In my ranking of the books of the '20s, I mentioned that I didn't hate any of the books I've read so far. I think I might hate Hitty.
It's billed as an adventure book, and the doll narrator definitely sees much of the United States and even other parts of the world. But unlike a book like The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, her adventures are always against her will. In Dolittle, the main characters can't wait to take off for a strange island off of South America, meet new cultures and see new things. In Hitty, she's never happier than when she's in the possession of a quiet little girl.
Add to this some casual racism. She's stolen by some "savages", whose language is described as being just grunting, and who of course revere her as a god (those dumb heathens!). She is later found by a black family, whose dialogue is transcribed in dialect, with every dropped consonant - even those that proper English speakers would drop - marked off with an apostrophe. She's even pleased when she finds out that she's not being kept by an Irish family.
Granted, this sort of racism also shows up in Dolittle. But even with the natives of the island being portrayed as uncivilized, none of the main characters are ever repulsed by them, like Hitty is of Indian people. Bumpo is unintentionally the butt of some jokes when he uses big words incorrectly, but he also is a valuable member of the crew. There's the built-in racism of the times, but the characters seem to transcend it.
This story is essentially Hitty being passed from white girl to white girl, with her being terrified in between. No thanks.
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