The concept of dramatic realism operates within Summer of the Seventeenth Doll through aspects such as the use of slang, language, set, costume approximates real life, natural language rhythms, relevance to society of that era, etc.
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is set in the 1950s, which was a crucial period in the development of the Australian identity. It was a time of post-war reconstruction and immigration, of materialism, a wool boom, of suburban comfort and conservatism- the first decade since early in the century in which the ordinary Australian had not been hounded by war, depression and drought.
The refinements of life then began to surface, it is in this decade that Ray Lawler, Joan Sutherland and many more turned up.
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