Short Story: Marie Antoinette

In this short story, Farhana Islam Tani explores a young girl’s intense desire for a porcelain doll and traces the nuanced and complex relationship she has with her mother. 

Pink satin dress netted with diaphanous lace, a cascade of brown curls spilled over the shoulders, rosy lips protruding from pale skin—Moumita could recall every detail of the porcelain Marie Antoinette doll she had seen in Ajmeri’s Antique Toy Shop. The delicate clink of the porcelain limbs was like a cupid’s arrow to her young heart. Compared to Antoinette, all the other dolls looked dreary. Moumita also remembered that her tearful eyes and quivering lips had little effect on her mother. She had one finger pointed at the doll and her head angled toward Mrs. Chowdhury, her eyes glazed over with anticipation.

“This is a very expensive porcelain doll. You will break it.” Mrs. Chowdhury said patiently at first. “You will get bored with it in a few days and forget all about it. Besides, you have plenty of good dolls back home.” Her mother tried to reason with her. Moumita, however, swatted away her mother’s words as if they were flies.