The Characters
The Dollmaker is a woman’s story, expressing a feminist outlook in the days before feminism, with Gertie as the prototypical feminist heroine. Her heroic credentials are established in dramatic fashion in the very first chapter, where, riding her prancing mule, Gertie waylays a military car to take her choking baby to a doctor. The officer protests and threatens to draw his revolver, but he faints away when Gertie draws her knife and performs a little surgery on Amos’s throat, letting out the pus. Gertie continues to show the same indomitable spirit throughout the novel, yet she is also a victim in a man’s world, particularly of the notions that a wife must quietly obey and must sacrifice her dreams for her husband’s.
Using a limited omniscient point of view, Harriette Arnow tells the story from Gertie’s perspective. Drawn into this perspective, the reader is encouraged to identify with Gertie and to share her opinions. The point of view allows a close study of Gertie and gives the novel a powerful emotional unity, but it might also be the novel’s main flaw. Gertie and her observations dominate the story: The cards seem stacked against Clovis, Detroit, the military-industrial complex, and established religion.
Clovis is depicted as Gertie’s foil, a well-meaning but basically no-account man: He cannot do anything right. Mechanically inclined rather than a farmer, he lets Gertie and the children struggle with the farm work in Kentucky while he occupies himself with what Gertie calls “tinkering.” She cannot tell him about the money she has saved, or he would spend it on his truck. On top of this, he is a petty complainer, complaining about the food that she puts on the table and about almost everything else that she does, such as working too hard. It is not surprising that a man so insensitive to his wife’s needs should become a vengeful killer, hardly more than an extension of the military-industrial complex.
The reader may question the fairness of Arnow’s characterization of Clovis, and in this connection Gertie’s remark about his “tinkering” is significant: It reveals a basic split between Gertie’s image of Clovis and Clovis’s image of himself. She never recognizes that Clovis’s “tinkering” is as important to him as her “whittling” is to her, or that he deferred his dream for years while she kept him tied down on the farm; instead, she merely belittles him. No wonder these two, despite fifteen years of marriage and five children, communicate with each other so poorly. Although Arnow seems unaware of any failings on her heroine’s part, Gertie’s own insensitivity and complaining tend to draw her perspective in the novel into question. Gertie begins, at times, to sound a bit like her carping mother (Gertie’s mother, a truly vicious character, and the obnoxious Mr. Daly of Detroit are extreme representatives, respectively, of the Protestant and Catholic religions).
The Nevels children reflect, to a great extent, the split between their parents. Taking after their father, Clytie and Enoch adapt to Detroit ways; despite this, they are good children. Eventually their adaptation proves beneficial in selling the dolls about the streets (Gertie tries hawking the dolls once but immediately gives up in embarrassment), and they help ease their mother into Detroit life. Reuben and Cassie take after their mother, even symbolically representing different sides of her. The stubbornly resistant Reuben, who returns to Kentucky, represents the part of Gertie that will not stop dreaming of down home. Cassie, with her folkloric imagination, represents Gertie’s artistic side. When Gertie denies Callie Lou to Cassie, Gertie is also denying her own deepest self,...
(This entire section contains 722 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
with consequences symbolized by Cassie’s death.
After Gertie has experienced her suffering, she begins to understand more about the suffering of her neighbors in Detroit: Sophronie, who must leave her children and work a night shift in a factory; the kindhearted Victor, whose young wife leaves him; Joe, the friendly vegetable man, who did not come to America to like it; Joe’s nephew, with his roving eye for pretty girls and cars; Mrs. Daly, mother of ten, crying at her ironing board. These are only a few of the many people who help Gertie see the vision of the crucified Christ in Detroit.
Characters Discussed
Gertie Nevels
Gertie Nevels, the dollmaker, a wood-carver and a strong, resilient woman from the mountains of Kentucky. Gertie stashes any extra money she has in the hem of her coat, and with these savings she dreams of buying a farm. When her husband, Clovis, finds work in Detroit and sends for the family, she tries to buy a farm, but the purchase is prevented by her mother, who believes that Gertie’s place is with her husband. Her mountain nature is at odds with the city, but her resourcefulness helps pay the bills when Clovis is laid off and later, after Clovis is forced to hide from the police after killing a man in a labor dispute. With Clovis’ help, she mass-produces wooden toys and other wood carvings, which her children hawk on the street. When her daughter Cassie is killed by a train, Gertie uses her savings to bury the child. Her final surrender occurs when a large order for wooden toys arrives. Unable to buy wood, she splits the large block of cherry wood brought from Kentucky on which she had been carving a bust of Christ.
