Twisted

The effect parents have upon their children is explored in several ways in the novel, most urgently through harmful or negative impacts.

The fathers of Ali and Julian share several similarities: They are immigrants from other countries who build businesses in the United States that support their families. Julian’s father inherits a dry cleaning business that passes to Julian, though he doesn’t want it. Ali’s father becomes a jewelry retailer and passes the business to Ali, who builds it into an empire, in part to satisfy his own ambitions, and in part to do credit to his father’s sacrifices. Ali focuses on Sultans as the legacy he will leave for Yasmin; his belief that the business belongs in the family dictates his decision that Yasmin’s husband should take over—not Yasmin herself, and not Julian. Though Ali seems to treat Julian as a type of foster son or apprentice, in the end he believes that bloodline inheritance is the most legitimate way to pass on his own father’s achievement.

Ali’s protectiveness toward Yasmin has shaped many of her behaviors, most notably her wish to please people through decorous behavior and complying with their commands. His guard over her frustrates her as she realizes how many basic adult life skills she has never learned, like how to drive. The dynamic suggests that, even when motivated by love, a parent’s overbearing attention can be restrictive and conflict with the child’s natural disposition.

Julian’s abuse at the hands of his mother offers a more direct example of the lasting damage that parents can inflict. As an adult, Julian recognizes that his mother channeled her anger by inflicting pain on him. Helpless to defend his mother from his father, or himself from either parent, Julian gained a legacy of rage, and as an adult he refuses to allow anyone to have control over him—a refusal that extends to a dislike of being touched. As a child, he felt that he was helping his mother by allowing her to take out her feelings on him; this might be one source of the way pain, control, and dominance have such a sexual charge for Julian. His feelings toward his mother remain conflicted, stemming from a childhood belief that it was his job to protect her and exacerbated by her emotional manipulation. Through much of the novel, Julian believes he needs to submit to his mother’s demands that he show her affection. Only when he has an example of real mutually affirming affection in Yasmin, does Julian realize it will be healthier for him to cut ties to his mother altogether.

The parents of secondary characters echo this theme, too, suggesting that ties to parents govern a child’s choices well into adulthood. Riya’s father chose her profession, insisting she become a lawyer to help his oil business. Aidan’s loyalty toward his mother leads him to join the conspiracy to rob Ali and Julian of the lamp, which he believes will provide a path to wealth and allow his mother to leave Ali’s employment. Even when absent, a parent can hold influence. For Yasmin, her dead mother represents the ideal of the strong, loving wife whom her husband adored—an example Yasmin fears she will not live up to. As Yasmin and Julian both build Ali’s legacy through expanding Sultans, they illustrate the impact of parents in shaping the lives of their children through lessons learned, affection given or denied, and what they teach their children to value.