The archive that was built in regards to Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan includes “Intertextual Twins and their Relations ,” by Catherine Rainwater. She grapples with twins in the aboriginal sense and how they were considered a “balanced pair” (Hogan 93). Ruth and Moses Graycloud were described as two parts of one being. They felt each other’s joy and pain. This twin metaphor could refer to the battle between two worlds. The one where emotions are contained and the one where emotions are lived. The world between living and existence.
Twins played an important role in Linda Hogan’s novel Mean Spirit. They allow the audience to see both sides of the same situation.
Tricia's thoughts 
This is an interesting viewpoint of the Linda Hogan’s novel. The concept of the twin metaphor is a different way to consider the battle between good and evil. There could also be the contrast between power vs. oppression, male vs. female, rich vs. poor, and white supremacy vs. Native American tradition.
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The mention of twins is particularly interesting as the older, historic aspects of the Osage says the tribe is divided into two parts. Sky clan who were more thinkers, head in the cloud and Earth Clan who were more barbaric and charging headstrong. The entire tribe focused on balancing between the two, where you couldn’t marry within your clan but instead the opposite. Without balance, Sky clan wouldn’t actually do anything and just be up in the air, while Earth Clan would just kill everything – Plant, animal and otherwise. Furthermore, the usage of twins could be lined with the ideas of ‘Twin Worlds’, the Native world and the White World. Particularly what Chief Whitehair said when he dropped his son and daughter at one of the Indian schools ‘They world is splitting in two, it’s their job to find their way home or not.’
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