The Youngest Doll Reflection

In the “Youngest Doll,” the aunt struggles to have a life of independence or freedom. Her only opportunity to leave her family would have been to get married, and that was taken from her when she was injured by the prawn. Not only that, but marrying at that time would not have been a path to freedom because of the very male dominated and patriarchal society she lived in. When her doctor, who’s treated her for years, exclaims to his son, “ I just wanted you to come and see the prawn that has been paying for your education these twenty years,” (Ferre 247) it is very telling of the woman’s role in her society. The doctor never had any intention of healing her, and thus kept her in a weekend state for twenty years, using her illness to make money. Furthermore, there is nothing she can do to change things, she is at the mercy of his selfish acts. The only act of independence that the aunt shows throughout the story is her creative talent and drive to make dolls. The dolls are powerful in that they symbolize freedom, innocence, youth, and identity that was taken away from her when she was bitten by the prawn. She perfected her doll-making craft to a place where they were incredibly life-like, almost an exact replica of her nieces. She used glass eyeballs that had been, “submerged at the botom of the stream for a few days, so that they could learn to recognize the slightest stirring of the prawn’s antennae” (Ferre 246). This process of creating the dolls empowered her, and was used to instill a wisdom in her nieces which she acquired only after it was too late. The “stirring of the prawn’s antennae” is symbolic of men’s untiring grasp on women and she wanted others to understand this concept. This wisdom is important for young women to carry into their lives in a male dominated world, and to be wary of cruelty and dominance of men.

It was difficult for me to understand the purpose of the dolls in this story until I realized that it was tool for female empowerment. As the article describes, “Instead of the women being dolls manipulated by men...Ferre’s dolls are made and ultimately controlled by women” (Sneva 541). This is portrayed in the aunt’s obsession with the dolls, and by creating them and then idolizing them she is experiencing an innocence that was taken away from her by the prawn. She utilizes the dolls to teach her nieces lessons, and gives them a very special doll when they are married. Keeping this doll with her in her marriage, the youngest niece can never forget the plight of her aunt, and the oppression she felt because of men. It was difficult for me to see the female empowerment in this story until I understand the background of the culture and the time it was written. In the end of the story, the man ultimately loses out, and the doll wins. The doll is fighting back, and it’s Ferre’s way of showing that woman can fight back, and if women are weakened, the men will be negatively affected as a result.