3~5~2009 Pages:90-154

The Dream of the State is to be one, while the dream of the individual is to be two.

-Jean-Luc Goddard

Well, at this point I am nearly half-way through Chang and Eng, by Darin Straus. It’s quite a fantastic novel and has come along with some surprises. Because my last post didn’t actually address what has actually happened in the book, I suppose this one is going to have to. Obviously, the book revolves around Chang and Eng, their relationship to one another and the rest of the world brought on by their odd condition.
The brothers, although physically attached to one another, are quite different. Eng is the narrator of the tale. He doesn’t talk much and soon, in the eyes of others, becomes the more submissive for the two brothers. What we lacks in sociability he makes up for with introversion. He is well read and likes Shakespeare particularly. His character is full of self doubt and loathing of his condition. It is always Eng who wants to be separated when the topic comes up and regards his brother with disgust when he makes a fool of himself.
Chang is certainly the more comical and outgoing of the two. When Chang and Eng meet the Yates girls, who become their bride later in life, Chang is the one who begins courting one of the girls first and he needs to convince Eng to try to woo one of the sisters because Eng is convinced he could never marry a woman, let alone a white woman in the American South. Even though they are identical twins, t you can tell them apart because Eng is the taller of the two, on the left. To the left is a picture with arrows to help discern the two.
The novel is very well written, and even though the story is ‘told’ to you by the narrator (in s style similar to Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Actually) you feel like you are inside Eng’s head feeling what you are feeling. Not only that, Strauss’s writing is so good that while I was getting into Eng’s head, Eng was getting into mine. At about the time I reached the One hundredth page, I stopped reading because every few pages, I found myself looking up to make sure that there wasn’t anybody connect to me on my left. The feeling was unsettling and disturbing, but also fascinating. In order to write this post, I had to force myself to complete the reading section.
Within this section, their was one section that I think is particularly worth sharing to you. It is in Siam during Chang and Eng’s teenage years which they spent as entertainers in the King’s court. During this scene, The King of Siam has taken Chang and Eng along to a rendezvous with the Emperor of Cochin China. A hilarious dialogue ensues:
“Behold the Double-Boy!” Rama [the king of Siam] cried.

In a grave voice, the Emperor said:”Of course, we have several people I our Nation who are similarly united.”
“Is this so?”
“More than several, in face… We did not know you prized them, King Rama. If we had, we would have conveyed many double-boys from my kingdom to you as a gift.”
“When we pay our respects to your country, we shall see them at that time,” said Rama.
“…Yes. That will not be difficult to arrange” (88)

In any event, the next section proves to be promising. The section ended with Chang and Eng’s settling into married life with the Yates girls and the Siamese twins getting on a boat leading to America. Strauss has yet to explore how and why the sisters set up separate households or what the twin’s touring in the West was like.
And of course, for there is no hiding it from you any longer, the wonders of the Martial bed. \:)