The Dollhouse

As the protagonist of the 1950s timeline, Darby enters the narrative as a naive and insecure young woman from Defiance, Ohio. Her initial purpose in New York is to fulfill her mother’s ambitions by graduating from the Katharine Gibbs secretarial school and securing a respectable career, a prescribed path to self-sufficiency. Socially awkward and out of her element among the glamorous models on her floor at the Barbizon Hotel, she feels like “a panda in a room full of gazelles” (17). Her character arc is a dynamic and tragic journey of self-discovery, rebellion, and atonement. Initially defined by her desire to please her mother and adhere to societal expectations, Darby undergoes a profound transformation spurred by her relationships with the ambitious maid Esme Castillo and the creative cook Sam Buckley. These friendships draw her out of the restrictive propriety of the Barbizon and into the subversive world of the Flatted Fifth jazz club, a space that represents artistic freedom and authenticity.

Darby’s development is marked by key moments of defiance. Her expulsion from secretarial school becomes a pivotal turning point, forcing her to abandon her mother’s plan and consider a life forged on her own terms.