Susan Power (1) (1961–)

10. A Council of Dolls – Mona Susan Power - 2023
– library

This is the story of three generations of a family of Lakhota and Dakhota women and the dolls they loved. Like the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, each doll has been so loved that they have become real, with opinions and wisdom to share with their girls.

Each of the three generations of woman is the victim of trauma – imposed by whites physically exterminating Natives through massacres and culturally exterminating them through Reservations and Indian boarding schools. In turn, the children of those victimized are often traumatized by family members who have survived these disasters, but are changed that they can no longer nurture their families as they turn to alcohol and anger to survive.

We first meet Sissy and her doll Ethel, a black Thumbelina doll. Sissy’s father has chosen the black doll for her as she is closer in hair and complexion to Sissy than the blonde haired white Thumbelinas and no native version exists. Sissy’s mother is an activist, but her anger terrifies her daughter. Sissy's mother was torn from her family and sent to an Indian boarding school. Her mother’s mother saw massacres. There is a fourth woman who doesn’t identify herself, merely a voiceless ghost covered by the horrific marks of her death

I’ve read novels and non-fiction accounts of the forced submissions and massacres of the Indians wars, as the whites contorted the natives into smaller and smaller boxes. But when I’ve read of an incident like the Wounded Knee Massacre, while I am totally saddened, I had never considered the inter-generational trauma caused by such events – and then the cumulative trauma endured by the next generation as the assimilation/annihilation continues. The incidents are never over, but continue on and on to this day as sacred places and respect are removed from these people.

Telling these stories through the cross-cultural little girls’ love for their dolls has opened my eyes. 4 stars… (meer)

The Council of Dolls illustrates how trauma can be passed from one generation to the next. The trauma here is the result of the treatment of the indigenous people of the Dakota and Lakota tribes by the U.S. government, which first took their livelihood (by destroying the buffalo), then their land, and then their children. The experience of the native children in the boarding schools was horrendous, both in theory and practice. The idea was to destroy their culture and replace it with white, European culture. We witness the result of the first two generations' indoctrination on the third generation, during the 1960's, when children are no longer shipped to boarding schools, but suffer the results of their parents and grandparents experiences.

The dolls of each of the three women bear witness to the trauma. Having loved my own dolls in childhood, it was easy to relate to this relationship with a pretend being.

The first three parts of the book detailing each girl's experience, are moving and cohesive. The last part, unfortunately, seems almost like it belongs to another book. The author switches from third person to first person, and it seems almost autobiographical. I would give the first three parts 5 stars; the last part, 3 stars. I wish the author had found a less awkward way to end the story.… (meer)