In the reading of “Two Sister”, the author Ama Ata Aidoo uses the insight of two sisters to identify the conflict between the past and the present society’s appearances. According to the reading, we noticed that there were differences and changes during the gap of ages between the two sisters. To be introduced, Connie is the elder sister who has traditional values with her identity as a woman who takes well care of a family and as a wife whom obedient to her husband named James. She is basically a standard wife that all people were expected to be in the past. Mercy is the younger sister whose values was followed the changes of society that willing to take advantages from the powerful men. In order words, Mercy prefers to have someone to contents her with materials instead of real love. For instance, “the new pair of black shoes”(p.995), “the handbag”(p.999), and “the estate house”(p.1002) that Mercy received from the governor Mensar-Arthur are the supporting evidences that indicates Mercy is a selfish and materialistic girl who only cares about her desire of luxury lifestyle. Her ignorance of her sister Connie’s preoccupation according to the traditional values shows the conflict between the point of view from Connie and the point of view from herself. Therefore, this conflict is not only the problem of the two sisters, but also the issue of the society value from the past and the present.
The situations and objects in Mercy’s daily life affected Mercy’s thought. In the beginning, when the bus passed through Mercy, she felt painful to wait for the next bus and wished for someone who has cars to pick her up everyday from work. At this time, her willingness of being admired implants in her mind. The appearance of “the new pair of black shoes” is the symbol of something happening to her. Because of wearing “the pair of shoes”, she experiences the joy that materials bring her and makes her feel valuable from men. In addition, when Mensar-Arthur came to pick her up with a nice car and appeased her with her satisfaction, she strongly feels herself deserve to have this kind life. Therefore, she has more confidence to admit this is what she dreams of. After she confirmed materials provide her fulfillment in her life, she never feel regret about what she have done. To show Mercy’s enjoyment, having relationship with another powerful man “Captain Ashey” is a proof to show her belief of women can have “happiness” without having a high paying job and high educational achievement. She also experience superiority over men because she is able to demand what she wants from a man.
A girl being materialistic is not only the responsibility of herself. It is also the responsibility of the society. In the article, only Mercy’s sister Connie is concern and criticize the performance of Mercy. The husband of Connie, James, plays the supportive role of Mercy’s actions. Also, the phenomenon of the society encourages Mercy to continue with the ways she gets fulfillment from. So that, Mercy does not realize her mistake that she had made.
I definitely agree that the contrasting personalities of Connie and Mercy reflect the transition of society from the past into the present. Connie is an extremely conservative and traditional woman who embodies the typical depiction of a “standard wife” whereas Mercy’s young, independent and free spirited soul prompts her to bask in her materialistic lifestyle as she takes advantage of men. This created a strong tension between the two characters as Connie would scold and lecture Mercy for her foolish whereabouts which, unfortunately, had little effect since Mercy continued to engage with different men. Like you said in your post, the overall situation reveals the major conflict between Connie’s point of view and Mercy’s point of view of herself (as she tries to justify her own actions). Within modern society, we are encouraged as individuals to not be constrained by the walls of “the conventional” and instead, live free spirited lives just as Mercy does and this further reinforces the difficult transition between the past and present.
I agree on how being both sisters have opposite characteristics. We know that Mercy did not receive parental care compared to Connie who did obtain values while her parents were alive. Usually, the older sibling has to give the example to the youngest, but in this case, Connie plays the role of Mercy’s mother and herself instead of her older sister. Since Mercy is experiencing people around her getting luxurious materials, their lifestyle impacted Mercy on why she could not take that advantage as well. Mercy will be getting anything she would like without making too much effort. In the story, it is illustrated that Mercy’s boyfriend please Mercy on buying her a pair of new shoes and a house to keep her content. He inclusive bought a gift to Mercy’s sister to maybe buy her so she does not gossip his relationship with Mercy to the public. Thus, Mercy does not mind about that gift; she reacted carelessly because it is not of her interest since she is obtaining what she wishes.