<p>I read somewhere that in most sets of conjoined twins, one is not viable and it is a pretty easy decision for most parents to have the separation surgery (that will result in the death of one) before they leave the hospital after birth. Again, I might not want to burden the surviving twin with this type of knowlege. But then again, if one twin truly would have died, I don’t think authorizing the surgery would ruin my mental health forever either.</p>
<p>Question: any meaning to the phrase about “the dead go underground” (I may be misquoting.)</p>
<p>I remember the quote, I think you have it right but don’t have the time to search for it, because I wondered about its significance at the time.</p>
<p>Other than a foreshadowing of the recovery of the body in the ruin, I thought it was part of the general metaphor of buried truth that permeates the book.</p>
<p>Yes, that is the correct quote. For those rusty on the details, “the dead go underground” is how Margaret translates the “twinspeak” she hears from the elderly, addled Emmaline. (Well, Margaret thinks at the time that it’s Emmaline; later, the reader deduces that it is almost certainly Adeline.) I agree with SimpleRules analysis re foreshadowing and emphasis of overall theme. I also think that the statement suggests that, in her way, the surviving twin has spent her entire life obsessing about the location/loss of her dead sister.</p>
<p>Worth obsessing over IMO…a close family member dead in the rubble of a fire and no one goes in to get her, no proper burial, almost no one knows she’s dead.</p>
<p>It is impressive that this is the author’s first book. Though on one level a ‘light’ read, there is also a lot of stuff going on. For me the imagery of the twins also includes the duality of what is revealed - open (truth) and what is hidden - buried (misdirections or lies).</p>
<p>To me, the “twinspeak” that Margaret overheard added to the gothic atmosphere that pervades The Thirteenth Tale. The words and the frantic digging add to Margaret’s later realization that one twin dies in the fire at the Angelfield house. </p>
<p>When the doctor and governess separated the twins at an earlier time in their lives, Adeline couldn’t function while Emmaline eventually started toward a modicum of independence; Emmaline continued that step away from her twin with the birth of Aurelius. So … when coming to my own conclusion that Emmaline died in the fire, the old twin scrabbling in the dirt looking for the dead had to be the twin never able to function without the other. For a brief moment, I wondered if the living twin might be Emmaline looking for her baby as she scrabbled in the dirt, but how cruel that would make Vida. </p>
<p>I love the discussion re foreshadowing, metaphors, duality, etc. I tend to read literally, i.e. a river is just a river, until someone points out a deeper meaning or underlying theme. I find myself both sad and glad that I no longer have classes where literary analysis reigns, and grades depend on insight into an author’s intent.</p>