51 pages • 1 hour read
Ann M. Martin, Laura GodwinThe Doll People
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Hello, Funcrafts”
Uncle Doll says that he and Annabelle can go searching for Sarah on the following night; Bobby announces that he is coming with them. Mama, Papa, and Nanny are frightened, but Uncle Doll persuades them to agree. On the next day, a large present for Nora’s birthday gets delivered, but otherwise, the day is uneventful. When the Palmers have finally gone to sleep for the night, Annabelle looks down from the dollhouse and sees The Captain at the foot of Kate’s bed. She thinks the cat is sleeping, however, and so she, Uncle Doll, and Bobby navigate the stool to the floor as quietly as they can. They search the rooms on the upper floor, softly calling Sarah’s name and listening for a response. In the sitting room, they finally hear a reply. From a large box, they hear voices calling for help: None of the voices belong to Auntie Sarah, however.
The people inside the box explain that they are the Funcraft family: Mom, Dad, Tiffany, Bailey, and Baby Brittany. Annabelle reads the side of the box and realizes that the Funcrafts are another doll family, complete with their own dollhouse. She guesses that they have been purchased for Nora’s birthday. She comments on the similarities between the two families: Each has a mother, a father, an older daughter, a younger brother, and a baby. She wonders if she and Tiffany look similar because she imagines that “[a]ll dollhouse dolls must look pretty much the same” (54). She feels bad for the Funcrafts because she knows that Nora will not be a careful and gentle owner like Kate is. The clock chimes four o’clock, and Uncle Doll announces that it is time to head back to their own dollhouse. Before she leaves, Annabelle promises Tiffany that as soon as the Funcrafts’ dollhouse is set up, the Doll family will come for a visit.
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Funcrafts Come Visiting”
In the morning, Annabelle, Bobby, and Uncle Doll share their news about the Funcrafts with the rest of the family. When Annabelle reveals that she promised the Funcrafts a visit, Papa admits that he would like to meet some new dolls, and Mama suggests that they bring the Funcrafts a housewarming present. The family decides to make a bouquet of paper flowers, and by the morning after Nora’s birthday, the bouquet is finished. That night, before the Dolls have a chance to leave their dollhouse to visit the Funcrafts, the Funcrafts surprise them with a visit of their own. Annabelle is very surprised to see that the Funcrafts look nothing like the Doll family: They are entirely made of plastic and have cartoonishly skinny arms and legs. Tiffany, a doll about Annabelle’s age, steps forward and introduces herself. Mama and Papa invite the Funcrafts inside. It is clear that the Funcrafts are bemused by the old-fashioned dollhouse: When Annabelle takes Tiffany into the kitchen to talk privately, Tiffany asks where their microwave is and has no idea what the potato masher and orange squeezer are for.
Mom Funcraft surprises the Dolls by sliding down their banister. Dad Funcraft proudly proclaims her “an expert” at this activity (67). Mama and Papa Doll anxiously look to see if the noise the Funcrafts are making has woken Kate, but she is still asleep. The Funcrafts say that if Kate wakes up, they will simply hide; Mama and Papa are unimpressed with this idea. The Funcrafts ask where the Dolls’ barbecue is and then explain about barbecues and picnics. Mama and Papa do not know what to make of this information, but they reluctantly agree when the Funcrafts suggest that the Dolls come to their house for a barbecue on the following night. After the Funcrafts depart for home, Nanny, Papa, and Mama debate whether their new neighbors will turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing. Mama decides that it is important to be neighborly and that “[t]here’s nothing wrong with being different” (72). Annabelle has no such qualms about the Funcrafts: She likes them and is excited about visiting their house.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Annabelle Downstairs”
The next day, Nora bursts into Kate’s room with her bucket of farm animals. Annabelle stands perfectly still, filled with disgust. She is surprised when Nora deposits Tiffany next to her. Then, Nora adds Mom Funcraft and Bailey. She places a group of farm animals on the other side of the room. Nora announces that Annabelle will ride the horse to demonstrate how to play Rancher Family. After galloping Annabelle around for a moment, she tosses Annabelle aside and puts Tiffany on the horse. She puts Mom Funcraft and Bailey astride two cows. Nora moves the toy animals around so quickly that Mom Funcraft falls onto the sofa and Bailey falls into the kitchen sink. Annabelle feels terrible for them—but when Nora leaves the room for a moment, the Funcrafts all agree that Rancher Family is a wonderful, fun game. Nora returns and tosses Dad Funcraft and Baby Britney on the dollhouse floor.
