The Doll’s House
Week of February 4, 2008
Chapters 10 and 11:
Tottie is so happy that she felt as though the sap of her tree had risen in her wood and was running through her. Emily and Charlotte must have had a change of heart. Tottie is not to be sold.
Chapter 11 finds the Plantaganet family residing comfortably in the dolls’ house. They have made it completely their own. Though they didn’t have chairs or lace curtains, the house was clean from top to bottom, new sheets, and nicked round blankets and mouse-size pillows on the beds. Apple had his quilt. The carpets were nailed down. The rust was gone on the stove and pots and pans, and the sea-shells had been glued back on the picture frames. Darner had a kennel to himself filled with real chopped-up straw that Emily obtained from the stable.
Apple is happy running through the whole house and has learned to somersault down the stairs. Charlotte would sit him at the top and then, quite soon, he would manage to overbalance and somersault down to the bottom.
Birdie loves her room with the pink carpet and every morning dusts it with her feather broom and sings songs she felt her bird in the birdcage would sing. She is so happy.
Mr. Plantaganet was different. He looked heavier, and the porcelain of his face and hands seemed brighter, cleaner, and the checks on his suit more clearly marked, his red-ribbon tie more crisp. He held his walking stick as though he would swing it at any moment.
The house was a house to be proud of, well built, solid down to the last window sill and up to the chimney. It was warm, gay, comfortable, and they had a candle that Emily and Charlotte would often light when it was dark.
Although very happy and comfortable, Mr. Plantaganet is starting to think that if he were a real master of the house he should have an office. He should like to go to the office very much.
Tottie’s room was waiting for her. She had a bed in the room she would share with Apple. Mr. Plantaganet slept with Birdie.
Everyone is waiting for Tottie. Mr. Plantaganet declares that “it doesn’t feel like our home without Tottie.”
DISCUSSION:
I didn’t like that reference of “That was as near as Tottie ever came to understanding the truth, and it was very near the truth.” Is Tottie NOT going to find out that Emily and Charlotte NEVER intended to sell Tottie in the first place?
I also like the fact that Mr. Plantaganet is having thoughts about being the master of the house and going to work. He was content to let Tottie earn the furniture for the living room.
Birdie and Mr. Plantaganet sleeping together??? The girls must consider
them the mother and father, with Apple as the child and Tottie as “who”??
A family member, a housekeeper?
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This was a confusing chapter! Poor Tottie--never to know the real truth of it, that the sisters were not ever selling her! And the others--why do they expect Tottie home? Did they know all along that she was only lent? Did they hear Charlotte and Emily talking about it as they got Tottie's bed ready?
It says in chapter one that Mr. Plantaganet and Birdie were chosen
as Tottie's parents. I had to go back and look, but that was how I thought it
was!
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They are a mishmash family to be sure, but most dollhouse families are. Tottie is supposed to be eternally 6 years old or something like that, and I do think that Birdie and Mr. Plantaganet are played with like they are the mother and father. It says in Chapter 1:
"Emily and Charlotte had chosen two other dolls to be Tottie's
Father and Mother; their names were Mr. Plantaganet and Mrs. Plantaganet, but
Mrs. Plantaganet had another name and that was Birdie. Of course Tottie knew,
just as you and I know, that Mr. and Mrs. Plantaganet were not her real father
and mother that she had no real father and mother, unless it were that felled
tree of whose wood she was made. She knew that, just as she knew that her little
brother Apple, the doll they had given her for a little brother, was made from
plush (which is a kind of velvet), and Darner, the dolls' house dog, had a backbone
made from a darning needle; if you have ever played at Fathers and Mothers,
and of course you have played at Fathers and Mothers, you will remember what
a very good feeling it is; that was exactly the feeling between Mr. and Mrs.
Plantaganet -- Birdie -- and little brother Apple and Darner the dog."
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What perfect little worlds we make with our dolls. Duh, I completely forgot about that mother/father thing. I should have gone back to Chapter 1 and taken another look.
