8. A Perfect Specimen
Perfection is a cold word. It exists to illicit doubt and fear. People who cite perfection as a goal are inherently hypocritical. Sweetville is represented as the perfect utopia but Shangri-la is a myth. The dream of that ideal place is different for everyone so one place could never fulfill it. Its natural to sometimes want to return to the womb, to pine for our mothers embrace, to yearn to be cared for. But that is a childish wish. Mrs. Gillyflower preys on her victims longing for strict answers, their unwillingness to think for themselves, their resistance to their own adulthood. The parallels to Nazi Germany, the idea of the master race are obvious here. The woman waiting in line to sign up for Sweetville that Jenny encounters is worried about her teeth but that perceived imperfection probably saved her. Eugenics is the belief that the perceived quality of a species should be controlled by eliminating alleged imperfections. The Nazi party used the idea of eugenics as a justification to commit multiple atrocities. The term is a fallacy of course because beauty cannot be measured. It is subjective and not necessarily apparent upon first viewing. A Fascist cannot see beyond petty biases and insecurities. They are like perpetually wounded animals lashing out at those closest to them and desperate to control every last thing no matter what the cost. Mrs. Gillyflower sees nothing wrong with experimenting on other human beings, including her own child, in order to reach her goals. Her efforts have blinded her daughter but it is Mrs. Gillyflower who lives in utter darkness.