Lots has been written about Siamese twins, Chang
and Eng Bunker -farmers who emigrated in 1839 from Siam (now Thailand) to North Carolina. But Christina Baker Kline’s book, The Foursome sensitively brings to life struggles including:
- discrimination against conjoined twins (and racial discrimination against Asians)- an oddity that resulted in many people considering them freaks
- marrying two sisters and the associated public disapproval, curiosity and humiliation faced by the twins, wives and their children
- the physical limitations that caused back aches and other strains. They built an adapted chair and extra large bad to suit their needs… and of course, there were certain postural limitations involved when engaging in sexual intercourse. They also had built special hand tools.
- the emotional ramifications of never being alone, being in bed while a brother is with his wife on the other side of the bed and forced to agree on where to put one’s body at any given time. and
- the drama and trauma of pre-civil war animosities and cruelty, the war itself and how to survive when confederate money became worthless and they fell into poverty.
Change, on the right was shorter and you can see
the postural abnormalities as they faced the camera. The were connected by a thick, pliable band of flesh and cartilage at the chest with fused livers. When they stretched away from each other, the band caused pain. Chang was fitted with a shoe lift to improve ergonomics.
Yet, Chang and Eng impressed sisters Sarah and
Adelaide Yates (distant cousins of the author), who were only a year apart in age. They choreographed dances, used farm tools, rode horses, chopped wood, and fathered 21 children between the 2 wives. I was surprised that their personalities greatly differed. I assumed that identical twins would have similar personalities … Chang, the shorter one, was domineering, smoked, drank alcohol, gambled and was rigidly followed rules. Eng was shy, deferred to his twin in order to keep the peace, gentle, cerebral (he loved poetry) and wanted to live a healthy lifestyle. When Chang died at age 62 from a stroke, his brother died soon after. Surgeons today would be able to separate this type of co-joined connection, but in the 19th century they would not have survived the operation.
Chang and Eng toured with P.T. Barnum during the mid 1830s. They were showcased in exhibits and theaters separate from the circus. However, while at first they enjoyed travelling the world and earning wealth, they grew weary of people treating them as oddities and freaks. Their wives and children grew to view them as normal and struggled with the way others treated their family.
Sarah (called Sallie) and Adelaide (called Addie) Yates had very different personalities. Addie was more outspoken, adventurous and defended the “southern way of life” which means slavery. Sallie grew up being friends with an enslaved girl named Grace and grew disturbed by slavery and secretly glad when the war ended it. Sallie was horrified to learn that the twins had impregnated Grace who bore three children.( Addie thought this to be acceptable).
The Foursome focuses on the remarkable lives and challenges of the twins and wives. Kline describes the cruelty of southern plantation life, but avoids the graphic descriptions that could have been provided. After the war, many formerly enslaved people returned to their former homes to work at a paltry wage because they had few options. Grace returned with her youngest son Isaac to live with Sallie and and Sallie’s aunt Joan under the conditions that she live in the comfortable house, was paid a decent wage and was taught how to read.
The Foursome is a well written and thought provoking
historical novel based on true circumstances with a lot of literary license…As an occupational therapist (retired) I was impressed with the twins determination and ingenuity to live as normal/functional a life as possible given their social, physical and psychological challenges … I highly recommend this read….