I look upon Tottie as being the head of the family. She seems to be
the one in charge and the one to whom everyone depends upon to make the decisions
for the family.
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It is so true about the little world we make with our dolls. When I
first started Hittying, all of my Hittys were about 24 and under. Most of them
were 14 and under. Now some of them seem so grown up, more than the two years
of Hittying would allow for. I am considering, and this is as the master mover,
having Hitty Niamh and Tom get married and adopt one of the babies. But Tom
was named after Tom Sawyer and Hitty Niamh was inspired by my, then, 8/9 year
old daughter, so you can see how shocked I am by the prospect of this.
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It's pretty strange if Tottie is eternally 6 years old that the whole
family looks to her to be the calm, cool, collected one who has all the answers!
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It's interesting that Rumer has set up the story so that the dolls are able to move by themselves. That is the perfect explanation for the reason that sometimes my Hittys aren't in the place I expect them to be. Surely I left them in one place, but they seem to turn up in another place.
WHAT IS A NICKED-ROUND BLANKET?:
I think a nicked-round blanket is a hand turned and sewn blanket stitch.
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A "nicked-(a)round" blanket must be a blanket with pinked
edges.
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I lived in England for a while and some of my friends used that term
"nicked around". All it meant to them was cut around. Not sure if
it is the same or not..............
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Term "nicked around"
This is one of those sewing terms that depends on location and decade for meaning. So actually all three explanations that have been offered are valid, plus there are two more. There was a pair of scissors that created scallops rather than zigzags, I think they were available in the late 19th century, and although it was usually called scalloping sometimes nicked was used.
Back before pinking shears (i.e., pre-Civil War although I'm not sure when the shears were finally available) the effect of a zigzag edge could be achieved by a tool that was hit with a hammer - think of the leather working tools today that use hammers. Although I doubt very much a child would have used that tool, with a parent’s guidance I suppose it is possible. But all those fancy trims that look like scallops with scalloped or zigzagged edges from the 19th century were one with a hammered tool. No one used scissors on them!
DANGER!! FIRE!!:
It's hard to believe that Emily and Charlotte's parents would let them
light birthday candles and put them in the dolls house. It would be so easy
for them to tip over, or for the girls to forget about them, and start a fire.
Yikes!
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I can see my parents going ballistic if I had ever lit any candle not
even the one on the birthday cake. My parents were the only ones allowed to
use matches. And though I cannot complain of all of our efforts to keep our
children from harm...I do remember riding bicycles with no helmets, skating
with steel wheels and skate keys, skateboards made from those same skates and
a two-by-four...any number of unhealthy by today's standard childhood pastimes.
So, perhaps lighting a birthday candle in a doll-house was simply something
parents allowed, figuring (without all the distractions we have today) that
Emily and Charlotte would have the attention span to keep close watch on it.
I know when I played dolls as a child, the play lasted for hours. Hmmm...I guess
I've not changed much since then...
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I agree also as far as lighting candles. People used to light candles on Christmas trees, something we would NEVER do now.
Times change
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Speaking of fire, I remember when I was working on my genealogy on
ancestors that lived in Newfoundland I came across so many stories of children
burning to death because of the candles they carried around, or had in their
rooms. Their nightgowns would catch on fire. I just couldn't believe how many
stories I came across of this type. I can't imagine having lit candles on Christmas
trees, or having the children go to their rooms with lit candles. But then there
was no electricity and it was the only way they knew to light the way!!! Imagine
them just playing with fire like the girls did for the dollhouse. Brother, when
my granddaughters (11 and 13) light a match to burn a candle, I have a stroke
as it seems they are not always careful with their long hair. I get that look
like "Oh Gram!! and a sigh.
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I read those pages in horror thinking of how many children may have tried to do the same in their own dollhouses. I'm so glad we now have those little battery operated flicker candles and camping lamps.