In the novella The Captain's Doll, D.H. Lawrence represents an individuation process in which the male protagonist evolves from a state of extreme infantile bondage into an adult relationship, safeguarding his autonomy. As a metaphor the doll symbolizes the manipulation of the protagonist by his female partners. As a real object, figuring in its varying traject as a leitmotiv in the story, it functions as a catalyst facilitating the awakening of the unconscious motivations in the relationship between the protagonist and his mistress. Their agreement on an adult partnership entails the destruction of the doll.