The Life She Was Given

“Don’t worry, circus performers are used to seeing people like you.”

Coralline’s statement to Lilly as she tries to get her to leave the attic sounds reassuring, but in reality, it darkly foreshadows what’s to come when Lilly is sold to Merrick. Additionally, it reduces Lilly to her physical characteristics and others her as an outsider, an example of The Mistreatment of People With Differences.

“The cat will be here when you get back. Now move it.”

Lilly’s connection to her cat, Abby, is the only meaningful one in her young life, and the devastating truth is that she will never see Abby again. Coralline lies to her here, as she knows they are headed to the circus, where Lilly will be abandoned for good.

“Most importantly of all, she had to remember that bad things would happen if she didn’t behave.”

Julia has internalized Coralline’s claim that all the “bad things” that have happened in their lives, including her father’s death, are Julia’s fault. Part of Julia’s coming-of-age story is reclaiming her identity and jettisoning this kind of toxic messaging by discovering and then living by her own values.