Essay Questions

Explore the presentation of Leonora’s character in Susan Hill’s Dolly: A Ghost Story.

Susan Hill paints Leonora as quite a spoilt brat who is greedy and avaricious. When her mother sends her a birthday gift, a porcelain doll, she exhibits her spoilt nature when she resents the gift since it's not what she had wanted. She had wanted a royal Indian doll. In this way, she is portrayed as unappreciative, unfulfilled, and greedy as she wants more and more. Furthermore, she is stubborn and disrespectful. When her aunt grounds her until she apologies for her disrespectful behavior, she does not do so which paints her as stubborn on top of being lacking in respect.

Leonora and Edward are epitomes of bad luck. How is this assertion supported in the work?

Even both Leonora and Edward both get married, troubles begin in their lives soon after. On the one hand, Leonora’s husband passes on leaving her impoverished and incapable of taking care of herself. Additionally, her daughter is suffering from progeria and has aged precipitately. Edward has similar problems in his life. After his wife gives birth to a daughter who falls ill. She loses her hair and despite efforts visiting doctors, she is unresponsive. Later, Edward discovers that the doll handed back to him by Leonora has also lost its hair as has his daughter. In this way, these arguments support the argument that indeed both of these characters are symbols of bad luck in the story.

How is Leonora punished for her lack of appreciation by her aunt as well as by fate later in her life?

As a child, Leonora is portrayed as rather stubborn. In particular, when her mother buys her a porcelain doll instead of the royal Indian one that she adores extremely, she rejects it. As part of her punishment, her aunt grounds her until she apologizes which she does not do. Being grounded by her aunt becomes her first punishment following her lack of appreciation of her mother’s porcelain doll gift. Moreover, when her mother writes out her will, she is given the doll she rejected as her gift as her inheritance. Later, when she gives birth to her daughter, she develops progeria like the doll she refused to accept as a gift. All of these events can be argued as a punishment for Leonora’s lack of appreciation of things in her life, and particularly the porcelain doll.