When I was reading the youngest doll I felt that women was being mistreated. It was very surprising to find out how the men dominated their life and how they could nothing about it. One of the characters in the story a doctor which is a man takes advantage of a women that is rich. This women body have been invaded by a river prawn and she goes the doctor to get rid it. The doctor see an opportunity to use her even though he could have cured her. The doctor son even states “You could have cured this from the start”( Ferre, Rosario 247). The doctor responds by saying “ but I just wanted you to come and see the prawn that has been paying for your eduction these twenty years” ( Ferre, Rosario 247 ). The doctor is telling his son that the only reason he has an eduction is because he been taking advantage of this women. What is more shocking that he had said this front of that women and she said nothing to him. It was like the women had no voice in this story. The son of the doctor is just as worse because he only cares about money and treats he wife like a trophy. He even takes parts of the doll the aunt had given his wife as a present and sells them . However the wife notice that he was selling parts of the doll and hide it. When question by the doctor the whereabouts of the doll she states “ Since its hands and face were of Mikado porcelain she said they must have thought they were made of sugar and at this very moment they are most likely wearing down their teeth”(Ferre, Rosario 248). The daughter is telling the doctor that ants must have eaten the doll because they must have thought it was filled with honey.
After reading the youngest doll I realized this story time line must have been written in a time when women had no rights. I learned the importance of the prawn in the story. It probably was a symbol for a limited life because after the aunt had gotten it she had just given up her life and started making dolls. Her niece probably had a limited life too because she married a man not for love but out of curiosity. I think one main of themes that seems to pop up in this story his how man takes advantage of women. The niece and the aunt both have this in common. The man in both their lives is the doctor and the husband. The doctor ends up taking advantage of the aunt for her money and the husband takes advantage that his wife family is rich
good discussion of how men take advantage of women in this story, Richard.
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