Clovis Nevels
Clovis Nevels, Gertie’s husband, possibly as gifted with machines as Gertie is with wood. Clovis, although well intentioned, does not provide well for his family. His unhappiness with the mountain life leads him to Detroit, where he finds work, then sends for his family. Through his extravagance, the family goes deeply into debt, and when he is laid off, the burden of providing for the family shifts to Gertie’s shoulders. During a labor dispute, Clovis is beaten by a thug, whom he later kills. Because he is forced to hide from the police and therefore is unable to find work, his ability to provide for the family is further damaged.
Clytie Nevels
Clytie Nevels, their fourteen-year-old daughter, who quickly adapts to Detroit. In doing so, she helps Gertie adjust to the city. Along with her brother Enoch, she sells her mother’s carvings on the street, thus ensuring the family’s survival.
Enoch Nevels
Enoch Nevels, the Nevelses’ nine-year-old son, who, along with Clytie, adjusts to the city environment.
Reuben Nevels
Reuben Nevels, the Nevelses’ twelve-year-old son, who is not able to adjust to Detroit. He runs away from home and goes back to Kentucky to live with his grandparents.
Cassie Nevels
Cassie Nevels, the Nevelses’ five-year-old daughter. The dreamer of the family, she retreats from the horrors of city schools into her own world, inhabited by a make-believe friend, Callie Lou. Her make-believe leads her to the train yard, where she is run over by a train and bleeds to death.
Amos Nevels
Amos Nevels, the Nevelses’ three-year-old son. When he cannot breathe because of diphtheria, Gertie performs an emergency tracheotomy with her whittling knife and a cane branch, saving his life.
Granma Kendrick
Granma Kendrick, Gertie’s mother, a hypochondriac. A deeply religious woman, she constantly whines about the burdens of her life. She gives Gertie the money from Henley’s insurance policy but spends it all herself when Gertie tries to use it to buy a farm.
Henley Kendrick
Henley Kendrick, Gertie’s brother, who is killed in the war.
Victor
Victor, a generous Polish American neighbor who helps the Nevelses adjust to their new life in Detroit.
Max
Max, Victor’s young wife, who leaves him for another man.
Sophronie
Sophronie, another congenial Detroit neighbor and a fellow Southerner. She is forced to leave her children to work the graveyard shift in the factory.
Whit
Whit, Sophronie’s husband, also from the South.
Joe
Joe, an immigrant from Sicily who sells vegetables and gives Gertie much-needed credit.
Joe’s nephew
Joe’s nephew, an illegal immigrant from Sicily who attacks Clovis during a labor fight. He is later hunted down and killed by Clovis with Gertie’s whittling knife.
Mr. Daly
Mr. Daly, an insufferable Detroit neighbor.
Mrs. Daly
Mrs. Daly, the mother of ten children. A patient, frazzled woman who suffers miserably at the hands of her husband.
Characters
A notable feature of Arnow's fiction is the resilience of her female characters, with Gertie Nevels, the protagonist of The Dollmaker, standing out as the most remarkable. Through Gertie's personality and experiences, Arnow explores her central themes and illustrates her social critique. Gertie excels at farm work, surpassing any man she knows, and possesses a courage and determination that match her physical strength. Despite this, she remains a woman of sensitivity and intuitive understanding. Additionally, she is a skilled woodcarver, adept at crafting both axe handles and whimsical dolls. At the novel's outset, Gertie is in her prime and on the verge of fulfilling her long-held dream of purchasing the farm she has leased for years. However, upon relocating from her native Kentucky to the bustling city of Detroit, she becomes disoriented, and her life begins a downward spiral. The near-total destruction of Gertie's optimism and independence, along with the creative expression symbolized by her woodcarving, reflects the gradual erosion of hill culture due to migration. This also raises the question of whether the human spirit can endure in a voracious industrial society.
The shift from a rural to an urban industrial environment significantly impacts the lives of her family members as well. Gertie's husband, Clovis, initially finds city life exciting and adapts quickly to Detroit, encouraging her to do the same. However, he eventually succumbs to urban violence and ends up killing a man over union politics. Two of their children, Clytie and Enoch, are eager to abandon their hill roots and soon become embarrassed by their mother's Kentucky ways. In contrast, their other children, Reuben and Cassie, strive to resist assimilation. Nevertheless, Gertie ultimately loses them both. Reuben returns to his cherished Kentucky, while Cassie, a beautifully depicted character who embodies the innocence and wonder of childhood, tragically dies in a train accident.
