35 pages • 1 hour read
Abby HanlonDory Fantasmagory
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Monsters
Monsters appear throughout Dory Fantasmagory and take many forms. The illustrations show the monsters from Dory’s point of view, superimposing them on scenes of reality. Dory points out monsters that lurk in silly or shadowy parts of her house like the ketchup bottle or the broken drawer. These monsters represent Dory’s tendency to narrativize the world around her and construct stories to explain scary, silly, or broken things. She also uses the monsters as an excuse to connect with her siblings, sometimes overstepping their boundaries and barging in on them while changing or using the bathroom. Dory wants to fit in or seem like a worthy sister, and she often leverages her fabled stories to get their attention or appear interesting.
Dory also describes her imaginary friend, Mary as a monster, portraying her with pointy horns, sharp teeth, and stripes. Despite Mary’s appearance, Dory isn’t scared of Mary at all; in fact, Dory often feels brave and empowered compared to Mary, who tends to hide under the bed. Dory isn’t particularly afraid of the other monsters either. Dory often uses the monsters to feel brave and empowered, commenting on how all the monsters are terrified of Mrs. Gobble Gracker but she herself is brave enough to go into battle. Dory doesn’t completely understand that if she isn’t afraid of the monsters, in all likelihood, her siblings won’t be afraid of them either. She hopes that she will be able to impress her siblings with her bravery by warning them about the monsters.
Baby Cherry
Baby Cherry is Violet’s baby doll and a major source of jealousy and angst for Dory. Violet loves playing with Cherry, roping Luke in to play house with her. She can frequently be seen in the illustrations cradling Cherry or carrying her around, even when doing other activities. Dory fixates on Cherry when Violet and Luke play house and cast Cherry as the baby instead of Dory. Cherry is everything that Dory isn’t. She is quiet, cute, and a perfect pawn in a game where somebody else is inventing the rules. No matter how much she wants to be included, Dory can’t seem to behave like baby Cherry or regulate her behavior in any way.
Later in the story, Dory drags Cherry into her imaginative game with Mrs. Gobble Gracker. She constructs a game where Cherry’s behavior as a superior baby makes her vulnerable to Mrs. Gobble Gracker. Dory both justifies her behavior and finds an opportunity to dispose of Cherry, in an ill-fated attempt to clear the way for more interaction with her siblings. The plan backfires and Dory must deconstruct her game entirely. Even if she never has to come clean to her sister, she owns up to herself that she angrily threw baby Cherry out the front door while pretending that Mrs. Gobble Gracker did it. Dory does manage to show some empathy toward Violet, understanding that she is genuinely upset when she can’t find her doll. Dory feels guilty about losing Cherry and works hard to find her, taking a small step toward a kind of maturity by acknowledging how she affects those around her.
Bouncy Ball
Toward the end of the story, while searching for baby Cherry, Dory finds a bouncy ball that Violet lost some time in the past. Dory’s interaction with the bouncy ball marks a departure from her earlier behavior. Instead of overwhelming her siblings with an intrusive new game or imposing pretend rules on them, Dory leaves the ball as a gift for Violet under her pillow. After the experience of looking for Cherry helped Dory feel more empathy for Violet, Dory can imagine more clearly how to communicate with Violet in a way she would appreciate. Dory gives Violet space to play with the ball on her own terms. Ultimately, Dory finds a more organic way to make an overture toward her siblings when she rescues the ball from the toilet.
Dory’s siblings always have the choice to either play with her or with a toy of their choosing. When they play with baby Cherry, the comparison to Dory emphasizes the differences between Dory and the doll. The doll is quiet and docile, while Dory is energetic and imaginative. The bouncy ball yields a kind of play that suits Dory much more. It bounces chaotically around the house and contains minimal implied narrative, leading the kids to invent more imaginative stories around it.
