In the opening scene of the novel, Meggie receives a beautiful doll as a birthday gift; two of her brothers all but destroy the gift, and she cries tears of devastation. The boys cause the doll’s hair to fall off, revealing the interior of the skull, which is Meggie’s horrific introduction to the strange, inner workings of the mind. Meggie’s first experience with loving something of her own leads to a crisis of her own tender heart, foreshadowing heartache to come.

As a child, Meggie herself is treated like a doll. Her mother Fiona curls her hair and fixes a large bow on her head before school to draw attention to Meggie’s admirable locks and her winsome beauty. When Meggie catches lice at school from her best friend Teresa, her mother shears her scalp to stop the lice from spreading, and Meggie ends up hairless. The sight of Meggie in this state causes Paddy to burst into tears; his beautiful doll is damaged, and he reacts just as Meggie reacts when her doll’s hair falls from her scalp. Paddy’s disappointment at his daughter’s distorted appearance reveals the importance of Meggie’s beauty to him and to other men in her life to come.