Nesting Dolls | Teen Ink

Nesting Dolls

April 11, 2013
By Claire_A GOLD, Pleasanton, California
Claire_A GOLD, Pleasanton, California
11 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Always a poet, even in prose.&quot;<br /> ~Charles Baudelaire


You are born smooth, small, and perfect. You are a newly carved figurine in a shop, fresh and ready to be painted. As you grow older, designs and colors start to spiral over you.

But when you see the new styles in the shop, you try to repaint yourself, to match the other dolls on the shelves. Then, though everything if perfect again on the outside, underneath is a muddle of confused colors that don't go together at all.

The shop you live in sells nesting dolls. Even if the prettiest dolls decide to accept you into their group of pink cheeks and painted smiles, into a shell you will go, hidden by larger versions of your exact face, stuck in darkness and a form that is not your own. Is it better on the outside, you wonder? Better to be the largest doll, but have nothing but hollow copies inside? You'll have lots of time to think, trapped there in the shadows. Please let me know when you decide.



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This article has 2 comments.


Claire_A GOLD said...
on Nov. 18 2013 at 8:58 pm
Claire_A GOLD, Pleasanton, California
11 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Always a poet, even in prose.&quot;<br /> ~Charles Baudelaire

Wow ok you're pretty nice and stuff.  All I wanted was a hi.  Xoxoxo

Anna_J said...
on Nov. 18 2013 at 8:42 pm
Anna_J, Pleasanton, California
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
Okay, I'm really bad at giving feedback because everything I say is "that's good!"    ..This is another example of when I do that. I genuinely like this piece. I like the hidden meaning to this a lot. (Wow, Anna, you know it's dangerous to use all of your vocabulary in one sentence. like, like, like, like.) The last sentence is my favorite, however. Maybe it's the dolls that are creepy, maybe it's the idea of beauty standards, maybe it's the overall idea of dolls moving about in a shop when nobody is around, but I honestly love this. Seriously.