Book Description

This thesis describes how doll houses are more than just objects of play. This paper will study twentieth-century dollhouses and the symbolic meaning of the gendered homes they were made to represent. This thesis is centered on the object of the dollhouse itself and what (or who) is represented by it or in it. The doll house was normalized into the "ideal" American home and constructed by manufacturers and collectors to define gender roles. This paper will give a brief history of the origin of the doll house to help explain how and why these objects represent more than just toys of play. This paper will dissect the ways in which dollhouses are more than just miniature objects; they also demonstrate how young boys and girls were taught societal expectations and roles from adults who controlled the play. The cultural context of this paper will also analyze twentieth-century homes and their association to doll houses. As such, each structure and decoration within a twentieth-century home has a correlation to dollhouses and carries similar domestic responsibilities and emotional baggage. By studying different feminist theories, dollhouses can further be examined as symbolic meanings of gender and domesticity. Nonetheless, the ideal American home translates to the miniature twentieth-century dollhouse.