Stories of the bifurcated or dual self have a long cultural history. While I can’t speak for everyone, I find them interesting because they are a way to dramatize an internal conflict. Bruce Banner, a rather unassuming physicist, is also the Hulk. Ultimately, I find that self-awareness and discord must coincide sometimes.
do not let your left hand know
Naarel
spoilers
On its surface, do not let your left hand know is a modern telling of a folkloric changeling. Changeling Lisa (I hope I have gotten this right) inhabits Monica. The former craves… spreadsheets? And vanishing into crowds. Monica, on the other hands, wants to inhabit the world, to forge relationships and lead a life that many would consider “full.”
I hope readers will forgive this personal interjection: I, myself, found vanishing Lisa, whom nobody ever seemed to miss, most relatable.
But I think investing too much in who the “real” person is might be missing the point. I experience the central conflict of do not let your left hand know as “This body ain’t big enough for the two of us.” That is, the central question arises from the incompatibility of the two personae, Monica and Lisa. That is our only choice as players: who will it be? The choice is appropriately momentous, and these two personalities are quite different and would, left alone, lead very different lives.
However, I think this entire story can be experienced in a figurative way, as a fable, or myth. Monica’s friend (and possible spouse) recounts the myth of the changeling (of the possessing variety), and enough time is spent on it that I feel we are meant to find in it a kind of hermeneutic. In light of Vivienne’s account, are we invited to consider the possibility that the changeling is not usurper but liberator? Some space has been left for players to make up their own minds. In my first reading, I actually believed that Monica was the changeling for this reason.
A well-written, brisk read with attractive styling.