Preparing a Critique for the short story The Doll's House - Assignment Example

Doll’s House The Doll’s House is one of the representative stories of Katherine Mansfield. The story basically deals with the manners and behaviors of the aristocratic family. The writer laughs at the social discrimination caused by the difference in the economic status of families. The author succeeds in establishing the connection between the upper class and the lower session with a “lamp’. The setting is a middle class family. The story starts when Mrs. Hay sent a doll’s house to the Burnell children.

The attractive Doll’s House attracted the other children towards the family except Kelveys, but got a chance to listen to the stories about the cage. The Kelvy girls represent the lower class. Lil and Else are not accepted in the society, even among the children. Kezia, the youngest of Burnells is the protagonist of the story who establishes a bridge between the lower and upper section of the society. Aunt Beryl can be treated as an antagonist who always looks down upon the classes beneath hers.

The story is filled with symbols. Kezia stands for her childhood purity. Te relation to the lamp in the story is a symbolic relation to the other class. The lamp stands for peace. The writer conveys the beautiful message that the minds of children are free from class consciousness. The poor children, even though they are thrown out of their house, they are overjoyed with the glimpse of a higher social class trough the lamp.