It is most probable that their unfortunate appearance was unavoidable on their behalf and that "inside" they are really lovely people. .
Millroy the Magician obliterates this notion. According to him, a person is totally responsible for how they appear. Any exterior upset is due to poor interior management. Millroy prefers to teach the little phrase "you are what you eat." He believes that the food a person eats has a major effect on all aspects of that person. Fatness goes hand in hand with a poor character. .
So, a person ugly on the outside is most definitely also ugly on the inside!.
Millroy also has an uncanny ability to sum up all the physical ailments a person has when he has never even seen them. He says things like "he has smoker's voice" after talking to someone on the phone and is able to sum up the whole life of a person. If someone is angry, it is likely that they are constipated. If someone has terrible acne it is because they have been eating all the wrong foods. There is no such thing as an ugly person who is beautiful on the inside! .
Jilly Farina is a little girl in a big world. She is lost and confused, ready to accept any change that comes to her. This is exactly what happens.
At a local fair she meets Millroy the magician, a man who mesmerises her with his outstanding magic skills. As soon as they meet, an indescribable bond is formed between them.
Only someone who really had no pleasure and hope in life would readily volunteer to suddenly live with a travelling magician. Jilly had previously been living an unsatisfying life with either her grandmother (Gaga) or father (Dada). Both people were not providing the love and encouragement that children need to feel happy about their lives. Her father was and alcoholic and was quite often drunk and her grandmother was mean and would thrash her, leaving behind nasty bruises. .
It is the kind of life that is all too common for children of low socioeconomic backgrounds.
