The Doll's House

The doll's house is used in the story to symbolize the kind of lifestyle that the poor will never be able to enjoy, and of which they will only ever catch a tiny glimpse. Society puts a premium on...

Else's smile could symbolize the hope she feels of finally overcoming the stigma attached to her family. Else and Lil stand outside their society, which is even noted in the physical proximity they...

Kezia and Else, despite coming from very different backgrounds, both seem to possess an innocence that other children have grown out of as a result of their understanding of how adults feel. For...

In the short story "The Doll's House," Katherine Mansfield gives the reader a glimpse into the unfair treatment of the different social classes in her native New Zealand from the perspective of...

The two social class descriptions that are present in Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Doll's House" are the upper class, which is represented by the Burnell sisters, and the very poor, lower...

The story "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield, shows several instances in which the girls at the school are quite cruel and humiliating to the Kelvey sisters. The first evidence of this is...

There are several reasons why the Kelvey girls are shunned by the other children. First, Lil and Else Kelvey are the daughters of a "washerwoman," someone who goes from house to house each day,...

Kezia stands out from her two sisters, Isabel and Lottie, in many ways. We notice early in the story that she possesses a deeper sense of aesthetic susceptibility in that her immediate focal point...

Considering that Aunt Beryl's character denotes a high degree of bias against the Kelvey sisters, it is likely that her story would have been less about a doll's house and more about "the incident"...

The dollhouse that the Burnell girls receive from "dear old Mrs. Hay" is a rather garish replica of a house belonging to the upper class, yet it is intriguing in its realistic detail. When this...

The lamp in the story “The Doll’s House, ” by Katherine Mansfield, stands out in the eyes of Kezia as something so unique that it is worthy of telling everyone about it. In turn, Kezia’s words...

In “The Doll’s House,” Kezia Burnell is the youngest of the Burnell girls. Aware of the luxury of the doll house they receive, she finds it enchanting. She is particularly fascinated by a miniature...

In the story "The Doll's House," by Katherine Mansfield, the reactions of the school teacher toward the Kelvey sisters essentially describe someone who has very little compassion toward those who...

As the younger Burnell child, Kezia knows how it feels to be excluded from decisions and acceptance. While the older Isabel is allowed to determine all the rules governing the display of the...

One of the themes in this short story centers around the idea that every person ultimately craves inclusion. The Kelvey girls are excluded from the social circles at school because of their...

Katherine Mansfield's story "The Doll's House" has an omniscient narrator who enters the minds of different characters at various points in the story. With this technique, Mansfield intently...

In Katherine Mansfield’s story, the characterization of the two mothers is primarily indirect. Mrs. Burnell is not described physically at all. We learn about her through a few phrases and from the...

The Burnell children see the doll's house primarily as a status symbol, an opportunity for them to show off how incredibly wealthy they are. Even at a young age, children are acutely conscious of...

At four distinct points in the story, animal comparison are applied to the Kelvey sisters, Lil and Else. The narrator elaborates on the numerous ways in which the Kelveys are treated as social...

In Katherine Mansfield's story "The Doll's House", the characters are divided into two groups: those who are innocent to social class and status, and those who are not. Since the prevalent theme in...

Mansfield shows the cruelty of the society in the way the Kelvey girls, Lil and Else, are treated. They are the daughters of a poor washerwoman, and their father, it is rumored, is in jail. But...

Katherine Mansfield's story "The Doll's House" depicts life in two separate and distant social classes: The very wealthy rich and the very unfortunate poor coexisting as children in a school. The...

"The Doll's House", a story by Katherine Mansfield, treats the topic of social injustice and class distinction under the scope of two different children, Kezia and Else, reacting to something that...

The setting of the story "The Doll's House" is very influential to the plot. The story is set in New Zealand during the early 1920s, when the country was still a British colony. As such, the...

When the Burnell children are opening up their doll's house, Mansfield portrays the wonder and perspective of children uncovering a new and mysterious miniature world. When the children open the...

In Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Doll's House," the Burnell children attend the only school in the neighborhood. As there is no other school for miles, this small community school has an...

Central to understanding this excellent short story is that Kezia and Else are part of the same society, but also come from two different worlds in terms of their class. This is why the Burnells...

Kezia does not agree with the rest of her family about the Kelveys; instead, she regards the girls as individuals with feelings and interests that are much like hers. When the Burnell girls receive...

This excellent story is as much about social division as it is about anything else. The doll's house, which becomes the status symbol for the Burnell girls, emphasises that, even amongst children,...

In “The Doll’s House,” Kezia Burrell is presented as a curious and fair little girl. She is shown as curious in being far more interested than her sisters in every detail of the fancy doll's house....

Isabel, Lottie, and Kezia Burnell are excited to receive a new doll's house as a gift. The sisters carefully inspect the incredible detailing in the house, such as its door which gleams with yellow...

The oil lamp in the story "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield, is the object entirely catches the attention of Kezia Burnell: A privileged young girl who receives the gift of a doll's house...

The Kelvey girls are the object of scorn in their town. The Burnell parents don't appreciate having their daughters in the same school with common children, such as the children of the storekeeper...

The Kelvey sisters are round, as the author provides a fair amount of background information about them. They are shunned by everyone in the class, and the narrator notes that even the teacher...

Most definitely. I cannot think of any work of literature that does not actually have some form of conflict that drives it, and this excellent short story by Mansfield is no exception. As with many...

Else's statement at the end of the story was "I seen the little lamp." Told in a colloquial way, the phrase refers to the fact that she, Else, had the opportunity to look at the miniature lamp that...

The Kelvey girls are from the lower class, whereas the other girls in the story are from families of a higher social status. It is important to note the setting of this short story is a small...

The difference in Kezia's character from her two sisters focuses on the way that she, unlike her older two sisters, has yet to learn of the sharp social divisions that divide her society from...

When people suffer from social alienation, as it is in the case of some cultural groups for example, the observable tendency is that those who have been alienated will come together, using their...

Aunt Beryl comes from the Burnell family. This family is of a certain income level, much higher than the Kelveys. Aunt Beryl believes that class distinctions are important. She doesn't think the...

Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Doll's House" shows that people will always gravitate toward those who are considered social or financial "betters". The Burnell girls, who are rich and come...

When Else, who has been silent throughout the story, finally speaks at the end to say that she "'seen the little lamp'" in the Burnells' doll house, it seems to signify how innocent young children...

In "The Doll's House," Mrs. Kelvey is the mother of two girls, Lil and Else. A single mother whose husband is in prison, she must work hard to maintain a home for herself and her daughters. While...

It is interesting to compare Kezia with her sisters and how they treat the Doll's House. It is clear that for her sisters, the Doll's House becomes a valuable "chip" with which they can play and...

The upper-class Burnells consider the fact that the father of the Kelvey children is absent and rumored to be in prison the most "awful" thing about them. In Katherine Mansfield's story, upper- and...

The exposition of "The Doll's House" occurs when a beautiful new dollhouse arrives at the home of the Burnell sisters: Isabel, Lottie, and Kezia. It is a "perfect little house" which has been...