In the story “Two Sisters,” Aidoo raises different aspects of life two sisters are living. Connie is the older sister of Mercy, who is married and has traditional values. Mercy is unmarried and grew up without a paternal care. The story starts off by Mercy preparing to get from work and wonder that life would be easier if she had a “boy-friend” to drive her home and work. In the meanwhile, Mercy does not have other choice than to the public transportation. As soon as she gets home, she complains to her sister that her “fingers are dead with typing” (Aidoo 995). Mercy asked to herself if being a typist is her only choice. Her alternative idea is to date much older men to obtain what she wants because she is not satisfied with the life she has. Once Connie finds out that Mercy is dating an old man, she disagrees with the path her younger sister is taking. Connie tells her sister that she could date Joe, a taxi driver, who can have a prosperous life if he works his way up (Aidoo 996). Here, Mercy sees that Joe would not be able to please her demands, therefore Mercy prefers to seduce older men.
Connie receives Mercy’s boyfriend gift, which Connie says by accepting the gift, it is a betrayal (1002). This betrayal could mean that she is allowing herself to go against her values. To Connie, personal values are that one must work his/her way up to obtain comfort and to be faithful to one man. Connie finds indifferent how Mensar-Arthur, Mercy’s fifty years old boyfriend, is using her sister. Connie’s husband states that Mercy is not indifferent to her boyfriend (Aidoo 1002). Since they are using and manipulating each other. I think Connie is persuaded by Mercy, instead of rejecting the gift right away. Mercy brings to her what she wanted since Connie could not afford it. To Mercy, she self-directs her life. She neither want have any kind of commitment nor belong to anyone. Although Mercy does not follow traditional values, she eventually comes back to her only family, her sister.
Both sisters relate on not following feminist values. Connie allows her husband to have an affair. Although she suspects of her husband being infidel, she does not worry about it than for her younger sister, Mercy. James, her husband, without any hesitation says “you have heard of my newest affair?” (Aidoo 1001). Here, James declares to have had more than one lover, but Connie’s reaction is it was not what she was referring to, with her soft tone of voice continues to worry for her sister (Aidoo 1001). Connie sees James’s affair like anyone could have an affair. Maybe she thinks that it is temporary, therefore she did not pay much attention. Moreover, Mercy sells herself as an object to men. She does not regret what she has been doing. After a few months, Mercy comes back home with a new old rich man like nothing.
Great blogpost! The dynamics between the two sisters, Mercy and Connie, is quite interesting. Mercy the younger of the two, who is only 23 years old, and dates Mensar-Arthur who is 50 years old is quite strange. It’s not only an age problem that bothers Connie it’s also the fact that her sister doesn’t want to work hard in life. So she resorts to dating rich, older guys to get the things she can’t afford in life. Because of Mercy’s laziness to personally succeed she ultimately makes herself powerless by obeying to men’s dominant power. The men that she dates have multiple wife’s and girlfriends which shows Mercy’s lack of own personal worth as she is too caught up in worldly things. It’s a little bit of a similar idea to Wordsworth as he’s written a poem stating how people are way too caught up in worldly objects. Connie, who has basically become Mercy’s mother figure, is deeply saddened. The text states that the two don’t have parents to look after them in which Connie has put herself in the position to step up and be the responsible sister. However, she too does not give herself enough credit for her husband has multiple affairs but her sister comes first as family is the only bond that people have in life. Being a younger sister myself I understand Mercy’s viewpoint. We both have older sister’s who have their lives together – or appear to be content with their present lives – and as a younger sister it just seems natural to live life in the other direction so that comparisons can be avoided. I definitely see why Mercy lives her life the way she does; it’s a common younger sister behavior; to not be like your older sister as we tend to live life more recklessly to get the things we want especially since older siblings are usually more spoiled by their parents growing up. Mercy dating older guys can be a mechanism to feel some parental loving, even if she supposedly hates them, and covers up her true feelings by saying she uses them for gifts. I loved this short story, it bought up an fascinating dynamic.