The Doll’s House
Week of April 7, 2008

Chapter 20:

Birdie appears to be going through a transition. She would not accept the fact that her beloved pink bedroom and little Apple were now Marchpane’s even though she was told many times by Mr. Plantaganet and Tottie. Mr. Plantaganet and Tottie are very worried about her. She is strange acting, has “grown lighter”, and “how untidy she is.” She has forgotten about her hair and her apron strings, and the feather on her hat and parasol. She looks as if she might fly away. Mr. Plantaganet thought “how bright she looks, like someone standing near a candle.”

Tottie urged Birdie to try and remember that Apple was not their little boy any more, for now. They would get him back. She must remember not to go into the other room to get Apple. Mr. Plantaganet was too sad to speak. Darner did not even growl any more. Birdie said nothing.

Marchpane now had a music box in her sitting room that belonged to Emily and Charlotte. Birdie loved listening to the music from behind the closed door of the sitting room. However, when she heard Darner barking, she knew Apple was in danger and she entered the sitting room. Once inside the music, being louder, confused her and she could not immediately see what was happening with Apple who was standing on one of the tapestry chairs and leaning over the lamp with his darning-wool wig near the candle flame. There was a strong smell of singeing. Marchpane was sitting on the couch, watching him and smiling her china smile.

Suddenly, everyone inside and outside the dolls’ house realizes something is very wrong. Darner is barking. Charlotte tells Emily that something is happening in the dolls’ house. She smells singeing.

As Apple started to scream when the fringe of his hair caught the candle, as Tottie and Mr. Plantaganet tumbled through the door, and Emily and Charlotte swung open the dolls’ house front, Birdie had only one thought -- Apple was in danger. Tottie screamed “Birdie! Let me! Birdie, you are made of celluloid, remember!” “Celluloid,” said Birdie in her light calm voice, and the lightness of the real candle was in her face. She threw herself between Apple and the lamp. Apple fell off the chair onto the carpet which put out the spark of fire in his wig. There was a flash, a bright light, a white flame, and where Birdie had been there was no more Birdie, no sign of her at all. Sinking down to the floor beside Apple floated Birdie’s clothes, burning, slowly turning brown, and going into holes; last of all the fire ran up the pink embroidery cotton of her apron strings and they waived up in the air as they use to wave on Birdie, and then they burned up.

“Tinkle. Tinkle. Tinkle,” said the musical box.

Marchpane smiled.

DISCUSSION:

This is the chapter I dreaded. I hate to think of sweet Birdie coming to this fate. The dolls’ house won’t be the same without her presence. She willingly gave her life for little Apple, but she seemed at peace to me when she made the jump between Apple and the candle. And the evil Marchpane just sits there and smiles enjoying the whole thing. (I kind of wish a spark or two had landed on her dress and made some big nasty holes.) Marchpane is definitely toying with the Plantaganets and Tottie. Perhaps she wants to get rid of them one at a time. Birdie is now gone. Who is next? Will Emily now snap out of the spell Marchpane is holding over her?
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Emily is basically a good girl. She must begin to see how evil Marchpane is.
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I did not care for this chapter. I am not sure I like the deaths in these doll books, but then perhaps death was a more widely accepted part of life when this book was written. I don't know--but I was very upset over Birdie!

Birdie is finally getting some thoughts together in her head--she refuses to say that Apple is Marchpane's little boy, for one--and is finally feeling stronger. She willingly admits that she does not care at all what Marchpane does to her, as long as Apple is okay. How sad that as she did appear to be a stronger doll, her appearance was not tidy - like all of her energy went into Apple and she was gearing herself for the ultimate sacrifice.

Darner sensed bad things coming and warned the family of danger--and danger there was! I can hardly believe Marchpane was so terribly evil and that she meant and intended for the danger to Apple--but the facts are the facts. Birdie, so bravely, so intent on protecting Apple, surged forward to....well, I can not say it. But her sacrifice was terrible.
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I must confess, I have read and re-read the entire book six or so times through. It is hard
not to keep on reading once you've picked it up, don't you think?

I'm not sure Godden wrote this as an allegory or even a cautionary tale, but there remain elements of allegory throughout the story. And I wonder how, not "if", mind you, WWII affected the story. I recall reading "An Episode of Sparrows" as a young person and wondering about the darkness in the story. There is certainly darkness in this book, from Mr. P's gloomy past and outlook to Marchpane's evil.

When I consider the totality of Birdie's sacrifice, I can't help but first thinking of the Old Testament recounting of Moses. After his encounter with the Divine, his face was radiant, though Moses was unaware of it. "How bright she looks....like someone standing near a candle". "Like a doll in a lit shop window". "Like a doll on a Christmas tree". Birdie was anointed for this sacrifice early on in the book, when, through Charlotte, she took off her old nature (the feathers) and became warmer, pinker and an altogether different creature. She still retained her personality, but her purpose became grander than that of an amusing carnival doll. "There's something brave about this little doll". Apparently, as Birdie's physical body (so to speak) became weaker, "She looks as though she had grown lighter...And how untidy she is", her resolve grows firmer. This puts me in mind of Paul's letter to the Corinthians. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness". Though poor Birdie still had her weak and confusing thoughts, she acted in the moment of her greatness clarity, sacrificing herself for her little child.

