Varieties of The Fantastic in Fiction

  “The Semplica Girl Diaries” is a story about being grateful for what you have, as it could change any time. As well as this, it warns people how their lives can change if they make bad financial decisions, no matter how their upbringing was. This is shown with the main character, as he says that he once had a lot of clothes and was wealthy, but now he isn’t due to himself & his decisions. He buys his daughter Lilly figurines he cannot afford because he wants her to see him as a good father. So he buys her the figurines, or Semplica Girls (SGs). He cannot afford clothes for himself until he wins the lottery yet spends over $280 on SGs for Lilly’s birthday – he is desperate and jealous of Pam and Leslie’s wealth. He gets himself into further financial trouble after he cannot pay money for the SGs who escaped — he did not read his contract.

      After he wins the lottery, he uses some of the money to renovate the yard for Lilly instead of using it to get out of debt. His daughter is his priority, but in an unhealthy, boastful way as he wants to boast about the things that he buys for Lilly. He exploits her and her SG collection as if it is a trophy. As well as this, the story is about greed/jealousy, public image, financial struggles, boastfulness, materialism, and obsession. The obsession and materialism are shown when he shows Leslie how his SGs are by the pond, boasting about the new and improved collection. After Leslie talks about the SGs, her mother calls her a brat and tells her she cannot have a pond – he considers this “a win” for Lilly. Why is he making it into a competition that may pin the girls against each other?  There are also other forms of obsession and public image in this story, such as Thomas’s mother’s obsession with him using the word “like.” She makes sure to tell him over and over not to use it. Eva has an obsession to “set herself apart from others” and makes herself look better and more refined. 

    Throughout the story, the main character asks what the future generation will grow up with. This may be his way of trying to hold on to the things he enjoyed in his life before he went into debt – this is his way of reminiscing. He explains that his life took a downward turn after he got blamed for his class having no recess as a child, due to a nun finding out about his mom’s divorce/affair and making everyone pray for her. He has lost a lot in life: the death of Todd, the loss of his parents’ marriage, and the loss of not being in debt. This is why he asks the future generation about airplanes, encyclopedias, and demons. He wants them to hold on to memories and what they own before they lose both of those things. 

      He may be disrupting Lilly’s childhood with comparing her to Eva. Lilly as an adult may feel like she is not good enough/can’t live up to Eva, because of her father’s comparison. So, in a way, he is destroying a future generation by beginning generational trauma. Todd’s younger brother’s childhood was also disrupted, as he was treated second to Todd by his mother.  Eva’s childhood is also disrupted by her mother, as it explains that she acts differently to gain attention, therefore; she is emotionally neglected by her mother. “This good, Pam and I feel: this  = sign of intelligence, But Eva seems to have somehow gotten idea that sensitivity = effective way to get attention (…).” Eva eventually realizes that owning SGs is not morally right, and the fact that her family owns something morally wrong, SGs, is affecting her mental health and artwork. The main character doesn’t realize it is morally wrong, as he considers himself to be a savior of the SGs, as they had worse opportunities before. He isn’t as great of a person as he thinks he is. He has committed crimes of owning SGs and exploited them & held them illegally, like with women from other countries who are sold into sex crimes.