I just realised all the adults, who killed their dolls. They were raised by them.
They saw them every day of their lives. They practiced for their debut together. They must've complained to them about how Christopher was "too brotherly" (they got embarrased by him), or how the bread they were served today was soo stale (they never saw what their dolls were served).
Christopher's debut class (this was the real shocker ngl, not Maryrose and Barbara) learning of his fate? They'd laugh, and they'd mock Barbara by giving her false promises and they'd never learn. Never reap what they sew.
Until a girl who ran away from home when she was thirteen and already becoming a rebel in all senses of the word, got saved from a cage, physical or metaphorical, by a stray performer girl from the circus who never had the comfort of a good home.
Until a boy with a strong sense of justice and far too much enthusiasm saw her with her doll, fell in love and resolved to order himself glasses with no lenses so that his doll, who was so short-sighted that he couldn't recognise people's faces, could wear his own.
Until another boy who was trapped in a dark place with no light was saved by the girl's doll, and given flowers and a ray of light from above, and asked his "doll" to give the girl a pair of shears so that she could cut all the thorns in her path to get to her mistress.
Until another girl, who was so enamored with her doll that she relaxed immediately upon hearing her voice, received an invitation that spelled someone else's doom and her own coming life of luxury, but could only feel horrification and determination, but not a drop of exhilaration.
