Growing up with a twin can comes with both upsides and downsides. People automatically assume – even though I am a girl and my brother is a boy – that we are identical twins and have the same personality and/or interests. They don’t realize that just because we were born at the same time, we are the same person and doesn’t mean that we do everything at the same time as well.

As for twin telepathy…. That’s totally a real thing.

While reading Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,” I noticed that Clarissa and Septimus – while not twins – are very similar. At first, Clarissa and Septimus seem like each other’s opposite, but then I realized that the two characters share an interest in Shakespeare, are both described as having beak-noses, and both have a fear of pretty much being beat down by society.

I think the biggest similarity, however, is their fear. Septimus fears the oppression of the world while Clarissa fears the oppression of society and her past. This is what drew my attention the most.

Readers don’t pick up on the similarities between the two characters right off the bat. Septimus is portrayed as someone who is a bit insane while Clarissa is not. But as the book progressed and came to an end, it is easy to see that Septimus’ thoughts were in sync and often time echoed the train of thought that Clarissa was having.

They might not actually be twins like my brother, Trent, and I are, but it is certainly clear that Clarissa and Septimus are doppelgängers in spirit when it comes to the way they view their problems in this very small world.