The Doll's House

Chapter Overview

"The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield provides a poignant and critical examination of social hierarchy and cruelty in a small New Zealand village. The story begins when the affluent Burnell daughters-Isabel, Lottie, and Kezia-receive a magnificent, elaborately furnished doll's house as a gift from Mrs. Hay. While Isabel brags proudly to her schoolmates about its painted rooms, Kezia is captivated solely by an exquisite little amber oil lamp standing on the dining-room table, which looks so real and perfectly at home.

At the local rural school, where children of all socioeconomic backgrounds are forced to intermingle, rigid class prejudice is vigorously enforced by parents and teachers alike. The primary victims are the Kelvey sisters-Lil and little Else-whose mother is a humble washerwoman and whose father is rumored to be in prison. Ostracized, mocked, and dressed in mismatched hand-me-downs, the Kelvey girls hover silently on the schoolyard margins, strictly excluded by the Burnells and their clique from seeing the famous doll's house.

In an act of pure, unconditioned empathy, Kezia defies her family's discriminatory rules and invites the hesitant Kelveys into the courtyard to view the doll's house. Although Aunt Beryl immediately arrives to violently chase the Kelveys away with vicious scolding, the story ends on an unforgettable note of spiritual grace. Sitting by the roadside, little Else smiles softly and whispers to her sister: "I seen the little lamp." Mansfield illustrates that despite entrenched Social Prejudice, the light of Hope and Inner Beauty remains accessible to innocent, pure souls.