Daphne du Maurier's "The Doll"

[cimorene]

I just listened to a short story about a guy who falls in love with a beautiful young woman who is apparently not really that into him but continues to hang out with her constantly (is he just showing up at her house??? Daily???), but then discovers that she is actually in love with a male mannequin dressed in a tux that she keeps in its own bedroom in her flat, and she is just using him (the narrator) to make the mannequin jealous. This revelation is too much for him and the story implies he immediately casts himself into the sea.

If I hadn't just read the absolutely insane "Don't Look Now" I would be gobsmacked at this level of bonkers, but in comparison to that data point I'm now like Eh, how unlikely IS it, really, for a young woman to keep a room in her flat solely for the eveningwear mannequin that she considers her life partner? I don't know her life! And it's undeniably easier to obtain a mannequin than it is to become a master knife thrower (see previous post).

Also, I can't help thinking that if a single young professional lady is having difficulty dodging a determined Nice Guy like this, taking him to make out in front of a mannequin and giving him to understand that she cares nothing for him and is using him to make the mannequin jealous and that she could never love a human man might be an effective (if not an efficient...) way to get rid of him. And definitely was a richly-deserved response to That Guy.

Comments

[jennaria]

I read this aloud to my wife, and she nearly choked on her drink at 'I don't know her life!'

[cimorene]

😂 Perhaps I don't find her a very plausible character, but after the Snapewives and that woman who married the Berlin Wall, I have to admit she isn't impossible. And it only takes one! As long as she has the misfortune to inspire a stalker who becomes suicidal.