The Doll's House Essay

A contributing factor to the story "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield is the characterization of Kezia as she travels in her innocence through the symbolic world of experience. Kezia is essential to the plot because she represents a taboo, offering opposition to common ways of thinking. Through the portrayal of Kezia, as she interacts as the symbolic eccentric, Mansfield emphasizes the powers and blind justification of conformity within a society.

The story commences with the arrival of the doll's house sent to the Burnell children. The Burnells take a great liking to this new acquisition. As the two older children admire the red carpet, red plush chairs, and gold frames of this highly ornamented house, Kezia, the youngest of the girls, takes an interest in the rather simple lamp. In fact, "what she liked more than anything, what she liked frightfully, was the lamp." This infatuation symbol...