The Molly end-game versus reality

Of course, authoritarian nincompoops like John have help in trying to suppress dissent. For every little tin god who wants to shout down children who question his unearned advantage, there's a sentimental dope like Elly who thinks she can cajole a child into being happy. This is because she also misunderstand what venting means but for a different reason. Unlike her bonehead husband who wants obedience, she looks at a problem like Molly and wants to help her realize that she has no rational reason to be angry and lost and miserable while not realizing that people like her are why Molly feels as if no one understands her.

The reason I mention this is why I believe she tried becoming a mentor to Gayle. As I said, it's fairly obvious that Elly had it (and still has it) in her head that if Molly saw Gayle fitting in and having a nice time of things in Milborough, Molly would realize that she should abandon the belief that she was a misunderstood loner and accept the love in Connie's great big heart and so on and so forth. This belief cannot even be dignified by calling it wrong because anyone with a brain is going to realize that instead of seeing herself as the problem, Molly is going to see herself as being surrounded by pod people who tell her to bow down and worship the horrible woman next door.

This is going to confuse Elly because her inability to understand what she looks like means that she isn't going to understand that Molly is going to double down on seeing her as a meddling, malicious idiot trying to ruin Molly's life by turning everyone against her. The reason, of course, is rather depressingly simple; since she's never been in Molly's position, Elly can't understand how she'd feel. She might think she does because she misunderstood what the problem was but she really doesn't.