Toys and dolls bring people of all ages countless hours of joy, whether it’s a child’s favorite set of wood blocks or an adult’s prized American Girl Doll collection. The Doll Hospital & Toy Soldier Shop understands their customers’ enduring love for these items and takes pride in being able to restore them to their original beauty. This Berkley shop is nationally recognized for their repair services and has rescued about 250,000 dolls to date. In addition to bringing beloved old toys and dolls back to life, The Doll Hospital & Toy Soldier Shop is home to a large play and retail space where children can explore the selection of swing sets, LEGO kits, trains, and educational activities.
Since the mid-1980s, American Girl dolls have occupied a special place in children’s hearts. Originally designed to appeal to pre-teen girls – those who might feel too old for baby dolls but not yet interested in fashion dolls – the American Girl dolls are famous for providing illustrated examples of American history, from the Revolutionary War to the Great Depression. The Pleasant Company, the original creators of the American Girl collection,
…show more content…
In addition to historically accurate clothing and accessories, each doll is accompanied by a series of books that further explain what life was like for these characters and their society. These stories are a valuable teaching tool, helping today’s children understand what children their own age experienced throughout history.
2.Celebrate Differences: Many different types of people contributed to the founding of our nation, and continue to contribute to it today. People from all walks of life are represented in the American Girl collection’s historical and modern lines, allowing children to find meaningful representation in a doll that looks like them or shares an historical
This website article provides the history of Barbie and her newly inspiring images for young women. Barbie was the new popular doll during World War 2 because she provided something inspiring for young girls and something that mothers felt strong about, independence. Barbie helped with what was being told to women, that they didn’t have to settle for being just a housewife or a stay at home mother. Women around the country could have a variety, a choice to work and have a career. “Barbie’s early professions were limited
Piercy, Marge. “Barbie Doll.” Introduction to Literature 5th ed. Eds. Findlay et al. Toronto: Nelson, 2004. 316-317.
What do little girls do with these dolls? They put on fresh makeup, change there fashionable clothing, and style there long luscious hair. This alone is creating a psychological change in a little girls brain, it is instilling that this is what is customary for a girl to do. Rather than fixing things you are to play princess, along with your easy bake oven. For centuries society has quietly driven a complex into the hearts and minds of young girls, that you have to be pretty to succeed. In our time today you rarely see unattractive; politicians, movie stars, musicians, officials or entertainers. Anybody who is somebody these days has attractive physical qualities.
“If Barbie was designed by a man, suddenly a lot of things made sense to me,” says Emily Prager in her essay “Our Barbies, Ourselves” (Prager 354). Prager’s purpose for writing this essay is to explain the history of Barbie and how the doll itself has influenced and continue to influence our society today. Prager is appealing to the average girl, to those who can relate to the way she felt growing up with Barbie seen as the ideal woman. Emily Prager uses a constant shift between a formal and informal tone to effectively communicate her ideas that we view women today based upon the unrealistic expectations set forth by Barbie. By adopting this strategy she avoids making readers feel attacked and therefore
In the 21st century, the range of Barbie’s available is higher than its ever been before in previous years. As popular cultures throughout the decades alter with societies acts, it, in turn, causes Barbie to change. The Barbie doll was introduced in 1959 by a woman named Ruth Handler. The figure has been an influence on fashion, body image and a female’s stance in society. The Barbie is no longer just a toy but used as role models for young children. With a range of body types, skin tones, eye colors and hair styles available, Barbie is still popular after all the years its been on the market. Barbie was said to be unrealistic and not a good toy for children to play with as it was promoting and creating a false image of body ‘standards’. However, over time in recent years, Barbie has become accustomed, modifying dramatically not only physically but also the way it is depicted socially.
It was very common to have a Barbie doll growing up, and it wasn’t just a toy, it was a representation of a “perfect life”. From dream houses, to boats, cars, a perfect boyfriend to exiting careers, Barbie had the perfect life. Barbie had the perfect lifestyle AND the perfect body, long legs, small waist and a curvy chest. This taught children from a very young age that having a boyfriend, a career, a house and a petite body is very important. (Worldpress 2011). Barbie’s “attention has been generated by the secondary role she plays in popular culture the artifact of female representation” (Wright 2003). Barbie isn’t just a toy, she mimics
“A Doll House.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Janet E. Gardner, Beverly Lawn, Jack Ridl, and Peter Schakel. Third edition. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 850-908. Print.
"What Dolls Can Tell Us About Race in America." ABC News. ABC News Network, 11 Oct. 2006. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
In Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll,” females are pressured into their pre-assigned gender roles starting at a young age with their dolls. Once the “girlchild” is born, she is given, “dolls, stoves, irons, and lipstick,” (Piercy 2-4) to prepare her for her future roles and clueing her
Ibsen, Henrik. The Project Gutenberg EBook of a Doll's House. [EBook #2542]. The Project Gutenberg, 13 Dec. 2008. Web. 14 Mar. 2011. .
“The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferre is ultimately about an aunt who constantly creates life-sized dolls for her three nieces. It becomes more of an obsession rather than hobby when the author explains that each year the aunt spends more time and effort into making these dolls resemble her nieces as much as possible. Towards the end of the story the youngest niece ends up marrying a doctor. The doctor who she ends up marrying views her more as an object to flaunt rather than respecting her worth. Many of the critics who analyze the story come across the idea that Rosario Ferre is attempting to make it appointed that during this time period there was a mixture of sexism, racism, gender, and class implications. As I agree with all of these statements,
The story, “A Doll’s House”, holds very true to the time it was written in. Most of the themes reflect what was actually happening during the era and even what the era began to lead into. Reading these types of stories in today’s day and age, it is hard to imagine what it was truly like during those ages, but for them, it was an everyday
characters are not only the dolls themselves but the doll master and mistress each vying for
Stone, Tanya Lee. The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us. New York: Penguin Group, 2010. Print.
A Doll House was one of Henrik Ibsen's most controversial plays. He wrote this realistic play in 1879. Ibsen's writing style of realism was clearly shown in this play. This play was controversial at the time it was written, shocking conservative readers. But, at the same time, the play served as a rallying point for supporters of a drama with different ideas.