Monday, March 16, 2009

That's an American Doll


I used to quiz my father on the names of all the American Girl dolls. The American girl company had graciously sent me a poster of the five featured dolls, and I valued it dearly. These girls weren’t dolls in my mind; they were my best friends. I’d point to each doll on the poster and request that my father recite the girl’s name. It only seemed right that my dad should know my friends’ names, even if they were plastic.

As my dad retold me this story, he tried to recite the girls’ names. He could only remember Addy, the black girl and Molly, the girl with glasses.

I told him the names of the other three girls and tried to refresh his mind. This is what I said, “Come on dad, you know Felicity- the redhead, Samantha- the brunette and Kristin- the blonde.”

Then it hit me. American Girl taught me that there are five kinds of Americans: Blondes, brunettes, redheads, African Americans and people with glasses.

Granted there are a few more breeds of American Girl dolls today, but I still find it ironic that were only five original “types” of an American Girl. With a name like “American Girl,” you’d hope the doll makers would have a greater taste for diversity.

1 comment:

Kristin said...

I'm afraid I must be THAT GIRL: it was Kirsten, not Kristin, and I only know this because of the terrible scarring it caused me during childhood to project my personality onto that of a doll so close to my name and yet...so very very different.

The wounds will heal someday.