Analysis of the Queens Twin Sister - Literature review Example

Alien yet Familiar: Analysis of the Queen’s Twin Sister. Introduction The paradox and irony is aptly captured in the story and it concentrates on a woman’s deeper self. The book, the Queen’s Sister authored by Sarah Lance is a captivating fictional writing into the delusional mind of a woman who thinks things she is not. The book discusses the narrator’s perception on Queen Victoria and Abby, the Queen’s supposed twin sister, particularly after the death of the Queen. The story paints the obsession of the Mrs. Martin’s life, and the fact that she often forgets that all other thing in her life. This obsession is brought vividly in the text and its impact on her personal life, and leads to the point in which things that seem familiar, but on the second they seem actually alien. This can be likened to the Freudian uncanny concept, and it refers to the unfamiliar yet incongruous, that develops a cognitive dissonance with the subject as a result of the ironical nature of being happy and sad about a situation simultaneously (Freud, 4). This paper shall discuss the delusional dilemma facing Mrs. Martin with a special reference to Freudian uncanny concept. The Visit It is obvious that Abby Martin is suffering from a delusional disorder in her mind. A delusional mind may be defined as having a string belief on something in spite of invalidating evidence, and in the text it is clear that she perceives herself to be the Queen’s twin sister as a result of near similar factors. it is the visit by Mrs. Todd in the company of the narrator to the rural Maine in the hope of bumping into Mrs. Martin that brings the reader to understanding the issue affecting the main character in the story. In the story through the eyes and mouth of the narrator the reader is brought closer Abby and her wall which is always covered and the room seems to be shut all the time. Her collection which are awfully a lot interest Mrs. Todd and she terms the collection as ‘Jubilee memorabilia’” (Jewett 502), perhaps in commemoration of an event after fifty years. Abby has a long and rich life, and the path seems developed to represent the symbol of her rich life. During her rich life on earth she is in utter dilemma on her humble life and on the other she supposed royal life. She loathes the thought yet she is incessantly obsessed with the thought, clearly an ironical situation. The trail is a symbol of Mrs. Martin’s life since it is long, rough and dark, and despite the fact that her life seems fulfilling, it now looks like it is withering away with regard to her aging. The Parallels The short story was released in 1899, a whole two years before the Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 after a sixty year helm at the British monarch. The short story mirrors the real royal life of British first family and the connection is quite open. Abby Martin seemed to honor the Queen’s long life in the throne, and she creates the story perfectly. The diamond jubilee celebration by the monarch in 1897 is also captured in the story and this goes to show the manner in which the story really mirrors the actual story. Further, in the story Abby’s room is full of memorabilia of the many moments captured during the queen’s rule on the throne, and in a way the room functions as a shrine and serves as homage to the queen that had reigned the longest. The room of Abby “shut up as a meeting house” does represent Mrs. Martin’s isolation, which she experiences because of her location in the rural as well as her fantasy’s dedication. As they travel to visit Abby Martin, Mrs. Todd explains that she never thought that the queen had ever experienced a lonely trail like the one they were travelling on. Most of the houses nearby have been deserted over time the same way the queen’s family deserted the queen in loneliness. ”The queens own character and deposition have won friends for her so far away; it is possible to tell (498). Dilemma Despite the delusional royal inclinations, Mrs. Martin lives a hardworking life and this is demonstrated by the woods that lead to her home and the conclusion of the story and how it relates to her life. Mrs. Todd and the narrator give a rare glimpse of this issue when they inform the reader that they would visit Abby, but to the reader this is just flattering as they will not visit the old woman again. She increasingly becomes isolated towards the end of her life and ends up having more time to dwell in her fantasy and obsession. In the story, Mrs. Todd provides an explanation on the tendency of Mrs. Martin to live within a set of personal principles, and it is not certain that this as a result of being ignored by her family, or a purposeful choice or just an old British strict personal rules or a combination of all of these. Her obsession with the queen is very apparent, but her humility is good as the happily welcomes visitors to her home, and her calm and temperament manner openly show that she is non-reclusive as most people might think, rather she is welcoming. She is fixated on the idea that is the Queen’s twin sister, and has lead to collect magazines from sailors in English ports. The queen’s pictures and other artifact are spread all over the old lady’s room, and perhaps explained by the uncanny concept. On the one hand she is happily living a simple life deep in the woods yet she still obsesses the life of her twin at the Buckingham palace. This may not only be an obsession but also they may be taking the position of her twin in her life. Her artwork of large collage of pictures enables her in some conservative manner to live with her sister. According to (Freud b, 74), a person in such situation derives as much bafflement and exhilaration from one’s unconscious mind. Abby’s best room is a diversion in some way since she lives within her fantasy world. Her daughter in-low explains that Abby would rather spend best of her delusionary crafted twin sister than her real family. “I heard her one o’ her sons’ wives say once she’d much rather have the queen to spend the day if she could choose between the two,” (Jewwet, 499). This fact portrays Abby’s marked favorite fantasy over the ordinary realism that the local color of the short story suggests. The life of Abby is completely tangled with her fantasy, even down to her family member’s names. Abby’s obsession runs deep through her life’s aspects. Even her stances appear to be evocative to the queen, in spite of her more needy background. The fact that she has a best room in her house is clear that she takes the other rooms as inferior ones. She does not have much concern with the other belongings that she has compared to what she feels towards her wall, which she has devoted to the queen. The best room takes the chance of the sister who was never present, being the reason for prizing the wall above the rest of her properties. Conclusion The story captures a situation in which an individual seems to be living the royal life in her mind, but in the real world she is living the normal humble life that every other person seems to be living. Abby mind’s has a crafted thoughts on being the twin of the powerful British monarch, yet she lives deep in the wood, away from the glint and glamour of the royal life in the 19th century and the period in which the story had been set. Abby Martin, supposedly, the twin sister of Queen Victoria of Britain is engulfed in a personal battle of thoughts between her royal grandeur and her present modest life. She loathes and likes the situation at the same time. The Freudian concept of uncanny captures her dilemma through cognitive dissonance. Works cited Jewett, Sarah Orne. “The Queen’s Twin,” Novels and Stories, New York: Library of America, 1994. 493-511. Prin Freud, Sigmund. The uncanny. Penguin, 2003. Freud, Sigmund. "The “uncanny”." Fantastic Literature: A Critical Reader(2004): 74-101. Read More