The Loneliest Twin in History?

          It is commonly thought that identical twins share the same personalities and preferences in addition to their exterior appearances.  However, due to epigenetic inheritance--genetic makeup regardless of chromosome content-- and surrounding environments, identical siblings can develop their distinct traits and styles.

          This is definitely true of Sarah Vowell and her twin sister, Amy Vowell, who display vastly different personalitites in the former's piece "Shooting Dad". In the essay, Sarah Vowell communicates her disgust of guns and her father's love of them. This proves highly irregular, as her father has crafted weapons her whole life, and her twin sister adores the family tradition of learning about gun use and warfare.

          When Sarah recounts first shooting a gun, she remembers "the sound it made was as big as God...like a foe; it hurt" (Paragraph 11, 4-5). Interestingly enough, when Sarah matures and attempts to understand her father's joy in guns, she admits feeling "giddiness when the cannon shot off" (Paragraph 24, 1-2). Therefore, it is shown that the narrator doesn't despise weapons as much as she thought. She defines herself as an artist, a music enthusiast, which allows her to finally appreciate the deafening sound produced from the release of a trigger.

          The final impression of Sarah Vowell leaves the reader thinking she is very similar to her father and her sister. In this way, Amy Vowell --portrayed as the "loneliest twin in history"--only had to suffer from this paradoxical affliction until her sister was ready to accept the glory of firing guns. Perhaps identical twins who possess different characteristics are more alike than even they themselves deem; it takes time for separate individuals to acquire similar interests and passions.