Characters

There are several important characters in the short story The Twins” by Muriel Spark: the narrator, Jennie and Simon, Marjie and Jeff. To better understand the connections between them, we will look at the characters in pairs – except for the narrator.

The narrator

The narrator of the short story is an unnamed woman, a former school colleague of Jennie, the twins’ mother. She is not depicted regarding outer characterisation except for a small comment made by Simon: “’Why, you haven’t changed a bit,’ he said. ‘A bit thinner maybe. Nice to see you so flourishing.’” 

Inner characterisation

Regarding inner characterisation, it is not exactly easy to depict the narrator’s traits. All we know about her is that she has always had a sense of admiration for Jennie and for her way of behaving; she always admired the woman’s grace, and she believed Jennie and Simon were a perfect couple: “They were a fine match”.

The narrator also admires the twins, whom she calls “lovely”  when she first meets them. As the twins initially act in a pleasant manner and prove to be very intelligent, the narrator sees them as good children. However, the narrator reveals that she is cautious when she refuses to give Marjie a half-a-crown: “’Would your mummy want you to have it?’ I said.”

When Jennie insists that her children never ask for money, the narrator feels rather embarrassed. This happens twice when Jeff lies about being seen playing with a perfectly-fine spinning-to...