Foul on TillyTilly

This is it, a new moment in history for me, I am now growing as a young adult, my level of wisdom is vastly expanding; I am now writing in my first official blog!! I think Donald Driver would be proud of me. Hey everyone, thank you for listening to my speech of glorious triumph, but now it is time to get serious. To be honest I really wasn't sure what I should blog about; Akhmatova, Tao Te Ching, The Icarus Girl, or A Tale of Two Cities. So, I decided to write my first close reading blog on the piece that caused the most ruckus in class and struck closest to my heart, The Icarus Girl. I really liked The Icarus Girl the moment I first saw the cover, but what makes me really like this book is how the author leaves the ending open, letting us, the readers gather our own opinions on what really happened in the story. The main point of controversy that appeared in my class was whether
or not  the author, Helen Oyeyemi clearly addressed if TillyTilly was an actual live human being, or just a horrible figment of Jess's imagination. My honest opinion, this is not a part that Oyeyemi left open. TillyTilly is real, she's a spirit, there are way too many parts in the book that provide this evidence. You don't believe TillyTilly is real? Well, let's take a look. One of the main parts that clearly show that TillyTilly is real existing spirit is  on pages 101- 106when she takes Jess and herself to Colleen's house (a rude girl who bullies Jess).
"But Mrs. McLain wasn't looking at them. Her eyes seemed to slide over them as if they were part of the pristine, stripy wallpaper that covered the passage walls. How could she have missed them?" (pg. 102)
Ok, a cynic would say "so what if Mrs. McLain did not see them, maybe she wasn't paying much of attention, however if we were to keep reading we would realize that it wasn't Mrs. McLain's fault for not seeing Jess and TillyTilly; TillyTilly was making them invisible. Jess herself, was stunned as to how Mrs. McLain didn't see them.
""...We're invisible... We're invisible!"" "And she can't hear us, either, so I don't know why you were making such a fuss about me laughing," TillyTilly added. "Somewhat experimentally... Jess threw her head back and laughed, then looked quickly at Mrs. McLain... Mrs. McLain didn't turn, made no indication of hearing." (103)
These few lines caused a lot of dispute, many said that Jess was just imaging being at Mrs. McLain's house and that they weren't really invisible, however Jess has never been to the McLain's before how could she just imagine what it looked like? Beyond that even, TillyTilly and Jess were playing around with Mrs. McLain and she heard not a word, when she definitely should have. This tiny little paragraph shows TillyTilly is a spirit, she possess unnatural powers, not only can she turn herself and
Jess invisible, she can shield themselves so that no one can hear them.

Another huge part that Oyeyemi provides for us that TillyTilly is a real spirit is when TillyTilly takes Jess down into the ground and causes her to vanish right in front of Jess's cousin Dulcie and their babysitter. ( oh by the way this is on page 152)
"... Jess saw Lidia's mouth open to address her, then both Lidia's and Dulcie's mouths stretched wider in amazement and shock as TillyTilly's arms enfolded her from behind and pulled her down" (152).
This was at the exact moment that I realized TillyTilly was a spirit, there is no other explanation for how both Lidia and Dulcie saw Jess disappear. Due to the fact that someone else saw Jess disappearing into the ground shows that there is no possible way that Jess is just imagining TilllyTilly. If Jess was imagining TillyTilly then how come both Lidia and Dulcie saw her disappear, "... then both Lidia's and Dulcie's mouths stretched wider in amazement and shock as TillyTilly's arms enfolded her from behind and pulled her down."
Even though I have already finished the book, I remember what I thought at this part: if TillyTilly can make both her and Jess disappear, how powerful is she and what else can she do? I then realized this is Oyeyemi trying to show us, the reader that TillyTilly's powers are growing and are far beyond what I first thought. Tilly's first true sign of supernatural power was when she turned her and Jess invisible in Mrs. McLain's house. Having the power of invisibility is amazing; but when she added the disappearing act along with it, she become a force not to be reckoned with. It seemed to me that right after TillyTilly showed she could cause her and Jess to disappear, TillyTilly's true spirit existence began to form. More and more parts in the story clued to TillyTilly as a spirit, an evil spirit. Such as the part when TillyTilly informs Jess of her twin sister that she never knew about.


"... You have been so empty, Jessy, without your twin; you have had no one to walk your three worlds with you. I know- I am the same. I have been just like you for such a long time! But now I am Fern, I am your sister, and you are my twin...I'll look after you, Jessy..." (oh sorry this is page 177).
Even if, Jess was making TillyTilly up, how then did she get the information about her sister?! Jess had absolutely no knowledge of her twin, no one had ever told her, so there is no possibility that it was a horrible thought in the back of her mind that was coming out as TillyTilly. Maybe Jess actually knew about Fern, she stumbled across a birth certificate about her sister, like I did. However,  Jess was shocked and devastated to hear about her sister, she didn't forget, that is not something she would forget. The question is then, how did TillyTilly know about Fern? Oyeyemi is giving us a clue as to how, if you look at the part, " you had no one to walk your three worlds with you." TillyTilly is referring to the "in between world" the world between the world as we know it and the spirit world. TillyTilly has to be a real spirit she knows about Fern. However, no matter what anyone says whether or not TillyTilly is a live spirit or just a part of Jess, she is real to Jess. I still think even now, that TillyTilly was an evil spirit who emotionally attached to Jess because of the void of Jess's dead twin caused. That is why TillyTilly said she was like Jess, but instead of just being a friend to Jess, she said she is her sister, she is Fern, woahhh creepy. None of you have to feel the same way; that is the great way Oyeyemi writes, she leaves parts of threads in the story open for readers to put in their own opinions.  I hope all of you have enjoyed reading my... very first college blog!!!! I am sure that this blog will not be my strongest, that I will continue to keep improving as I keep going and I cannot wait! Thank you all for reading my wonderful Donald Driver loving blog and please don't forget to comment especially about Donald Driver.