THE DOLLY - JEANETTE CHEAL
THE DOLLY -
JEANETTE CHEAL
The dolly sat upon the shelf
in the toy maker's shop all by herself.
The dolly only had one eye,
so all the children passed her by.
They scoffed at the dolly;
they weren't very kind
Then a child came in
with a dolly in mind.
Her mother led her around the shop.
At the shelf with the dolly her mother did stop.
The child reached out and felt for the dolly.
The toy maker shouted, "Dear child, I'm so sorry,
this dolly is blind; she only has one eye.
I've a dolly right here you might like to buy."
"No, this is the one," the child said to her mother.
"If I can't have her, I don't want any other."
So off dolly went with the child who was kind,
and just like the dolly, this child was blind.
THE SUMMARY:
In the toy maker’s shop, there lived a doll who only had one eye. Alone, it sat on the shelf. Children who entered the shop will walk past it. They were not very nice and looked down on the doll; they mocked and scoffed at the sight of it.
A child walked in the shop, with the intention to buy a doll. Her mother guided her around the shop and stopped in front of the shelf. The child took the doll off the shelf. She sympathised with it. The toy maker offered her another doll, however the child declined. She felt that the doll was the only one for her. The kind child left the shop with the blind doll in hand. In the end, it was revealed that the child was blind, just like the doll.
STRUCTURE:
The poem, “The Dolly”, written by Jeanette Cheal consists of five stanzas, ranging from two to four line in each stanza. It is written in third point of view; the poet uses pronouns such as she and they in the poem.
The rhyme scheme:-
Stanza 1: a a b b
Stanza 2: a b c b
Stanza 3: a a
Stanza 4: a a b b
Stanza 5: a a b b
The consonance in the poem:-
In this one line, the repetition of a consonance sound in a sentence is shown in the “l” sound in “dolly”, “blind” and “only”.
Furthermore, in this one line, it is also shown in the “s” sound in “this", "is”, “she” and “has”.
The anaphora in the poem:-
they weren't very kind
The repeated use of the word “they” at the start of two or more consecutive lines.
The toy maker shouted, "Dear child, I'm so sorry,
The repeated use of the word “the” at the start of two or more consecutive lines.
TONE:
MOOD:
Gloomy and lonely at the beginning but optimistic and content at the end.
THEME:
1. Inclusivity.
The persona wants to shine the spotlight on children with disabilities; they do not have enough representation or someone to look up as a role model, growing up. Disabled children often wonder why they are different from their peers. They also ask questions like “Why aren't there any of the dolls on the television that look like me?” and “Why do people stare at me when I'm outside?”.
The doll in the poem represents and reflects the blind girl in the poem. It shows the blind girl that she is seen and appreciated even though she is different.
2. The normalisation of disability being equal to flaw.
Thanks to the now more conscious and aware generation, this stereotype for disabled people isn't as active as before. However, it doesn’t mean that this normalisation of disability is a sign of flaw or weakness is completely eradicated. In the poem, the toy maker immediately offers another doll that is considered perfect when the girl reaches for the ‘flawed’ doll. This proves that there is the stigma that being disabled means that you are flawed or there is something wrong with you.
MESSAGE:
1. We should normalise being inclusive. Disabled children do not deserve getting excluded. They should not be forgotten.
2. We should not be tied to a general stereotype. Most of the time, the generalisation of a group of people does more harm than good as the generalisation is not always true. In fact, sometimes the stigma is offensive to the generalised people.
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