Also see “Identity and Belonging“.
Change and development: personal growth in Summer of the seventeenth Doll
(by Dr Jennifer Minter, English Works)
In the Summer of the Seventeenth Doll,(1955) Australian playwright Ray Lawler shows how changing experiences and circumstances often force us to reconsider who we are, our image of ourselves and our place in the world. There may be a change to group dynamics as individuals move in and out of groups; or we may be just growing older or we may change our priorities in life. Whatever the challenge, we often have to reconsider our dreams, our goals, our illusions, our relationships and priorities. Failure to constantly amend and adapt has serious consequences for our happiness and wellbeing.
The canecutters, Roo and Barney, seasonally court the sprightly and vivacious barmaids, Nancy and Olive, who all seem to enjoy a happy and alternative lifestyle that eventually overtakes them as their youth evaporates.
When Pearl replaces Nancy, and Johnny replaces Roo, Olive, Roo and Barney all have to deal with changes to who they are and their illusions and aspirations. They have to deal with how they wish to relate to each other and on what terms. They have to face the evaporation of their youthful dreams.
Whilst Olive, Roo and Barney are reluctant to make the necessary adjustments, Lawler suggests that the failure to change will inevitably lead to disappointment, sadness and a sense of failure.
Accordingly, the playwright uses the seventeen dolls symbolically to represent the search by the protagonists to find a meaning in the life. It is a time of reckoning and the destruction of the seventeenth doll symbolises the end of their dreams.
As Emma says, “there’s a time for sowin’ and a time for reapin'”. During the “time for sowin'” there is no doubt that Olive, Barney and Roo enjoy the excitement that comes from doing something different in society and from avoiding the boredom of a conservative and dull lifestyle. According to the stories that Olive used to tell Pearl, it was as if “the whole town was goin’ to go up like a balloon” and the special “Sunday night boat trips up the river” seemed to bring a sense of glamour. Emma also acknowledges that the lifestyle was a lot of fun while it lasted. They were “pals together” through all the “thick-and-thin stuff” and she “wouldn’t miss it for the world” (83). The eagles and their followers cling to their shared dreams that give them all a strong sense of purpose and this makes them feel cherished and special.
It’s the ‘reapin’ time that Lawler believes becomes so problematic.
The Eagles and the Dolls
As Olive states, “I’m blind to what I want to be”. Up until the end of the play, and even after Roo’s demise, Olive still determinedly clings to the romantic myth of a blissful alternative and exciting lifestyle. She is personally affronted and angry at anyone who seeks to challenge the myth or undermine it. Olive idolises a romantic past with Roo and Barney whom she presents as two eagles who come down South every season “for the matin’ season”. Her illusions and vision of herself remains wedded to the past and her idea of the “eagles” who swoop into town to romance and give the girls an alternative lifestyle and a fun-filled summer haven.
Roo brings Olive a Kepia doll each year. The dolls represent the idealistic dreams and hopes of their alternative romance; which they believe is more unique, fresh and exciting than the ordinary, mundane married lifestyle. Olive inflates, exaggerates and sensationalises their time together in order to give the impression that she is living a perfect, romantic lifestyle with the two men. She presents their weekend place at Selby as a palace. So grand are her dreams that Pearl expects the town to explode like balloons when the men arrive.
In order to cling to her illusions, Olive conveniently overlooks many factors such as the rickety Sunday night boat trips. She refuses to accept that Roo, as he ages, has to rely on work in a paint factory; the “glamorous” times have evaporated and she refuses to opt for marriage. As she loses her youthful vigour and charm, she becomes ever vulnerable to loneliness, sadness and disappointment – the excitement that surrounds the lay-off season is coming to an end.
Nancy’s rejection of the lay-off season becomes a catalyst for change and prompts the inclusion of the rather hostile elderly Pearl who is cautious and suspicious from the start. Nancy rejects the canecutters because she is searching for a more permanent and settled future; she presumably expects a commitment from Barney and recognises that the myth of their summer seasons will eventually end. As Emma admits, Nance was the “shrewdest” of all of them; “buy and sell Olive any day” (84) Just as Nancy recognises that she will remain unfulfilled waiting indefinitely for a commitment from Barney, other people may reject groups because of different opinions, views or values. She senses that their fun is nearing an end owing to its youthful limitations.
The Eagles
As Pearl states, their’s was an inflated ideal ; Olive “boosted you two up so much before you came, I didn’t know what to expect” (45) Likewise, the boys tell Johnnie that they have a fun-filled Summer down South which he realises is completely incongruous to the rather ordinary drab house where they stay with Olive and Emma.
The destruction of the dolls signifies their inability to deal with the erosion of their dreams and adjust to their changing needs and attitudes. On the one hand, Olive, Roo and Barney seek to protect their dreams and illusions and perpetuate the myth of the lay-off season. Conversely, outsiders challenge them to think about the extent of their illusions.
