https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a Winnie Mylan and Amalia Rizos guide you to a better understanding of Katherine Mansfield's most famous work en-us 2018-03-02 15:19:05 UTC 2018-04-04 20:08:04 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png 52901 https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237447392 It all began when old Mrs. Hay gifted the Burnell children an extravagant doll’s house. Isabel, Lottie, and Kezia Burnell were all ecstatic over their newfound present. They were eager to boast about it at school the following day. Unfortunately, this doll’s house gave the Burnells a sense of superiority. Resulting in a tyrannical reign over all of the other schoolgirls. Two girls in particular, Else and Lil Kelvey, the protagonists of this story, are the most affected under the Burnells oppressive rule. ]]> 2018-03-02 15:35:34 UTC https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237447392 52901 https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237451906 Numerous times in the text, the narrator uses the word "our" to describe Else. This is unusual because no other character is described in this unique, possessive way. This grabs the attention of the readers and makes us question why Mansfield would write her that way. The reason is to make us feel pity for Else. Giving readers a strong sense of empathy for her and her situation.]]> 2018-03-02 15:42:46 UTC https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237451906 3670 https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237830764 "I seen the little lamp" (Mansfield 67).

Toward the end of the story, Kezia insists the Kelvey girls finally set eyes on their precious doll's house. The girls are enamored一they have never seen an object of such beauty in their impoverished lives. Shortly into their viewing session, Aunt Beryl catches the three of them in the yard and demands their departure. She kicks them out as if they are beings below humans. Else takes comfort in Lil and states that, "I seen the little lamp." Else is a very important character in this story. She never speaks aloud until this single line. And it sure does pack a punch. Both Kezia and Else take heavy notice of the lifelike lamp in one of the rooms. They share a connection through this yellow illumination. The lamp represents an innocence and goodness found in the little girls. At their ages, they do not understand the meaning of separation by class. They simply see each other as equals. The lamp represents the relationship between them that has yet to burn out.]]> 2018-03-04 18:30:27 UTC https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237830764 3670 https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237832738 2018-03-04 18:44:40 UTC https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/237832738 3670 https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/238050507 "The father and mother dolls... and their two little children asleep upstairs, were really too big for the doll’s house. They didn’t look as though they belonged" (Mansfield 7). 

In this quote, the narrator is describing the inhabitants of the doll's house. In a way, the dolls represent the Burnells and the house represents the overall theme of this story: social stratification. We have a mother, father, and two children living in an overly lavish and gaudy house. The doll's house, despite how great it was in the eyes of the Burnell girls, was actually really ugly. The house is "a dark, oily, spinach green, picked
out with bright yellow." No one "could possibly mind the smell" it gave off because "it was part of the joy, part of the newness" (Mansfield 3). And by stating that the family is too large for the tiny structure implies that the Burnell family is too egotistical for their own selves. Furthermore, this all shows how the family is divided from the rest of society due to their extreme wealth. This status gives them influence over other individuals, and this authority literally stinks. Similar to how the Kelvey's are excluded as a result of their poverty, the Burnells are excluded as a result of their fortune. This, in addition to being a valuable symbol, ties into our essential question of how being an outsider is indeed universal.]]> 2018-03-05 13:15:17 UTC https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/238050507 3670 https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/238052889 So why were the Kelveys treated so poorly? Sadly, it all comes down to their social class. But the thing is, children don’t grow up with a sense of social prejudice. Children are young and impressionable一their actions are influenced by the adults in their lives. In this story, readers quickly notice how harshly all of the adults look down upon the Kelveys. Mrs. Kelvey is described as a “hard-working, little washerwoman” who has to beg her neighbors for clothes to dress her two daughters in. And Mr. Kelvey is apparently locked up in jail. Everyone feels they should treat Lil and Else Kelvey horribly since they are so poor and dysfunctional. The parents demanded their own children to avoid the Kelveys at all costs. At one point, Lil said to Kezia Burnell, “‘Your ma told our ma you wasn’t to speak to us.’” This shows how the adults are the root of the problem. And even their school teacher discriminates toward the Kelveys. She was known to use “a special voice for them”.]]> 2018-03-05 13:20:40 UTC https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/238052889 3670 https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/238616397 2018-03-06 14:25:14 UTC https://padlet.com/52901/hbn2qiyec72a/wish/238616397