The Issue With Siblings.

Yes, I know. This sounds like the latest television situation comedy about a lovingly dysfunctional family and their seventeen adopted children. Well, I'm sorry, friends, but that won't happen for a while, although it's secretly been my lifelong dream to make a sitcom. What I'm talking about is the popular theme in many books - siblings. In general, there's usually a tinge (or maybe something more than a tinge) of jealously and competitiveness between two, or three, or five brothers and/or sisters that is for the most part resolved happily in the ending. PHOOEY! This is not always how it works out. Take it from me, I'm fifty percent of a pair of twins, "A Fraction of the Whole", as it were. And Steve Toltz's book, that goes by the name of the phrase in the quotation marks, in case you didn't pick up on that, really does a righteous job of illuminating the true lives and conflicts that siblings face.

The two main characters featured in the novel, Martin and his younger brother Terry, are youngsters living in an uneventful town in Australia proclaimed affectionately by its people as "The Worst Place To Live in New South Wales". Or something like that. Whatever it may be, the point is that it's really an awful town and there's nothing much to do there but lie around in bed looking at the town's prison, or just cause trouble. Martin, who was in a ridiculously long coma while his younger son (of a different father) was being born, generally chooses the former option of preoccupying himself. His brother Terry, early in his life, would idolize his brother, imitating his ailments, until his father decides that he should turn his son onto sports. Terry soon becomes almost religiously addicted, praised by the entire town, until he gets stabbed in the leg and turns to "mucking about" in the town and traveling rapidly through a downwards spiral into a no-good criminal life.

At first, Martin tries to help his younger brother reconcile his life and drop his wanton crimes, yet Terry seems hopelessly devoted to the criminal life. There is a constant flame of competition burning in the metaphorical family fireplace that, let's face it, shall not be smothered by the water of peace. When Terry was the town's best athlete, Martin was shunned even further because of his bedridden past and was looked upon ever since as a grumpy, useless invalid who stares to much. People place tags on siblings, especially if they are of the same gender or age.

Honestly, it can sometimes be difficult being a twin. Many people associate me with my brother, saying things like "you look a lot like Ben", or "Oh right, you're Ben's sister". God, I hate that. And then I've probably heard the line "You're Ben's sister? But you look nothing like him! Well, now that I look at you, I guess you have the same nose..." People know me because of my twin. I'm really not someone who likes to grab a lot of attention, and I feel like Ben can act like a vacuum, sucking up the sappy affection and attention of everyone in the room. This is where most of our hidden rivalry sparks. When he struts about, singing Beatle's songs and strumming his guitar, a slew of eleven-year-old girls trailing after him like he was a prophet. And when he becomes famous, I'm known as being "the cool boy"'s sister, and people come up to me to praise him and gush about his excellence. As far as I know, I don't get much admiration. Me and Ben are like rocks. Ben is a plain grey rock on the outside, but when you bash him on the head, you'll find a valuable gem inside. Me...I'm still grey inside.

Ok, this post is really going nowhere and is turning into a dry, substance-less rant. The point I'm trying to make is that there will always be the sibling who achieves even the mildest fame, and then the other, no matter who they are, will immediately be brought down a level if they don't strive to compete with their siblings. This is sounding really dramatic, but I feel that it's true. A sibling's status largely depends on that of his brother or sister. YES! Finally, I have uncovered the big idea of this seemingly self-piteous blog post. Society can't seem to shake the popular misconception that families are one homogenous blob. Therefore, they like to make siblings seem like one person, sometimes. Ok, I'm making some assumptions here. But I feel like I'm viewed sometimes as the less-talented side of my brother. If I was an only child, things would be infinitely different because you really wouldn't have anyone to compare me too. Whoever is the twin of higher social status, that's the one you're expected to live up to. The fact that society views twins as being in a race to the top of the social bar is what fuels so much of our competition. It's offensive to be known by who your siblings are, and we feel that the only way to be known for who you are is being "famous". Oh my gosh, this post is going all over the place. I feel like I'm drunk! I'm not really, though. Sorry, readers.