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Natalie Yeung
Professor Stephanie White
ENGL 109
May 20, 2015
Personal Narrative Essay: The Genetic Identical
Identical twin girls! the doctor announced to my anxious, overjoyed, but above all,
exhausted parents. It was May 26th, 1995, where Lorraine and I were born in Scarborough
General Hospital. My mother claims she does not remember the time of our birth. I guess that is
a reasonable excuse amongst the chaos of the event of childbirth, especially of two larger-thanaverage twins within a short amount of time. I was born first at six pounds two ounces, and my
sister followed six minutes after, weighing slightly less at six pounds. My mother was in for
many crazy, funny, challenging experiences to come. Double the trouble. On top of that, she has
a year and a half old daughter, Evelyn, wanting to take away from my mothers attention of what
she thinks are gifts from Hell, and another son, Oscar, two years after that. You can say that there
was never a dull moment growing up. Being so close in age, there was always a friend to play
with. My siblings and I were very close; however, there is a connection between twins that exists
right from birth that cannot be replaced. Lorraine and I took interest in the same things: food,
sports, and music. We would often team up on our other siblings, leaving them no choice but to
form their own alliance and fight back. Many people joked that my parents had two sets of twins.
Similarities aside, I feel that especially as a twin, it is hard to develop our own social
identity, due to the constant battle to be the better twin, as well as others perceptions and
comparisons of us. As humans, we innately strive to be superior over one another, and this

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behaviour is magnified for twins. Being in the same classes, playing the same sports, and having
the same friends, I always compared myself to Lorraine, to make sure she was not better than
me. What is better? Was I working hard in school, or soccer, because I liked it? Or was I driven
by the need to be better than my sister? This identity crisis that I developed as an adolescent led
me to wonder if my interests were actually mine, or if I simply wanted to be superior over my
sister.
Since we went to the same school and shared the same friends, they have gotten to know
the both of us, and have identified the differences in our personalities. But, rather than being
thought of as two individual people (who happen to look almost exactly alike), we are thought of
as the twins, taking away from our individuality. I was the shy, serious one, while Lorraine was
the carefree, loud one, which placed a set expectation for us. So, rather than learning about
ourselves through experiences and self-reflection, we have other people do it for us. Many
adolescents eventually grow out of shyness, but constantly being call the shy one discouraged
that. Lorraine felt the same way about being the carefree one, she always felt like she needed
say something to meet the expectations of our peers. Whoah, Lorraine is quiet for once? Shes
turning into Natalie! Of course, it was not my sisters objective to be MORE like me- we are
trying to seek individuality, here! Speaking of expectations, many people assume that because
we are twins, we like the same things and think the same way. Questions, such as why dont you
wear makeup like your sister?, for the thousandth time becomes frustrating, because some
people expect me to be exactly like my sister, and question me when I do not want to be like her.
Equally as frustrating is when, even my parents compare me with Lorraine, asking why I am not
doing so well with something, when she did perfectly fine. Being subject to expectations that are
made for someone else ultimately leads to disappointment when neither of us can reach them. In

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order to develop our own social identity, we must be treated as two separate people, which is
difficult for twins.
While Lorraine seemed so carefree, I learned to cook, budget, do laundry-anything that
would lessen the burden on my parents, and attempt to seek individuality by not being my sister.
While she played, I worked. While she laughed, I stressed. I quickly became and adult before
Lorraine did. One of the most challenging experiences would be the day we finally have to part
our separate ways. That is a difficult concept to grasp after eighteen years of being practically
inseparable.
I was finally given the opportunity to learn the meaning of independence. I decided that,
in order to be my own person, I was going to pursue my undergrad in a new city, while my sister
stayed home for University. By being apart, it allowed us to learn how to make decisions for
ourselves without the influence of the others opinion, which always had a strong influence in
my decision making. It was a fresh new start for me, where no one knew that I had a twin, and so
treated me as such. Despite being physically apart, we have never been closer. Lorraine and I
were finally able to gain the independence we had been seeking for the past 18 years. Coming to
University made me realize that I am not who I am without my other half, and even though she
knows exactly which buttons of mine to push, I would not trade the experience of being a twin
for the world.