May 2021 Paper 1 Sample Response 1 (Yoruba Twins)

This article by Tomi Obaro describes her experience growing up and transitioning to adult life as a twin. The article is intended for an international audience that is likely exposed to stereotypes about twins in popular culture and media such as Hollywood movies. Obaro, a writer based in New York, aims to dispel readers’ misconceptions through narrating her experiences as a Yoruba twin.  Obaro uses a chronological and circular narrative structure to explore how her identity as a twin initially constrained, but eventually allowed an evolution of her identity.

Firstly, Obaro conveys how her identity as a Yoruba twin shaped her childhood revealing her initial acceptance of society’s assumptions about being a twin. As the audience is introduced to Yoruba culture through the names “Oluwadamilola” and “Oluwatomilola” their attention is drawn to the picture of Yoruba twins in a museum. The photo represents the Yoruba’s “highest twinning rate in the world,” but has connotations of being detached from the real world since they are in a museum. Thus, Obaro tries to capture her experience in the real world, with her unique experience as a twin, despite twins being so common in Yoruba culture. As she describes her and her sister’s “identical features,” the reader’s attention is again drawn to the photo, noticing subtle differences between the two figures such as the different belts and ornaments in them. This is significant as Obaro introduces details of her own appearance as being “an inch taller,” and her face being “longer than” her sister’s. The specificity of these details suggest that these details are important to Tomi, and are not noticeable to others. However, Obaro uses a personal tone in “enamoured of our own cuteness” to suggest that she accepts the fact that her and her sister are assumed to be the same person with extremely similar identities. Furthermore, the fact that the twins naively respond by saying they are “identical” because they “might as well be,” for “18 years of our lives” highlights the influence of their identity as a twin on their childhood identity.  It reveals Obaro’s struggle of establishing individuality in childhood as a twin, at an age when identity is already hard to establish, because of societal pressures. Additionally, because of their identity as third culture kids, who “moved around a lot,” readers can infer that they struggled to get to know a particular place or group of people fully, in order to establish their true and complete identity, which might have caused them to play “elaborate games of make-believe.” Thus Obaro establishes the influence of being a twin on her childhood, while being accepting of her identity being similar to her sister.

However, Obaro then challenges readers’ notions about being a twin through the repetitive structure of differences between her and her sister. Through this, she introduces readers to the feeling of loss of control and confusion about her identity, as her identity no longer revolved around her sister’s or being a twin. The audience is introduced to the “subtlety about being a twin” as Obaro recognizes her audience as being exposed to exaggerated assumptions about twins such as being “one dimensional carbon copies.” She attempts to instead dispel this stereotype by showing her multidimensional transformation of her identity. The repetition of “to go” as she lists how her sister started to change highlights the fact that she was noticing these changes, but did not know how to respond. She had always been used to changing together with her sister.  For example, her mother assumed “we’d become atheists.” This implies that even her mother who knew them well always thought that their religious beliefs would change in the same way, but Obaro is taken aback when her sister declines her religion in a “spectacular, extravagant fashion.” The positive connotation of the descriptions suggests that she is not offended by her sister’s change, but that it seems foreign and otherworldly, because she is not accustomed to this unprecedented change. However, her tone soon becomes bitter and removed, through the rhetorical questions “oh really” “oh you’re going” and the lack of quotation marks here further signify how disinterested she is. Furthermore, the violent imagery that comes to readers’ minds through the words “virulently” and “vicious jabs” portray how she feels angry at her sister for changing, perhaps because she is unable to find her identity, while her sister has. This anger likely stems from the fact that she has no control over how her sister’s identity is changing, which is confusing her, because their identities have always been similar. This growing distance is further portrayed through the shifting of cities symbolizing the emotional distance between the two of them and the parallel structure in “going to church alone, campus meetings alone, singing on worship team alone.” The repetition of “alone” signifies her loneliness and sense of isolation as she has to perform daily activities on her own unsure of her identity individually. 

Finally, through a more accepting tone Obaro portrays a new normal, as she has established her individual identity while also finding a balance with her identity as a twin. She describes “growing apart” as something that used to be “mostly horrifying” but now it cannot “devastate” her, because she was able to regain autonomy over her identity as it is not completely reliant on her sister’s. This autonomy is particularly depicted when she is able to describe how she is feeling while watching a documentary with her sister. Although she felt that once she had to “feign a lack of interest” in her sister’s actions, now, they both mutually understand their “overwhelming love” and she has found a way to be aware of her own emotions, such as “on the verge of crying” while also understanding Dami’s “dry-eyed” emotion. This symbolizes that the emotional distance between them has reduced, allowing them to become a “we again.” Although “we” and “I” were synonymous at the start of the text, it now has a changed meaning as their identity as twins, but also sisters with individuality. The circular structure of repetition of “we came” allows the readers to feel a sense of closure on her journey as a twin. The paradox in the title also now has a new meaning for readers as the irony of twins growing apart but becoming closer as sisters is made good. 

By the end of the article, readers are forced to understand the importance of individuality through Obaro’s lack of constancy in her life when she didn’t have a concrete sense of identity. Readers are left with an understanding of how identity evolves with childhood.  It is often shaped by one’s environment and the struggles of finding a balance between religion, culture and individual values in adulthood. Obaro reveals the value of individuality in that it allows one to express their emotions and form their own relationships.

Word Count: 1143 words