78 pages • 2 hours read
Betty Ren WrightThe Dollhouse Murders
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1983A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Amy Treloar
Amy Treloar is the novel’s protagonist. She is 12 years old and turns 13 during the story. Amy struggles with the transition between being a child and a teenager. Throughout the book, Amy waffles between wanting to grow up (take responsibility) and remain a child (run from her problems). Louann represents Amy’s inner conflict. Amy knows Louann needs attention and care, but she is “sick of baby-sitting and losing my friends” (10). Throughout the novel, Amy struggles with growing up and guilt, two of the book’s major themes.
Amy views Aunt Clare as a role model and wants to live the free and exciting life her aunt seemed to have in Chicago. At the beginning of the story, Amy remains a child who runs away from her problems, like Aunt Clare did years ago. By the end of the book, Amy has learned she can’t resolve problems by ignoring them. She takes steps toward growing up by returning to her family. She also learns how to be a sister, not just a caretaker, to Louann, which helps her release her guilt. Over the course of the story, Amy gradually stops taking the burden for Louann’s disability upon her shoulders. Louann “can’t help the way she is” (7), and Amy’s guilt won’t change that. Once Amy overcomes her guilt, her relationship with Louann blossoms, much like the flowers that symbolize Amy’s emotions throughout the story.
The mystery of the dollhouse mirrors Amy’s emotional journey. At the beginning of the book, the dollhouse represents an answer to all Amy’s problems. When the house comes alive, it is no longer a solution and becomes its own problem. Amy fears the dollhouse and initially wants nothing to do with its secrets. When she sees the negative effect the dollhouse has on Aunt Clare, Amy wants to help by learning the truth of Grandma and Grandpa Treloar’s deaths. She tries to investigate without telling Aunt Clare, but hiding her involvement has the same result as running—it solves nothing. Amy tells Aunt Clare about the living dollhouse. Once the problem is in the open, answers are found. Amy still fears the dollhouse, but with the help of Louann and Aunt Clare, she faces those fears to learn the truth about the murders.
Aunt Clare
Aunt Clare is a role model and mirror for Amy. She left home 30 years ago after the murders of Grandma and Grandpa Treloar and never dealt with the incident or her guilt. For most of the book, she believes her fiancé murdered Grandma and Grandpa Treloar. The past is “something I’d like to forget” (46), and only when the truth of the murders is revealed does Aunt Clare release her guilt and stop letting the past control her. Throughout the story, Aunt Clare’s guilt keeps her from moving forward. In addition to being emotionally stuck in the past, she resists any discussion of the dollhouse and refuses to believe Amy isn’t responsible for the dolls playing out the murder. When Aunt Clare finally chooses to believe the dollhouse comes alive, the search for truth moves forward. Aunt Clare puts her guilt aside and takes action.
Whenever she needs to discuss the dollhouse or the past, Aunt Clare does so over a snack or beverage. Aunt Clare talks to Amy about staying with her over tea. Aunt Clare’s confession that she believes her fiancé murdered Grandma and Grandpa Treloar comes while she makes cookies. Amy, Louann, and Aunt Clare have cocoa the night they learn the truth about the murders. Food appears throughout the story at moments of emotional turmoil, and Aunt Clare and the other characters find at least a temporary solution by the time they finish eating or drinking.
Louann Treloar
Louann is Amy’s younger sister and an antagonist for Amy. Louann represents everything Amy dislikes about her life and has caused Amy to lose friends in the past. Louann has a developmental disability, which means she will always be “like a little kid” in some ways (43), but she can also grow and learn in her own right. Throughout the story, Louann is the source of Amy’s guilt. As the sisters investigate the mystery of the dollhouse and grow closer, Louann becomes a real person, not just a burden, to Amy. By the end of the story, Amy releases her guilt about Louann, and Louann’s relationship with Amy mends.
Louann embodies one of the main themes of the book—differences in abilities and disabilities. Louann has a disability in the literal sense. She is developmentally delayed and referred to as “brain-damaged,” a term no longer used to describe people with Louann’s type of disability. Louann struggles with seemingly simple tasks, such as remembering not to pick flowers that aren’t hers, but she also has many strengths. Louann views the world in an uncluttered, uncomplicated way and can therefore see things other people don’t. Louann notices the Grandma Treloar doll crying in the dollhouse and recognizes the doll’s call for help. Later, Louann notices Grandma Treloar’s letter fall out of a book because a letter doesn’t belong on a shelf where books go. Louann’s bravery and unique perspective on the world help Amy overcome her fears and solve the mystery of the murders. Louann’s unique abilities also teach Amy that Louann is not just someone who is disabled and in need of help.
Ellen Kramer
Ellen is Amy’s closest friend. Ellen represents everything Amy wants at the beginning of the book—friends and normal experiences (such as combined birthday parties and carefree Friday nights at the mall). Throughout the story, Amy confides in Ellen. Ellen is the friend Amy needs when Amy feels like she has no one else. Ellen is the first friend who has stuck around Amy, despite Louann, and she comes to respect Louann, thinking of her as the “bravest person I know” when Louann isn’t afraid of the dollhouse (110). Ellen’s acceptance of Louann’s unique abilities allows Amy to find the same acceptance.
Ellen symbolizes Amy’s ability to live the life she wants, despite having Louann as a sister. In Chapter 1, Ellen cancels picnic plans with Amy, and Amy thinks she does so because of Louann, since she’s lost other friends due to Louann. Ellen calls the next day, and Amy realizes Louann really wasn’t the reason Ellen canceled. Ellen’s actions foreshadow the birthday party going smoothly, despite Louann’s presence. Ellen’s friendship shows Amy that life with a disabled sister can be normal.
Amy’s Mother
Like Louann, Amy’s mother acts as an antagonist for Amy. Amy’s mother symbolizes Amy’s struggle to find a balance between growing up and having childhood experiences. Amy’s mother also represents the guilt Amy feels toward Louann. In Chapter 1, Amy loses track of Louann at the mall and compares herself to her mother, who “hangs on to Louann every single minute when they go shopping together” (2). Amy feels pressure from her mother to grow up and take care of Louann, and she feels guilty that she hasn’t done these things and doesn’t want to do them.
Amy’s mother reprimands Amy for wanting to have experiences separate from Louann. Only after learning to view Louann as her own person does Amy realize her mother also feels guilty and expresses that guilt by doing everything for Louann. By releasing her own guilt, Amy stops blaming her mother for her guilt, and she has a better relationship with her mother at the story’s end.
