A Girl from America

This one was a real let-down for me for several reasons. It portrays a young girl desperate to find real purpose in life, but those she turns to are hardly good examples to follow. It's clear her soul is hungry for something more.

Well, when the simple, rigid neighboring nanny cannot be her soulish prop, Selma becomes fascinated with the idea of getting an elderly Gypsy to tell her fortune. She schemes and lies and nearly steals in order to get the money for this, then sneaks off in the middle of the night. At this point I was really expecting it to turn into a moral tale and have her come back repenting and so in.

Instead, the Gypsy and several others save the day. Nothing is said to cast any doubts on the Gypsy's validity and though she attempts to cheat a little bit really has a heart of gold under all that, so later Selma advises her father to give away a large portion of her inheritance in the end, with a good portion going to the Gypsies because of their help of her. Ugh. No pointing anyone to a real solution.

The main story fell flat with the main point being “money makes you unhappy, so give away as much of it as you possibly can.” Money itself doesn't ruin people any more than poverty ruins people—it's the heart that uses either for an excuse for treating others badly. I didn't feel like Selma's heart ever changed. And the emphasis on the fortune telling really bothered me.