Baby Doll

As I was reading the scene with the baby doll I found Frieda's reaction hysterical. She did not want the baby doll. In the beginnig scences the idea of childhood is essintially ignored. Frieda is not expected to act as child she is expected to act as a small adult. She is expected to have control over her illness when she is obviously too young to have that control. Frieda wants to live up to the expectations of the adults, as that is what they seem to want her to do. However, she then gets forced to learn how to act with a baby doll. She learns to act as if she is mothering it. This is again an action that makes Frieda expected to be a small adult not a child.