Growing up in a convent with only females around,
Esteban and Manuel became very close to one another. Even though they believed love was never equal, the love they had for each other surpassed the love that the twins were talking about. Manuel and Esteban were very mature for their age. They discovered a secret.
“Now he discovered that secret from which one never quite recovers that even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other...there may never be two that love one another equally well”(48). Being surrounded by mostly girls in the orphanage, Manuel and Esteban knew a lot about females. Manuel fell in love with
Camila Perichole who danced at the theater and wrote letters for her. Soon enough he realized that Camila was making Manuel push Esteban away and therefore Manuel chose Esteban over Camila. However, Manuel didn’t act the same and was a changed man. He had never felt the love Manuel had with Camila. “He took one more glance at the tableau of love, all the paradise from which he was shut out, and turned his face to the wall”(52). The day Manuel got cut on his knee with a piece of metal, got infected and died. This changed Esteban because he had lost someone he truly loved. The idea of two people never being able to love each other equally without one of them loving less profoundly is something I personally disagree with. Esteban and
Manuel thought that they had found a secret when the secret was proved wrong right in front of their eyes. Esteban and Manuel loved each other equally