3~20~2009 Pages: 241-319

'We were all basically alone/ and despite what all his studies had shown / What's mistaken for closeness / Was just a case for Mitosis'
-Andrew Bird, 'Imitosis'

The last section of Chang and Eng was a lot like what I suppose the ends of lives are like. It followed Chang and Eng through the Civil War to their deaths. Chang, who had developed a serious drinking problem, had become stunted, tired. His hair was thinner and he could barely go a day without retreating to the flask. Eng ages too, but his existence is not supplemented with drink. As the prospect of being with Adelaide grows more and more distant, Eng feels more and more and more empty. He knows that he and Sarah hate their marriage and knows their is nothing he can do about it. Each of Eng's children raise less fatherly pride in him. He feels as if his first child, Katherine who died at 14, is the only one who could come to understand him. As the page numbers in the corner of the book rise, Eng's feeling that he has failed as a father and a husband come to the forefront. It is a sad reflection of his retreat into his mind that has occurred as he has grown.

Eng's sadness becomes the reader's sadness, his shame our shame. His anger is our anger. At one point, Chang, now in his late fifties, is drunk and nearly out of consciousness. Adelaide and Eng help him into bed, and as they do Eng, partly affected by Chang's drunken stupor and partly by his own cloaked emotions, reaches out and kisses Adelaide. Initially she recoils, but then she goes along with him and they embrace, quietly and shamefully.

Eng and Adelaide never spoke about that moment again. A little while later, Chang and Eng awake to see their home in flames. They rouse everyone and escape the house and are able to rescue a few valuables. This is after the Civil War, so Chang and Eng's Confederate currency is now worthless. The two famous brothers are nearly broke. They devise a plan to go on one last tour. They work their way up from Wilkesboro to New York City. At least 20 years since they last saw it, New York has changed and become a 'taller, blacker place.' The crowds are as large as ever, but they are much crueler. Chang, drunken, and Eng, tired and empty, are reduced to crawling on all fours in front of a hissing, cursing crowd.

The emotional epicenter of this book is Chang and Eng's fight. After the humiliating and heartbreaking performance, Eng loses his head in anger swinging at Chang. They fight, but so accustomed to anticipating one another's movements, they flail at one another in a disharmonious mess until the circus promoter walks in aghast by the spectacle. Chang, before drifting off into sleep confesses he knew everything about Chang and Adelaide: 'You kill the home in your way, I light fire.'

It sounds like a cliche, bu the book does end like (I assume) a life does. It becomes more and more difficult to read. Each line is a labor to read because you feel like you're carrying a lifetime along with you. It gets slower and more sad until it curls up, and it's just you in the dark. admittedly, I need to chew on this longer, but I feel as if this book has made me grow in some imperceptible way. Like I've found something.

I did find something on the Internet for sure. Because it was rather difficult to understand the band, I found some pictures of Chang and Eng, this web page has advertisements for their show and an autopsy: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/conjoined/marvels.html