Perspectives

For you to better understand Muriel Spark’s short story “The Twins”, it is important to be able to put it into perspective.

Current issues

The short story “The Twins” depicts very relevant aspects of modern-day families with children. Many times, children want to be the centre of their parents’ attention and affection and they tend to misbehave when they are not. This is seen many times in families with small children, where trickeries are the symbols of a cry for attention. Besides the deeper themes, the story might explore the simple idea that children fooling around only want to be taken into consideration by their parents.

Literary period

Muriel Spark was born in 1918, and her first novel appeared in 1957. She belongs to the literary current called Modernism, wh...