What interested me most about “The Semplica Girl Diaries” was the narrator. I was drawn to him from the beginning. He wrote in his diary in a short, blunt way. On the title page he wrote, “Having just turned 40 have resolved to embark on grand project of writing every day in this new black book just got at OfficeMax.” Back home, my coworkers were all immigrants and this was exactly how they both spoke and wrote. Because of this, I operated under the assumption that the narrator was also an immigrant. This shed a different, but unsurprising, light on the rest of the story. The narrator worked at what most would consider a menial job, but he wasn’t doing the bone-breaking, laborious work that is done by certain groups of immigrants. However, he was still poor and shared many of the same aspirations that immigrants have of life in America. Which led me to ask myself a question: Why did he have such an impersonal, distant view of the SG’s?
The first two times they were mentioned, I missed it. On page 115 he wrote,
“In front of the house, on sweeping lawn, largest SG arrangement ever seen, all in white, white smocks blowing in breeze…”
The second time they were mentioned was on page 117:
“Pulled up to house. Another silence as we regarded blank empty yard. That is, mostly crabgrass and no red Oriental bridge w/ ancient hoofprints and no outbuildings and not a single SG, but only Ferber, who we’d kind of forgotten about, and who, as usual, had circled round and round the tree…”
I assumed they would have been spoken about in greater detail in the same manner as he described everything else, but I had to go back to the beginning and read the first few pages again. Why did he take such an impersonal view on the SG’s? Surely he would have understood their reasons? Surely he would have sympathized, even empathized with them? But no, he doesn’t understand why they weren’t happy, why they would leave, and why Eva freed them from the racks.
He doesn’t go into detail with the SG’s until the very end on page 167. As he wrote,
“Letters come, family celebrates, girl shed tears, stoically packed bags, thinks: must go, am family’s only hope. Puts on brave face, promises she will return as soon as contract complete. Her mother feels, father feels: we cannot let her go. But they do. They must. Whole town walks girl to train station/bus station/ferry stop? Group rides in brightly colored van to tiny regional airport? More tears, more vows. As train/ferry/plane pulls away, she takes last fond look at surrounding hills/river/quarry/shacks, whatever, i.e., all she has ever known of world, saying to self: be not afraid, you will return, & return in victory, w/ big bag of gifts, etc, etc. And now? No money, no papers. Who will remove microline? Who will give her job? When going for job, must fix hair so as to hide scars at Insertion Points. When will she ever see home + family again? Why would she do? Why would she ruin it all, leave our yard? Could have had nice long run w/ us. What in the world was she seeking? What could she want so much, that would make her pull such desperate stunt?”
The way he wrote it, the details he went into, the thoughts he put on the paper, all led me to conclude that he had been denying his personal connection to them. He knew exactly why they did what they did and what they longed for because he felt and did the same thing. He had to keep such a distance from the SG’s because otherwise he would have to face the truth of the society in which he lived and his desire to be part of it.
I like the last sentence of your post: “He had to keep such a distance from the SG’s because otherwise he would have to face the truth of the society in which he lived and his desire to be part of it.” I think you’re right; at the very end of the story, he begins thinking about the girls’ lives both before they came to America and what will happen to them now. Then he backs away from it again and calls for the post to be removed from his yard because it’s ugly, once again backing away from the reality of the SGs.
I agree with what you said about him distancing himself from the SG’s. I also think he related a little bit too much with his daughter Eva that sympathized with them and felt bad about their captivity. I’m almost positive his parents gave him the same talk he gave his daughter, just in an attempt to quell her own doubts like someone had to for him many years ago. I feel like giving this talk, explaining why this is good for the SG’s to his daughter, also allows him to trick himself and keep that distance