Maggie

I keep seeing people call Maggie stupid all over these message boards. Maggie is NOT stupid. She's dyslexic and that's different. Its a terrible disorder that makes it almost impossible to learn simple things like reading and basic math. Learning to work simple problems out on paper is one of the intregral parts of learning even something as simple as arithmatic. How can you learn to add or subtract if 21 turns into 12 in your head? And if you can't learn the basics how can you learn the more complicated stuff? On top of that, kids who have dyslexia often FEEL that they are stupid or unteachable so they don't make the extra effort needed to overcome their block. But she really isn't dumb. Remember that scene where she does that little guilt trip on Ellen. "It would have been nice to have a grandmother. Nice... and maybe a little bit less lonely." It takes a great inborn intelligence to maniplulate someone you just met like that. Additionally, kids who suffer a massive emotional trauma early in life either become like Maggie or Rose. Either they protect themselves by putting up a extroverted and shallow front, or they become indrawn and sheilded. It's really just a way to protect yourself from a world that's seems to have turned on you, at a time when you really needed to feel safe. The psychology is this movie is spectacularly well done, and I just wanted to point this out because I thinks its important to understand the driving forces behind these characters personalities in order to appreciate the true complexity of the story.
Oooo it's all sticky! It's covered in jam! ~Eddie Izzard