Often outsiders, challenge and question us. They challenge the status quo with threatening and unsettling consequences.
The two outsiders to the intimidate lay-off circle, Pearl and Johnnie, challenge the dreams and expectations of Olive and the boys.
Pearl deflates the dream
As Pearl states, their’s was an inflated ideal. Olive “boosted you two up so much before you came, I didn’t know what to expect” (45) Pearl forces Olive to realise that they are just inhabiting an “ordinary, tattle little room that’s a hell of a lot the worse for wear” (78). She criticises their inability to take a “grown up look” and tells Olive that “there’s not one thing I’ve found here been anythin’ like the stuff you told me.” She also says, “the least you can do is to see what you’ve got as it really is”. (78) Although Olive admits, “I’m blind to what I want to be,” she also seeks blame Pearl because of their dashed dreams and ruined hopes during the summer season.
Roo and Johnnie
As a leader of the canecutters, Roo is forced to confront his own (physical) limitations through the rivalry with Johnnie Dowd. He is getting older and is not able to keep up the fast and furious pace. He has to make adjustments if he is to survive; he cannot cling to the myth of his superiority; he will have to humble himself and find a different job – one that does not make such physical demands on an ageing body. This is a humbling experience for one who prides himself on his physical prowess and superior strength. He tries to be honest to Olive and shows resilience in the face of his increasing weakness. This rivalry sets him up for mockery and he has to revise his dreams (the paint factory) and his role as leader.
Lawler suggests that it is critical at stages in our life to make such necessary readjustments. Failure to adjust leads to a life of missed opportunities and regrets. Barney spends the summer pining for Nancy. The wedding photos of Nancy to which he clings symbolically remind him of his loss.
Although he is losing his sexual prowess, Barney does not want to admit that he is no longer able to court women with the same charming audacity. Reluctantly, he must face the fact that he has lost perhaps his best chance of a secure, settled, and loving partnership which ushers in regrets and a time for soul-searching.
Johnnie also recognises the extent of the boys’ deceit when he visits them. Team members and their interaction can provide us with significant insights, especially those involving the dynamics of leaders and their gang. The canecutters work in groups of around 10 workers. Lawler suggests that there is a hierarchical structure in the group and that people often occupy and change places according to their degree of physical and psychological power. Johnnie is on the ascendancy and there are signs that whilst he is prepared to apologise and reconcile with Roo, he nevertheless expects to surpass him as leader, and this is a humiliating realisation for Roo.
Finally, the most obvious sign that the lay-off season is over, and their relationships destroyed, is when Roo takes down the seventeenth doll from the piano. He smashes it “again and again, and then tearing at its fabric until it is nothing but a litter of split cane, shredded material and broken celluloid”.
The physical destruction mirrors Roo’s psychological despair as “something breaks deep within him”; he stares at the “tinsel mess” with a “helpless loss and anguish”. In her typically grim and determined voice, Emma warns Roo, “The lay-offs in this house are finished – for all of you”. Barney has also forewarned Roo about the inevitability of Johnnie’s ascendancy. Barney recognises that his fortunes lie with the “young Dowd”. He knows that he will rule the group whether or not Roo approves, and it will be better to “split up, get away from one another”. (90)
Whilst Roo is prepared to come to terms with his bleaker future working in a paint factory, Olive refuses to settle for marriage. Ominously, Olive recognises the shabbiness of the dolls when she takes the dolls down to dust, but refuses to countenance an end to their dreams. “They fell to pieces. Some of the dolls were moth-eaten, and the butterflies, you couldn’t touch ‘em. Coral and the shells were alright, but they looked so silly on their own I couldn’t put them back”. (82).
Roo tells her, “you’re nothing; but a kid ‘bout twelve years old”. (93) She clings to the illusion that it could still work if Roo goes back with Barney: “It’s the only chance we’ve got”. Lawler depicts Olive uselessly clinging to the past “I want what I had before”, which he suggests will exacerbate her despair. Olive literally wants to evaluate the Summers as a profit and loss sheet, but cannot block the feeling that she has lost more than she has gained. In particular, she is humiliated by the fact that Pearl seems to recognise the extent of her loss as she always did. She is annoyed that Pearl feels sorry for her because she has never been “within cooee of the real thing … that’s what hurts..” (92)
As Barney and Roo leave the house there is a sense that they have all lost a great deal because of their inflated dreams. The day after the smashing of the dolls, Olive, Roo and Barney must all confront the fact that times have changed and that they have no option but to change with the times. Although it seems as if it happens in just one violent confrontation, the signs have been evident from the beginning of the seventeenth summer. Lawler shows that each of the protagonists must confront the realisation of their fading dreams. He suggests they are simply too old to continue the wonderful myth of an excellent summer lay-off season which depends upon youthful vigour and charm, coupled with a degree of insouciance and naivety.
