
"You don't have the proper visas, but we can certainly apply. What sort of work do you do?"
Valentina said, "We aren't sure yet. But we are planning to go back to school."
"Actually, we are done with school," said Julia.
"You don't have the proper visas, but we can certainly apply. What sort of work do you do?"
Valentina said, "We aren't sure yet. But we are planning to go back to school."
"Actually, we are done with school," said Julia.
Comparing against what is written about their university education, it seems that Julia is the one who usually drops out of school. Only now do we hear about Valentina asking about either going back to school or getting a job, neither of which the Poole twins were doing just before they heard about their Aunt Elspeth's death.
Now about the earlier generation of twins, Edie and Elspeth. The solicitor, Mr Roche, said that "Elspeth often kept her own counsel." The Poole twins' father, Jack, was apparently engaged to Elspeth, but Edie ran away with him to US. Looks like Elspeth was the quiet one, like Valentina, and Edie the one who does things, like Julia. At the moment I don't know who's older.
On a minor note, when the twins ask Edie about their Aunt Elspeth, and Edie shows them the passport record of their going to London to visit her, it is written that
Quote:
Edie came back with two American passports. She handed one to Valentina and the other to Julia. They opened the passports, stared at themselves. It's weird to see new baby pictures. (italics from the original text)
The Poole twins are 20 at this point in the story, so those baby photos were probably taken about 19-20 years back. So the photos won't be "new" in the sense that they were just taken. Could the word "new" be used because the girls are seeing these photos as older youths?
Once they arrive at Heathrow, they handed over their "virginal passports". I interpret from here they got new passports for this trip. Julia told the woman at the counter they were staying "forever" because of they inherited a flat, although what the will says is that they must stay in the flat for 1 year before they can sell it (if they choose to sell the flat, that is).
I find their choice of suitcases interesting.
Quote:
Julia's suitcase was pink and yellow terry cloth, and had a Japanese cartoon-monkey face that leered at the people walking behind her. Valentina's blue-and-green suitcase's cartoon face was a mouse. The mouse looked both regretful and shy.
This reinforces the impression I have of Julia being pushy (bright colours + leering monkey face), and Valentina being quieter (cooler colours + regretful and shy mouse).
Would appreciate any replies to this. I generally don't like knowing the ending of a book before I finish it, so if anything I asked will be explained after the Poole twins meet Robert in the chapter "Valentina and Julia Underground", it's OK, I should eventually get to it.
Thanks!
07 Oct 2011, 3:32 am
07 Oct 2011, 4:45 am
07 Oct 2011, 6:08 am
07 Oct 2011, 9:36 am
07 Oct 2011, 12:25 pm
