The Youngest Doll Analysis

“The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferre is ultimately about an aunt who constantly creates life-sized dolls for her three nieces. It becomes more of an obsession rather than hobby when the author explains that each year the aunt spends more time and effort into making these dolls resemble her nieces as much as possible. Towards the end of the story the youngest niece ends up marrying a doctor. The doctor who she ends up marrying views her more as an object to flaunt rather than respecting her worth. Many of the critics who analyze the story come across the idea that Rosario Ferre is attempting to make it appointed that during this time period there was a mixture of sexism, racism, gender, and class implications. As I agree with all of these statements,

it’s exceptionally clear that Rosario Ferre is obviously pointing out the male domination over women during this time.
The stereotypes that are based on sexism have been shown immensely throughout the story, “The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferre.

The story kicks off by showing an unequal distribution of assistance. The aunt gets bitten by a prawn and is told that there is nothing the doctors could do to cure her inconvenienced leg. The doctor who examined her leg took advantage of his high role in society and used her lack of information against her. When the aunt was told that there was nothing to be done she accepted the fact, thinking that the doctor wouldn’t lie under any circumstances. “The doctor who examined her assured her it was nothing, that she had probably been bitten by an angry river prawn. But days passed and the scab wouldn't heal”(Ferre 5). Although the doctor was fully aware that there was a cure for the aunt, he lacked to share that information with her and instead left her to struggle with the discomforts of her leg. Along with Ferre, Joyce Moss agrees with the fact that this story magnifies the gender barriers that occurred. “‘The Youngest Doll’ tells the story of a woman seizing power...and describes the class and gender barriers that Ferre’s literature seeks to change”(Moss). Joyce Moss agrees that there have been barriers created on women who are faced with sexism like the aunt in “The Youngest Doll”. The doctor shows exploitative and unfair behavior towards the aunt when lying to her about what went wrong and then lying about there not being a cure. “The Youngest

Doll” by Rosario Ferre can be viewed through a feminist lens when depicting the lack of distribution given to women due to male domination and ignorance.
Along with the lack of assistance, Rosario Ferre uses the physical appearance of the dolls to describe how women are “suppose to be”. “She would draw out an endless flaxen thread of melted wax through a pinpoint on its chin. The porcelain of the hands and face was always translucent; it has an ivory tint..they were mailed to her from Europe in all colors…”(Ferre 8). As this quote describes, the dolls that the aunt made were very detailed in every part of the body. Everything was carefully thought through so she could make them as realistic as possible. The problem was, that it wasn't realistic at all. The dolls represented more than just what the aunt did as a hobby, they represented what society viewed women as. Women were seen as perfect little dolls that only had the physical features going for them instead of their intellect, sincerity, and good heart that should have been viewed beforehand. Along with Ferre, Emily Berquist, agreed that in “The Youngest Doll” the dolls made by the aunt were made to symbolize women’s lack of roles in society. “The Youngest Doll in 1991), rejects the cultural characterization of women as dolls who exist only for the pleasure of men”(Berquist). Berquist agrees that the dolls were used to symbolize women as a whole. They were carefully depicted to these beautiful “realisitic” dolls that showed how men viewed and belittled women. As opposed to equality between the men and women the men expressed sexism by discriminating the worths of women only because the fact of their gender.
Lastly, sexism is shown in “The Youngest Doll” when the doctor’s son flaunts the youngest niece merely for the acceptance into society.

The doctor’s son literally uses the niece as his prize possession so everyone can see how well off they are. “The young doctor took her off to live in a town, in a square house that made one think of a cement block. Each day he made her sit out on the balcony, so that passersby would be sure to see that he had married into high society”(Ferre 10). By making her do this, it shows how lowly men thought about women and their worth. The stereotype that women should stay at home can be seen through this scene. For years and years women have either been forced or suggested that staying home was the only option for them; in this case, the youngest niece was forced. While the doctor's son went on working to provide, his wife had to create the illusion for society that their family was perfect. Sharon R. Wilson is another critic who agrees with the sexism going on in this text saying, “Throughout ‘The Youngest Doll’ Ferre re-visions this and other fairy tales by exposing hidden racial, gender, and class implications”(Wilson). The gender implications from this text are easily shown at the end of the story when the niece is shown outside of her house everyday. She's being viewed as if her house is a museum but she is the only artifact in it. Not once was it said that she spoke up against him or he sat with her on the balcony because that would show a

lack of male control. Rosario Ferre made sure it was easily expressed how little the women in this story were treated fairly due to reasons simply as stereotypical women obligations.