'Sparrow and Finch': analyse af Alison Powells novelle

It is never easy being the least-favorite child among one’s siblings and it can be difficult to accept being overlooked and not having the opportunity to do something about it. The question “what can it do to you if you constantly experience not being good enough?” might arise when imagining yourself in a situation like that. The short story “Sparrow and Finch” written by Alison Powell in 2015 deals with this question. Jealousy and inequal treatment are the dominating themes of Powell’s short story.

Sparrow and Finch are a pair of twins but do not have a single thing in common according to Sparrow. Sparrow, the second-born child that came shortly after her brother Finch is the narrator of the short story “Sparrow and Finch”. She enters the world and is greeted without a name prepared for her, and her name is not declared the moment she enters the world as her brother Finch’s is, which makes her name less special. “Much later he admitted that he’d wanted to call his second child Hawk, but he hadn’t expected a girl and I was quite clearly a Sparrow.” Sparrow’s father is prepared to get a boy and does not has a name prepared for her. This indicates that Sparrow is an unwanted child. As she grows up the feeling of being unremarkable arises, and it makes her indirectly jealous of her brother Finch; “I’m not telling this because I’m bitter. I’m telling you because it’s true.” A tension arises between the twins, which is due to the inequal treatment they get. Sparrow has a feeling that she is overlooked and is the second favorite child. When she talks about Finch she praises and afterward criticizes him; “And he won the sack-race, without even cutting a hole in the bottom like he did last year. This indicates, that Sparrow is not completely glad for him and does not want to give him credit. To make matters worse Sparrow’s name begins to involve consequences. She is harshly bullied in school and gets the nickname “Spaz” after her grandmother mentions it and it subsequently comes out to everyone at school, probably due to Finch.