Kate comes in and catches Nora. The two argue angrily about whether Nora can play with Kate’s dollhouse. Nora grabs Annabelle and runs downstairs with her. She throws Annabelle onto something soft and red behind a chair. The two human girls are called in to dinner. Afterward, the family goes upstairs to bed, and Annabelle realizes that she is unlikely to be found for some time. She is horrified when she realizes that she is resting on one of The Captain’s beds. It is filled with chewed toys, and she worries that he will chew her. When she sees The Captain approaching, she decides that Auntie Sarah would take the risk of moving, so she runs under the chair. The Captain tries to get to her. She takes off running again and runs into Mrs. Palmer’s foot. Mrs. Palmer gasps in surprise, and Annabelle enters Doll State
Chapter 7 Summary: “Doll State”
Mrs. Palmer leaves Annabelle on a table. She gives Annabelle several long, searching looks before going back upstairs. Annabelle is completely paralyzed, and she passes the time imagining what will happen next: In the morning, she will be returned to the dollhouse, and her family will find out that she is in Doll State yet again. She thinks about her upcoming birthday—the anniversary of the day the dollmaker finished her. She recalls that on the day she was finished, another doll explained the Doll Code of Honor to her. The doll asked Annabelle to take an oath to uphold it. If Annabelle refused the oath, the other doll explained, then she would turn into an ordinary doll. Annabelle took the oath.
Annabelle thinks about Auntie Sarah’s journal. She wonders if Sarah ever left the Palmers’ house and explored Outdoors. She has never heard of dolls going Outdoors on their own, but she thinks that there is something about her aunt that her family are still keeping secret. She wonders if they are afraid that Sarah went Outdoors and is lost forever. It makes her angry that her family is too afraid to look for Sarah. Even if it turns out that Sarah is broken or in Permanent Doll State, Annabelle feels that she would rather know the truth than go on wondering. She decides to ask Tiffany to help her look for Sarah.
Chapters 4-7 Analysis
Chapters 4-7 introduce the Funcraft family and establish how different they are from the Doll family, providing a foil. The Doll family members’ reactions to the new neighbors increasingly characterize the Dolls and reinforce Annabelle’s growing understanding of The Importance of Friendship. From the moment the Funcrafts are introduced, it is clear that they do not operate according to the same principles that guide the Doll family. The Funcrafts shout to be let out of their box, something that the Dolls would never do. The Dolls are strictly bound to the Doll Code in a way that the Funcrafts are seemingly not. Because of the differences between the two families, Mama and Papa’s interest in associating with the Funcrafts waxes and wanes. Seeing the value in meeting the new dolls and believing in the importance of neighborliness, they initially agree to a visit, but when they actually meet the Funcrafts, Mom Funcraft’s enthusiastic slide down the banister and other raucous behavior gives Mama and Papa pause. Still, they agree to another visit, and their discussion of the new neighbors makes it clear to Annabelle that they do not believe that the Funcrafts are bad people or wrong for being different. This helps to support the story’s theme of Respecting People’s Differences.
The introduction of the Funcrafts also brings Tiffany into Annabelle’s life. The two girls are, in this section of the story, just getting to know one another, but, already, Annabelle worries about Tiffany’s happiness and considers her an ally. Before meeting Tiffany, she imagines that the two of them will look just alike. This is partially due to her inexperience with the world outside of her own dollhouse, but it also demonstrates the wishful thinking of a little girl who badly needs a friend. This need for intimacy is shown as soon as the Funcrafts come over when Annabelle whisks Tiffany off to the kitchen so that they can talk privately. Annabelle also displays empathy for Tiffany: When Nora brings the Funcrafts to the Dolls’ house to play Rancher Family, Annabelle feels terrible for them and particularly worries that she should have warned Tiffany about this game ahead of time to prepare her: “I hope Tiffany won’t be mad at me,” she thinks (76). Her concern for Tiffany—a girl she has only just met—is characteristic of Annabelle’s kind nature, but it also makes clear how desperately Annabelle needs a doll friend her own age.
The differences between the Dolls and the Funcrafts are paralleled by the differences between Kate and Nora. In the previous section of the story, Kate is shown playing carefully and conventionally with her dollhouse. By contrast, Nora is shown playing the chaotic Rancher Family game with them. The Funcrafts are clearly the ideal family of dolls for Nora because they are, like Nora, rambunctious, fun-loving, and not overly concerned about established rules and traditions. In Chapter 6, when Nora reappears in Kate’s room with her bucket of animals and her new dolls, Annabelle is shocked to find out that the Funcrafts enjoy Racher Family. This makes clear that there is nothing intrinsically terrible about Rancher Family—it, like the Funcrafts, is different but not wrong. The real problem with the game is that it forces Annabelle to be someone she is not—it does not show respect for who she really is.
The helplessness that Annabelle often feels is amplified in the scene where Nora snatches her up and runs away with her, carrying her against her will downstairs and then flinging her behind a chair. This begins a sequence that functions as a symbolic review of Annabelle’s situation in life. Annabelle finds herself in danger, but she has to weigh the consequences of violating Doll Code against the consequences of trying to save herself from The Captain. This mimics the way that, on a larger scale, she is so often forced to choose between her own desires and the rules that dolls must live by. It is significant that she thinks of Auntie Sarah in the moment when she makes the choice to save herself: Sarah inspires her to believe in her own evaluation of the situation and do what she believes is necessary, regardless of the rules and her family’s veneration of them. This shows how important Sarah’s role modeling is as Annabelle learns to believe in Following One’s Own Moral Compass. It also foreshadows Annabelle’s eventual decision to resume the search for Sarah. That Annabelle ends up locked in Doll State for 24 hours afterward heightens the narrative’s suspense by illustrating what Annabelle is risking by resuming her quest.
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