Relationship between Rose and Ruby in the novel The Girls - Essay Example

The girls in Lori Lansens’ “The Girls,” are the extraordinary ones. How to describe the relationship between Rose and Ruby in the novel, “The Girls”? Its description in one word is, ‘divine’! From the secular point of view, the relationship is both scientific and human. At the beginning of the story Lori Lansens (2007,p.5) makes mention of it in the own words of the sisters thus: “We have an unspoken, even unconscious, system of checks and balance to determine who’ll lead the way at any given moment.

There is conflict. There is compromise.” Each moment, each day of their life is miraculous, yet regulated struggle. Is it a difficult one? One should be hesitant to assert thus. They find an unspeakable joy through their struggles. Their trials and tribulations are extraordinary ones, considering the fact that they are at the threshold of their thirtieth birthday. What a glorious saga it must have been! It is too poignant and adventurous for the printed page to capture! They faced ridicule and admiration with the rarest of rare equanimity of their minds and Lansens puts it thus: “We’ve been called many things: freaks, horrors, monsters, devils, witches, retards, wonders, marvels.

To most, we’re a curiosity. . ides of our twin heads.”(p.3)They are separate, yet joined together through a very, very special procedure that is difficult for the ordinary mind to comprehend. In the words of Rose, “When Ruby is tired; I’m hardly ever ready for bed. We’re rarely hungry together and our tastes are poles apart. I prefer spicy fare, while my sister has a disturbing fondness for eggs.”(p.5)The conjoined twins since their birth have many things in common. They remained joined at the head.

Their ‘life-together’ began thus: Rub’s arm curled around rose’s neck, her foreshortened legs wrapped around Rose’s hips. The journey of their life has been an incomparable one. Rose enjoys reading and writing, Ruby likes to watch TV and spend time with the kids. They have the normal quota of quarrels like other sisters. If Rose consumes alcohol, Ruby would turn sick. Even the pattern of their jobs is different. In the library Rose shelves books and Ruby reads out the content loud to children.

On every count of similarity and difference, their lives are delicate and baffling. In the chronicle of their life’s journey they create many head-lines. The physical relationship between the two sisters is a marvel right from birth. Lansens writes, “How long must they have stared before someone spoke? Our combined weight at birth was ten pounds seven ounces. I was the longer one; my legs perfectly formed my torso somewhat shorter than normal, making my arms appears somewhat longer.”(p.23) Ruby is pretty, but short and truncated and cannot walk.

She is a permanent load on the hip of Rose. Though tall, Rose has a distorted and grotesque face because Ruby’s head constantly pulls at hers. The story has a great philosophical message explained through the struggles of the two girls, physical