Often an unfortunate experience, encounters with others (often outsiders), and physical problems make us confront our goals and expectations in life and challenge us to make readjustments. Roo confronts the humiliation of his physical shortcomings and this has an impact upon his psychological strength. He must readjust his vision of himself; his physical demise means that he is no longer the extolled leader. With his crashing dreams, he humbly makes Olive an offer of marriage, but she is not prepared to accept the end of their dreams.
A guide and a link to the past
As the “old fossil”, Emma’s is the voice of accumulated wisdom, advice and authority. It is the voice that brings discomfort, but also a sense of relief and security for those who know its value. Roo refers to her as someone who “has all the answers” and is a “great authority”. Often authority figures encourage us to make changes and force us to reflect on our frailties. Emma advises Roo, Barney and Olive to let go of their youthful dreams now that they have passed. She notes, that “all that’s happened is you’ve gone as far as you can go”. “You, Barney, Olive – you’re too old for it anymore” (84) She reminds Roo that he is now “too old for it anymore” which leads to “growing doubts” and self-searching. Likewise, she criticizes Barney’s lack of honesty. According to Emma, he tends to lie because he is no longer the “star turn in the bedroom” and refuses to acknowledge his waning glamour and youthfulness. “There’s a time for sowin’ and a time for reapin’ – and that goes for a whole lot more than cane cuttin’.”
Emma is also the voice from the past and she remembers their first meeting in the aquarium when the two men appeared symbolically as “the only two out of water” who were destined, through Nancy’s wise crack, to find their soulmates. This connection with the past often gives people a strong sense of security and belonging because it reminds them of their roots and the stories that help them relate to each other. She reminds them, “I been round here long enough. I know things I bet you lot don’t even remember. How you ever got together in the first place” (83)
Alternatively, it takes the voice of wisdom such as Emma’s to challenge their views and undermine their false sense of confidence. (Emma forces Roo to revisit their first meeting – the boys who were “out of their depth”, but who were nevertheless able to attract the girls’ attention for seventeen summers.) Roo is forced to confront his growing self doubts,(85) and candidly admits that they are just a “couple of lousy no-hopers” (75)
Also shaped through a sense of difference, Stella Young, Melbourne comedian and disability activist, fight hard for the right to be taken seriously. Like other courageous activists, Stella’s difference was conspicuous as she wheeled her chair around the playground. In an interview with Fiona Scott-Norman published in “Don’t Peak at High School”, Stella recounts her struggle to crash into and be accepted by the “popular” group and her fight to avoid the stigma attached to disability aids. Courageously, she refuses credit for her achievements just because she is disabled.
Stella states: ‘When I was in high school, a lovely lady from the local community wanted to nominate me for some achievement award. My parents wouldn’t have it. “All I was doing was getting good marks, nothing exceptional. She just reckoned it was a bloody good effort because I was doing it sitting down. There’s a whole industry of inspirational speakers who trade on overcoming adversity. I say, “It’s bullshit.”‘
“Being bullied shaped these people,” writes Scott-Norman. “There are advantages to being unpopular at school, because you are forced to fall back on your own resources.”
Being true to self, Stella has not only overcome many battles. Shortly before her death in 2015, she won the award for “best newcomer” comedian at the Melbourne Comedy Festival (2014).
Evidently, there are many stories where people have had to struggle to gain acceptance in communities or to assert their own individuality. As Zorba the Greek wisely said, “a man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free.” Likewise, the Age cartoonist and writer Michael Leunig, says “if we don’t make for ourselves some small hand-crafted peculiarity it will certainly be provided by fate in due course.” However, sometimes that madness sets people apart and creates difficulties as they try to find their own authentic self.
However, often holding onto this “hand-crafted peculiarity” and following our true path can be fraught with danger. Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye rails against the phoniness and pretentiousness of his school environment. “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies.” And of the headmaster, Mr Haas, he claims he was the “phoniest bastard” he had ever met in his life. Holden criticises the materialistic view of life of his school peers. At school “all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day…” and he tries to separate himself from the hypocrisy. Unfortunately though Holden is forever vulnerable and likely to fall through the cracks. He knows what he doesn’t want to be. But he can’t find a positive alternative. He is heading for a “horrible fall” and unable to stop himself as he retreats further into an idyllic childhood world where innocence and spontaneity are cherished but unrealistic commodities.
But the most important thing is that he does not stop trying.
The stories we tell and the way we weave such stories into our personal and national narratives influences the way we see ourselves.
As Waleed Aly says, the way Australians will react to events in Europe with regards to the influx of migrants and the assumptions people make will depend upon the stories we assimilate into our national psyche. “What will matter is not what happened, but the stories we tell ourselves about what happened.”
See “The Mind of a Thief” by Patti Miller
Please click here to download a PDF version of the Exercises in the Language of Persuasion: an essay writing guide for immediate use. By using these exercises, you will be able to follow our support material on each exercise (See “turn to exercise”). Each “turn to exercise” includes key strategies, suggested responses, students’ samples and assessors’ marks and comments.