Believe it of not, Rory's ruin didnt come from the people, or the environment. In fact it wasn't even Chilton itself, Chilton was a great experience for Rory.
Then your probably wondering what are you talking about. If it wasn't Chilton, then what is your point?
It was what became -- because of Chilton. Lorelai desire for Rory to go to Chilton was even stronger than her desire to keep limited contact with her parents. I mean wasn't that the point? We see that.
But what we don't see is what breaking that dam meant.
Rory is a child of poverty.
We don't see that, because what we see is a two story house, take out everyday, more books than it seems logical. We see a perfectly normal upper middle class family.
But for all of Rory's life before the two story house, was a shed in the back of the inn her mum worked in.
Rory's world was nothing like we see at the start of Gilmore girls. Which makes why she fell apart as a character so much more clear.
Poverty, meant that things were out of reach -- if Rory got one book for the year that was hers and not one from a library. That was something to treasure, because she only had a sixteen year old who was only now getting her shit together for a mum. I'm sure things were tight for a long time.
So with everything out of reach, everything behind a clear glass so little Rory could see it but never have it because they never had enough -- that gives purpose.
Now with only her mum and maybe her mum's co workers to help look after her, then the older towns folk. I'm sure Rory found herself unable to do much more that sit quietly and read. I'm sure, she quickly put two and two together like kids tend to do when they know their parents are in a rough spot. They try to not be too demanding and keep to themselves, they 'mature.'
She read, she did her school work, and she dreamed about far off places, she dreamed about being an explore, seeing the world. Helping the work, telling stories for those that couldn't. Her pen would be her weapon to fight the evils of the world.
She dreamt about getting out of poverty and I'm sure like all of us, her mum told her the only was she could was to get a good job.
She told her, "but to do that you need to finish middle school, highschool and go to college. The better the college the better your chances at success!"
So Rory started to study and take her school work more seriously. She's working hard to achieve something impossible from where she's standing.
All of us normal people know, something like an ivy league college like Yale or Harvard is impossible. We don't have the resources, or the time or money. And if somehow we did work hard and somehow got in -- we'd be struggling somehow. Maybe we have to help out with the family: chores that your parents can't do or having to pick up part time work so you can help out or looking after siblings.
Even as an only child with a single mum working as a maid it just won't seem likely. This was Rory's drive. Because all she has known up till now was scarifice.
I'm not sure when things started to turn up for the mother daughter duo because Rory was only 15/16 at the start even then they were only okay. They weren't great, they were lower middle/working class at best. Certainly not swimming in money.
The town also plays a role in this, they look out for the both of them, after all they are:
A 16 yr old, highschool drop out mother who clearly has no idea what she's doing with a daughter who could be her sister.
The coodle them, the look after them. Because they are just children and it's not like they could do much. They can only see them on the street, maybe help out with groceries, look after the baby while the child works.
And while they have Rory, they see how bright she is -- and they encourage her. They, along with Lorelai tell her the sky is the limit though they know it's not realistic, they can't afford it.
They are protective of Rory because they all had their hand at raising her. They see how brilliant she is and if it wasn't for her grandparents I'm sure the town would have put up to help that kid go to college. Because that's just the kind of people they have in the town.
Is any of this coming together yet?
No? We still haven't any idea why Chilton ruined Rory?
Now I can't not emphasis enough that Rory is young. She is so young. Things have already made a permanent mark in her life while other things slowly faded.
Now comes Chilton, she got in, how?
Lorelai opened contact and slowly Rory is taken into this world of wealth and riches. Chilton is FULL off rich kids. They've been rich all their lives, I like to think Rory's off brand bright orange backpack was like the constant reminder of where Rory came from. It's not the Chilton bag that matches the uniform, for uniformity sakes.
It might not mean much, but the obnoxious orange stands out. Because she stands out she's not like them.
When she goes home using a bus, a stinky, smelly public bus. All the other kids have cars and private cars coming to pick them up. Maybe they don't drive, they all live ten minutes tops away. While Rory's 30 minutes.
Even now she has to fight for her spot because she doesn't really know her grandparents and she's practically a scholarship kid in a rich school. Nothing she has, nothing materialistic compares to the other kids. Things they can just have and bought on a whim she can't.
Yes, she has her family name that has weight, yes she has her grandma, yes she also has a house ten minutes away from the school. Yes she has rich grandparents that knows all the kid's and their parents.
But all those things belongs to her grandparents.
She has nothing and her mother has nothing. Rory still has a reason to fight to make her place. She has dreams that can only be accomplished by hard work.
Now time goes by and she's closer to her grandparents. They open up a wealthy world to her any whim is theirs to grant happily, for example, Her grandfather gives her a meeting at Yale just to 'keep her options open.'
Everything that was once far away is now close to her it's at her finger tips. Though at first she does not use it. Because she doesn't know how -- All she knows how to do is study so she keeps at it. She has a goal, or something that looks like a goal. Her world that she knows has changed again.
From poverty to working middle class to wealthy.
But you know what hasn't changed the town she lives in. Their encouragement and coddling of Rory, because she is a good kid and they know her -- she grew up with them. But now she has so much more. Yet they treat her the same.
She by now is not some poor four year old with a bright future yet no resources to do anything about it. But mentally she doesn't really remove herself from who she was as a child. Even though she has no issue accepting what she has, mentally she's still back there.
what once was encouragement for a little girl with no real future, not one she could afford became nothing.
she's so bright, she so smart, so removed from her peers that you can't help but hope for the best from her. Everyone put such a pressure to continue on her shoulders that -- she just did. But slowly, she's losing the steam.
Slowly she realizes that she was just moving without a purpose. She's only doing what's required of her -- because I mean, in that small town there is no one really there who knows what to do. What she should do. So she just keeps doing what she has.
I mean look at when Paris told her she needs to have certain things down, like the event where she had to build houses so she freaked and started looking at things she could do to fill her application. For someone who did so much research about Harvard you would think she would have come across something about the importance of extracurricular activities.
Another example was with her writing, the paper before the ballet in 'die jerk die' the dude says that's she had no opinion. The easy that she got a D -- nothing with substance, half hearted.
Or even the piece for Chilton, when she wrote on cement. No opinion, just a really good factual piece. That got praises.
Then she goes for the interview for the paper and the lady asks, well what would you write? If we hired you.
Or when Logan's dad says she doesn't have the drive or when everyone was doing internships she went to Europe.
She gets angry but it's just a fact.
She has no heart, her childish dream was one of adventure she isn't suited for but was pressured to use it as a life direction with no space for change. Because she knows that's who she has to be -- that's who her mum tells her to be.
Then comes Logan giving her the fact check.
"You are one of us. You are wealthy, you have just as much as we do."
And he starts to list it off and she can't fight it.
But she doesn't have that -- not for free. Not for her whole life. Hardly four or so years by then. Mentally she's still that little girl with her mum in the shed. She doesn't have money.
Everyone's telling her who she is -- but she knows that's not her. So she spirals, because she's coming at an age where reality is really setting in and she's racing a dead horse. But she can't stop because it's not what's she's suppose to do.
And when she does, she's lost. Because truly she doesn't know who she is or what she likes.
So in conclusion, Rory went from being a little fish in a big uncertain yet comfortable pond. To a big fish in a little pond unwillingly. The cruelty of the world starting knocking, telling her that she was in fact a big fish and she needed to wake up and smell the roses.
While the small pond she's use too, ie stars hollow and her grandparents told her that they did not know what they were talking about because she was a little fish in a big pond.
Don't you think it's fitting that the first episodes plot point was the start of our main characters end?
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