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Dolls and Prawns: The Youngest Doll by Rosario Ferré Through a Feminist Lens 

📝Authors: Sheena Gonzales, Alfred Santiago, Andrei Taberdo

Figure 1. Book cover of The Youngest Doll Figure 2. Rosario Ferré

They smile with porcelain faces, sit still in perfect silence, and never speak back. Are they dolls, or are they women? In Rosario Ferré’s short story The Youngest Doll, this unsettling question lies at the heart of a tale where women are shaped by and trapped within the expectations of a patriarchal society. Set in Puerto Rico, the narrative follows an aging aunt who creates handcrafted dolls for her nieces, with the final doll reflecting the eerie fate of the youngest niece after marriage. 

“She always bathed her nieces before presenting them with their dolls.”

This routine highlights how the aunt teaches her nieces to value cleanliness and beauty which are qualities traditionally linked to femininity. The act of giving them dolls after bathing them reinforces the idea that a woman’s worth lies in her appearance and behavior, preparing them for a life of passivity and perfection. It reflects a society where girls are expected to grow into ornamental figures, admired but not heard.

Figure 3. A woman in Puerto Rico staring outside

“The youngest doll remained forever on the veranda, staring out at the river, her porcelain eyes eternally open.”

Here the doll symbolizes the woman’s fate; motionless, silenced, and trapped in a beautiful but powerless form. The youngest niece, now a wife, becomes a living doll, embodying how society reduces women to static roles within the home. Her eternal stillness reflects the long-standing gender norm that women should be quiet and submissive, always watching, never acting.

Figure 4. A river prawn

"...but I just wanted you to come and see the prawn that has been paying for your education these twenty years."

Here it shows how the aunt’s condition was taken advantage of by the doctor for his profit, reflecting how women’s pain are exploited. The mention of the doll devoured by ants in the text also signifies how the youngest niece was oppressed until nothing was left of her. It symbolizes how women are robbed of living their lives to the fullest.

Figure 5. A doll figurine

However, women still tries to protect one another and fight the patriarchy. The aunt transformed and combined her pain with her talent to take care of her nieces and make dolls. The dolls were used as a subtle resistance to patriarchy. The dolls given at marriage being different to the others shows defiance against the societal image of women. Moreover, submerging the dolls’ eyes in the stream illustrates how the aunt warns her nieces to watch out for oppressors. 

Figure 6. A trophy in a dark room

“Each day, he made her sit out on the balcony so that the passersby would be sure to see that he had married into high society.”

This line reveals how the youngest niece is reduced to a decorative object, paraded by her husband to elevate himself. Instead of being treated as a partner or an individual, she becomes a status symbol, dehumanized and displayed like a trophy. It emphasizes how the patriarchal society values women not for who they are but for how they can serve men's reputations and ambitions.

Figure 7. A gold pocket watch

“One day he pried out the doll’s eyes with the tip of his scalpel and pawned them for a fancy gold pocket watch with a long embossed chain.”

This disturbing image shows how men extract value from women’s bodies for personal gain. The eyes, symbols of awareness and autonomy, are removed and exchanged for material wealth, suggesting how women's insight and individuality are discarded for patriarchal benefit. The callousness of this act reflects how society often enables and ignores the exploitation of women.

Figure 8. Appreciation for all women

The Youngest doll is a masterpiece showing the sad reality of women in a patriarchal society. Women are subjected to oppressions and used by men to elevate themselves. Similar to a doll, they are controlled, resulting to loss of freedom and individuality. Just like the bite of a prawn, men are quick to oppress women. However, women are also shown trying to escape these oppressions.

The end of patriarchy is long overdue. Women are capable and should be loved and respected. It’s time for everyone, no matter their gender, to live their lives to the fullest.

📚 Read the whole text here: The Youngest Doll

References:

Ellis, M. (2019). Puerto Rico: The bite of a prawn in a patriarchal society. Marshall Digital Scholar. https://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1220&context=colaconf#:~:text=Ferr%C3%A9%20takes%20this%20common%20object,form%20of%20the%20prawn%27s%20bite

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The Youngest Doll (Latin American Women Writers) [Illustration]. (n.d.). Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312915.The_Youngest_Doll

Weber, B. (2016, February 22). Rosario Ferré, Writer Who Examined Puerto Rican Identity, Dies at 77 [Photograph]. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/books/rosario-ferre-writer-who-examined-puerto-rican-identity-dies-at-77.html

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