Well, again I've pondered this a great deal more than probably necessary.
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I don't think you've pondered too much---that is exactly what a good book is supposed to do! I really appreciate your comments, too, as you make me see things in the book I hadn't noticed!
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I thought Birdie's sacrifice and her plight in the final chapters was a beautiful and superior thing. She had so very much more substance than that awful Marchpane making her a true thing of beauty!
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This was a very hard to read chapter. Poor Birdie. Everyone thought she was all fluffy-headed, yet it is she that acts out of love to protect her child by sacrificing herself. It made me cry.
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I have been thinking about her sacrifice. It seems like the author used Birdie to make a point--that Marchpane truly is evil. There is no redemption for her. Will there be by the end? Will there be punishment for Marchpane?
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Marchpane is an evil doll! Reading of her just sitting there with that smile and wondering what she may be thinking of next.

You just have to love Birdie even if she seems light headed, but she is brave in protecting Apple.

I know I am getting ahead, but Marchpane deserves that dome to keep all her evil inside it.
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I don't know--it's what Marchpane wants, but is it going to be a punishment in the end? I'll keep the rest of my comments for the last chapter, lol! _____________________________

First off I joined this group late so I haven't read the book, but was this book intended for adults or for kids? If it was for kids, maybe it is there for a teaching tool. Hold on, let me finish. I remember going to see the Land before Time movie with my small son. I had no idea that the mother dinosaur of the main character died, so I was unprepared; but you should have seen my son when he figured out that she didn't make it. Lip quivering, almost tears and all, but it let us talk about death in a way that I don't think we could have due to his age. I do think it helped him prepare for loss later in life. Maybe the story has it for a reason like that.
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It is for kids--and yes, now that you say that, I can see it. Birdie's sacrifice for her child could open several avenues of discussion with children!
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I'm following you on this thought process, and I believe you are right. Plus you brought up the memory of that movie that I also had when my girls where little. I cried my eyes out when that happened. My poor girls with their lips aquivering looked towards me for answers, and I was crying a river.

I don't think these devastating parts in children’s stories or books do a bit of good in preparing them for death. If they haven’t come to associate it yet with people they love, then I always thought this was a rude wake up call in their innocence. Take Bambi for instance, how I cried (and still do) through that one at an innocent age. Didn't help prepare me one iota for death of friends and loved ones . And the thing is my spirituality and Faith is strong on what happens afterwards, but still, there it is.
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See, I don't know that it helps either. Death of actual pets maybe, but movies like Bambi just make you scared that your beloved Mommy and Daddy are going to die; and that feeling, when you are little, isn't rational. It is the stuff of nightmares. I hated, and still to this day hate "animal" movies (okay, maybe hate is a strong word, but my whole body reacts very negatively to them). There is always such a random cruelty in the things they suffer and while that may be like life, I don't really want my movies to completely imitate that. I kind of like the fact that movies, TV shows, books, come full circle in about an hour and half. There is always meaning to the things that happen to the protagonists. They grow, learn or suffer because of what they do and it makes some kind of sense. I know life isn't like that always, but it allows me to "live" through a problem: go through it, feel it, solve it and make it out of the other side unscathed. Catharsis. And I don't find anything cathartic in animals suffering and dying unless it is the cleansing of my tear ducts through the profusion of tears I cry.
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Children didn't need a book to teach them about death. They were living with it all the time because of their lack of modern medicine. Moms died having children, men died at war, children died of horrible childhood diseases. I think it might be more accurate to assume that it is included because it is real. Without a death, the story would not seem truthful. What it might be teaching is that there is a reason for death and perhaps even a rightness in it. "Of course Birdie would die to protect Apple, just like your dad went to war and could die to protect you."
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The book, I'm sure, was intended for a young audience. And, in my opinion, that "young" audience probably encompassed children a lot older than we consider "children" today. It was written right after WWII, 1947, so even these young persons would be familiar with sorrow, fear and someone as viciously evil as Marchpane, i.e. Adolph Hitler. In the first chapter of the book, Godden discusses the importance of being "right-minded" and the danger faced by dolls, which cannot choose but can only be chosen. That sure sounds to me as if she was referencing the millions who died without choice or voice by people refusing to truly see and act. Again, I don't think it was an allegory, but the war had to have an influence.

