Reading The Semplica Girls Diaries really through me for a loop. At first I thought we would just be getting a story about a Father, his life, and inner thoughts. Saunders did do a great job in creating the MC and letting us into his inner world about the struggles with money, with children, and everything else an adult has to deal with everyday. But as the story goes on we find that this story is actually much darker. At a party for one of his daughter’s rich friends we are introduced to the Semplica Girls who are referred to often as SGs. SGs are girls who have come from other countries looking for shelter and a better life to live. This girls are nothing more than landscape objects and symbols of status. Basically modern day slavery.
While I read this I can’t help but read this with mindset that I am reading through the point of view of a slaveowner basically. Everyone in this society does not look at the girls as people but merely objects. Even when the girls run away the MC asks “why would they run away when they were being treated well?” they ran away because they are people and they are allowed to want better for themselves than just being someone’s land ornament. Eva who is often described as “sensitive” is the only one with some humanity outside of her own status and saw the SGs as actual human girls so she let them go.When the family the poor the MC had a resented the rich for making poorer people feel less than. But the moment they get money the first thing they do is buy SGs. It is hypocritical but real that when people are in lower positions they think they are more humane and “realer” than the rich but often when people get any large sum of money their morals change. So I think the main lesson I learned from this story is the money is truly the root of evil in all societies past, present, and future.