This post is going to be short because there’s so much happening in this story and I don’t know how to process it.
Unlike the rest of the collection, this story holds a fantastical element that play a key role. We’re told time and time again that our main character and her brother are not of this world and the main plot is her trying to get “home.” We know the rules of getting home and we know the consequences that would arise should one fail to accomplish their goal. We know the main character is too young to fully understand everything going on around her and we know that her mother was assaulted before the story took place. We know that the main character is set on killing “her person” and leaving because she’s too good for this world she lives on currently.
What we don’t know is why. Why does she believe she’s not from this world and why does her brother feed into her thoughts? Why did he make up the rule that you must kill in order to return to the titular Better Place? Why does the mother and daughter resent each other so much? Why does no one bat an eye at her declaring her desire to kill? What does this story mean?
Throughout the piece, we as readers are left unclear in regards to what’s real and what’s in the narrator’s head. That much is clear considering we’re seeing the world through her eyes, but that adds another layer to this story. She truly believes she’s not from Earth, but we’re given no hints as to why this came to be. One of the first scenes we’re given is her birth scene, so is this a reincarnation story? She’s unsatisfied with her current life and wants to try again? But why is the killing element there since in many cultures, reincarnation only comes for those who’ve earned it by being good in life. Killing isn’t necessarily a good thing from what I’ve been told in life. So why is that a major role?
Long story short, I’m confused.
Your suggestion that this could be a reincarnation story is something that hadn’t really gone through my head, honestly I just thought that this kid was a little out of her mind. I thought that maybe she was convinced of something that she maybe read in a book or concocted in her own mind which was fueled by her brother. I don’t think that the girl is playing by what we as a general society deem as right or wrong, I don’t even think that she views the act of killing as inherently right or wrong. She believes that everyone else is crazy for not seeing the world the way that she does, but what I found really baffling is her conviction in that train of thought despite her being so young. As for her brother, I think he genuinely loves her in the story, and maybe he wanted to believe what she did in order to not be separated from her should she actually be right. To an extent, she loves him too, but I don’t think she even understands emotions or what love is enough to see what she’s doing is 1) dangerous 2) driving away the people who do care about her.