Has anyone read a biography of Rumer Godden? I believe she converted to Roman Catholicism, from what I don't know, C of E? That impacted some of her writings for adults. Could it have informed this book also?
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I haven't read anything about her biography or any of her adult books, but I have read many of her children's books and they all have kind of weirdness to them that I cannot quite pinpoint to describe. I like it myself, but I have passed her books on to others who have NOT liked this quality. I think there is a kind of bleakness in them, but I can't quite tell you why I think that or where it comes in.
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I agree, but I'm not sure after living 54 years that it's weirdness or bleakness, but reality. Despite our efforts to make life, and especially childhood, a dreamy pleasantness, sorrow and, indeed, horror, intrude at times. I suppose that should make the cheerful times all the sweeter. But who signs up for the nightmare to season the dream?
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Being over a half century old I read a lot of books that my mom read when she was a child and a lot of library books too. Many of these books introduced death to young readers. Before antibiotics and immunizations were readily available in this country many children died, too. I think today people shield their young children from life's darker side. I'm not sure if this is the best idea because it is easier to deal with the subject in a book or a movie than to wait til a child loses a beloved Grandparent, friend or neighbor.
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This may be true for some children, but for some, they take the death to heart and live through the fear of it a hundred times a day for weeks, months.
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Another thing to think about is that at the time this book was written many babies were still born at home, especially in rural areas, and most old people lived with their families and died at home. Birth and death were not mysteries that happened in a remote location and were hidden from children. They were part of everyday life.
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And yet, in this present age, children are much more acquainted with killing and death. Still, I'm not sure with the media overload of news, graphic films and violent video games that any of us can grasp those realities of birth and death as part of the natural cycle. They are "mysteries", but should not be hidden mysteries. So I’m glad for the peaceful play of dollies and friends.
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I am not reading the book now, but I read it long ago. When I was around 10, my Mom would take us to the library every two weeks for an hour and I would grab all the books I could from the book section -- sometimes as many as 17 if the weather was bad. I would read in class after my class work was done or in bed at night everything I could get my hands on in the youth section.

One of my favorites was "Miss Happiness and Miss Flower" by Rumer Godden because she told how to build a Japanese Doll house. So I had to read The Dolls House, too. Well after all this digression, early children's books were designed to teach morals and never quailed at handling death. I remember crying my eyes out over Old Yeller and Beth in Little Women! I even cried over Hitty getting lost and neglected. Funny, earlier this century children were much more shielded from the facts of birth than the facts of death!
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This discussion over Chapter 20 is very interesting. I, for one, did not keep my daughter shielded from a death as I felt it was part of life. Even the death of our beloved little dog, Gus, was "handled" by the both of us. We went together to the vet on that fateful last day to have him put down. He was a much loved member of our little family. We picked him up at the pound. We wanted a small dog, and there was this little Heinz 57 dog just sitting quietly looking at us as we walked through the pens, and he won our hearts. Don't ask me where we got the name Gus, but that is what we named him, and we had many wonderful years with him. Anyway, I digress. Debbie and I went through that terrible time together and through several deaths in the family. I appreciate everyone's feelings about whether to shield a child from death or not, but this was the way I chose to do it and I'm glad I did. Debbie is, too.

The thing I don’t like about this chapter is the evilness of Marchpane. I can picture her sitting there "willing" harm to come to Apple. I wonder if Marchpane knew Birdie would come into the room (or did she "will" Birdie in)? Did she actually mean to "kill" Apple? Perhaps Birdie’s demise was the frosting on the cake for Marchpane. She is now rid of a pesky Plantaganet that would not stay out of her bedroom or the sitting room. Marchpane obviously did not care that Birdie was gone as she sits there and smiles when all is over.

That's the creepiest part of it all to me - that she is so lacking in compassion that she feels happy that this terrible thing happened to Birdie.
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I think Marchpane got what she wanted and that was to get rid of Birdie. She knew Birdie would be there for Apple. Then she moved on to her dream of the Museum, but I think Marchpane lost out on the true thing that is important, and that is love of each other. I just finished the book.
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Yes, I think she wants to be rid of all of the Plantaganets, and especially Tottie. Maybe in her evil mind, she is leaving Tottie for last so she can enjoy her suffering. I hadn't thought of that before.

I have been good about not reading ahead, but I did see that picture of Marchpane under a dome so have somewhat of an idea as to what will happen!!
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No I don't think Marchpane wanted to get rid of all of them -- just Birdie. She knew how much all loved Birdie and she was jealous. Maybe that is another thing to teach kids something about jealousy.
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It's probably true that she was jealous of Birdie because everyone loved her, but I also think she wanted the house to herself. Marchpane said to Mr. Plantaganet in an earlier chapter that "It is mine (the dolls' house). Mine, and really I can't live in it with all these people bumping and rustling and having silly ideas that it is theirs. I must tell Emily and Charlotte." She has total contempt for Mr. Plantaganet, and, of course, Tottie. Apple was chosen by Marchpane as the first to have an accident, but it didn't work out that way. However, in Marchpane's eyes it probably worked out better than she had planned because Birdie was bothersome to Marchpane. Now she is gone.