Scouts

In the chapter labeled "Scouts" in Nightfather, one of the first things that Carl says is that, "When Nellie is dressed in her uniform she looks different and behaves differently" (38). This sentence applies to the girl scouts, but it can also be a general statement applying to many people in many different types of uniforms, including Nazis in the Holocaust. having a uniform makes people feel as if they are a part of something and are important. Often, this feeling can lead to feelings of entitlement and privilege, that you are better than someone else who does not have a uniform. Nellie is a good example because when she is not in her girl scouts uniform she treats Carl as an equal, in contrast to when she IS in uniform, Nellie treats Carl as someone who is far beneath her. Nellie pretends that she is too busy (often a mark of importance) to even look at her, and also casually brushes the top that Carl has worked so hard on into the gutter. This action portrays Nellie's contempt for anything that Carl creates at this moment.

When people see that other people are superior (or seem to be superior) because of something so easily gotten as a uniform, a first response is usually to want to get that uniform. Likewise, Carl immediately goes to her mother and asks if she can become a girl scout, too. But, her mother and father respond with such absolution because the reason for Carl's request is extremely similar to the reason that the Nazis gained so many supporters. People wanted to be able to feel superior, especially people who, before the Nazi regime, were very low on the social/political/economic ladder. Later in the book, Carl's father talks about the Ukrainians in his camp and how they were always sucking up to the Germans. It may be that the Ukrainians wanted to play along with the Germans because they hadn't been treated very well before the war, and so they wanted (finally) to gain the upper hand. The Nazi uniform, or even collaboration with the Nazis in the camps could give them this upper hand.