Doll house free essay sample

In my essay I will discuss how the doll’s house itself represents the conflict between the parent’s world and the children’s world in Katherine Mansfield’s – â€Å"A Doll’s House† The hierarchy is very apparent in the town in this story. There are upper class families such as the Burnells and lower class families such as the Kelveys. The parents are aware of this structure, but so do the children. For instance â€Å"Isabel was bossy but was always right† (43). The Burnells would not send their children to the town school â€Å"if they had been any choice† (53). Isabel uses the doll house to show her power. She tells all the girls at school the next day and enforces her power by telling her sisters â€Å"I’m to tell†¦because I’m the eldest† (41) The Burnell children were given a dolls house from Ms. Hay. The contents of the doll’s house are described in such a way that it is special in the eyes of the children, though it may seem like a â€Å"plastic toy† to adults. We will write a custom essay sample on Doll house or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The contents of the doll house are mentioned with a bit of detail in a long list, to show how amazing they are from the children’s point of view. â€Å"They had never seen anything like it in their lives † (25) â€Å".. pictures on the walls painted on the paper, with gold frames complete. Red carpet covered all floors except the kitchen, red plush chairs in the drawing room, green in the dining room.. † (27). The list goes on mentioning the colours, giving us the children’s impression of the doll house, showing how new and amazing it is because they have never seen anything like it. Describing the doll house with such detail shows rather than tells us how the children feel about it. Inside the house, sitting on the dining room table, there is a tiny little lamp which Isabel leaves out when describing it to the kids at school, but Kezia reminds her of it, which shows how much it means to Kezia. This shows that even though there are little things that seem unimportant and ignored, that there will be at least one person to take notice of it and appreciate it. This is the same for the Kelveys. They are the lower class people who sit by themselves at lunch who people usually ignore, yet Kezia acknowledges them and invite them over to her house. This shows the breaking of social class barriers, and the lamp represents that because Our Else who hardly speaks, mentions it after seeing the doll house and the story ends with the line â€Å"I’ve seen the little lamp. † The lamp is the symbol of hope, the light that shines and overcomes the darkness, â€Å"The lamp was perfect the lamp was real. † This contrasts with the dolls in the house that were â€Å"too big for it†. The mother and father dolls did not fit the house and were â€Å"sprawled very stiff as though they had fainted in the drawing-room†. It is ironic how the dolls dont belong in the ‘doll’ house, but the lamp outshines the dolls despite its size. I think the reason why the dolls did not fit was because a doll house is supposed to have a cozy, warm homey feeling. But the mother and father dolls reflect kezias family, showing that her family doesn’t act warm and friendly like a doll house family should, and the lamp represents her hope, that it will always shine brightly, and will always be there. It’s the only ‘real’ thing in the story. Because when Kezia asked why she couldn’t invite the Kelveys over, it seemed like a reasonable, real question. Aunt Beryl said ‘Certainly not’ as if they were some rules that were built into them, she couldnt justify her answer, it was ‘just because’, no real reason. Therefore Kezia is more ‘real’ just like the lamp, yet everyone else is not. To conclude, the doll’s house represents the society. It appears solid and simple on the outside but when you open it up you can see how society becomes divided. Divided by wealth and power, people are sorted into classes, just like the house is divided into different rooms.