The Doll’s House (1922) by Katherine Mansfield

            Katherine Mansfield was born in New Zealand in 1888. She was a famous short story writer well known for her The Garden Party and A Cup of Tea. She passed away at the age of 34 in 1923, because of Tuberculosis.

            The Doll’s House is a short story about the class discrimination prevailing in the minds of children and adults. The story opens with Mrs Hay gifting a beautiful doll’s house to the Burnell children. The Burnells are wealthy people and they have three daughters namely Isabel, Lottie and Kezia.

            The school has all classes of students ranging from the richest to the poorest. The Kelveys are the poorest and nobody knows the whereabouts of Mr Kelvey. It is assumed that he is in the prison. Mrs Kelvey makes little income by working as a washerwoman in the neighbourhood. She borrows the excess curtain clothes and table clothes to stitch dresses for daughters Lil and Else. Lil is a plump girl with freckles and Else is a tiny girl who never speaks. The children and the teachers in the school do not speak with the little Kelveys.

            The Burnell children consider the doll’s house as an asset. So, they seek permission to their parents to show the doll’s house to the children in the school. Isabel, the eldest, is bossy and decides who should see the doll’s house first. So, all the girls in the school try to be nice with the Burnells to make sure that they are taken to see the house first.

            The youngest girl Kezia loves the lamp in the doll’s house, the best. She feels that, it looks like a real lamp. Few days have passed and all the girls in the school have seen the doll’s house, except the Kelveys. Kezia wishes to show the doll’s house even to the poor Kelveys.

One day, Kezia sees the little Kelveys crossing her house. So, she invites them to see the doll’s house. The girls refuse initially, but Kezia insists them to have a quick look. Lil and Else see the doll’s house and are just admiring it when Aunt Beryl chases the little girls away like chickens. She scolds Kezia for having invited the Kelveys.

The story comes to an end with Else exclaiming about the beauty of the lamp inside the doll’s house. The story shows how the younger generation are ready to accept others irrespective of differences. On the other hand, the rich adults try their best to instigate class consciousness in the minds of the younger generation. Thus, Katherine Mansfield portrays the attitude of the rich people in the society.

The Skylight Room (1906) by O. Henry

 

O. Henry is the pen name of William Sydney Porter, a famous American short story writer. He was born in 1862 and has written several short stories like The Last Leaf, The Gift of the Magi and The Ransom of the Red Chief. His stories are famous for the surprise endings.

This short story, The Skylight Room, traces the life of a young woman named Miss Elsie Leeson, who struggles because of poverty and unemployment. The young woman seeks the boarding house rented by Mrs Parker. But, Mrs Parker loves only to have elite people in her boarding house. She treats the poor people indignantly and to them her coloured maid Clara shows the rooms.

Along with Miss Leeson, there live men and women from different walks of life in the boarding house. All the men love Miss Leeson for her cheerfulness and positive nature. The young women Miss Dorn and Miss Longnecker are jealous of Miss Leeson for the attention she receives from the men.

Miss Leeson is a tiny, beautiful woman with long hair. She is always happy and occasionally sits on the stairs to chat with the other boarders. She lives in a compact skylight room. The skylight room is rented for $2, and that is the smallest room in the boarding house. Miss Leeson usually comes with a bunch of papers and a huge typewriter. She lies on her bed and enjoys the beautiful view of the sky and the stars. She loves one particular star and names it as Billy Jackson.

The next day, during their regular conversation, she speaks about her newly named star. On hearing this Miss Longnecker, a public school teacher, laughs at her ignorance and lists down the information about that star. But, the men are more amused by the name given by Miss Leeson.

One evening, Miss Leeson returns hungry and exhausted after having looked for job, for the past few days.  Mr Hoover, a fat and old boarder proposes her and she slaps him. She walks to her room and lies down hungry on her bed. She is completely exhausted of looking for job and is extremely hungry. In her starvation, she looks at Billy Jackson and thanks the star for giving her positive attitude and happiness always. Finally, she waves the star farewell and passes out (becomes unconscious). The next day, Mrs Parker reluctantly calls the ambulance. The ambulance doctor named William Jackson, rushes to the skylight room, carries Miss Leeson and leaves to the hospital.

The narrator ends the story, by reading a news item from the newspaper, stating the survival of the starving patient from No. 49, East Street, referring to Miss Leeson. This story discusses how a young woman had been suffering from unemployment, poverty and hunger, but still managed to keep up her spirit positive and cheerful.

One Art (Poem by Elizabeth Bishop)

Elizabeth Bishop was born in 1911 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father passed away when she was just 8 months old, after which her mother became psychologically ill, hence institutionalised when she was 5 years old. She has received several awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1956.

One Art is an autobiographical poem which was published in 1976. In this poem, Elizabeth Bishop tries to present “losing” as art. She says that the loss of different things and people hurt us momentarily, but towards the end we get a collection of experiences. The loss described in this poem ranges from a bunch of keys, time and watch to loved ones. The intensity of the loss is different. She starts with less important things and moves on to more significant ones.

The poem is a villanelle, thus consists of 19 lines. The first line repeats as the last line of 2^nd & 4^th stanza; Third line repeats as last line of the 3^rd, 5^th & 6^th stanza;Opening line & third line of the 1^st stanza becomes the last 2 lines of the final quatrain.

The first stanza begins with losing as an art and the poet claims that certain things are meant to get lost. It is natural that we lose something every day, ending up with confusion and loss of time.

In the third stanza, she describes that she lost things faster than expected. She says that she had to lose names and places; still it was not a disaster. After her father passed away and her mother was institutionalized, Elizabeth Bishop stayed in Nova Scotia with her maternal grandparents. Then she was taken back to Worcester by her father’s relatives. She loved her grandparents and hence her shift back to Worcester from Nova Scotia can be considered a loss.

In the fourth stanza, she tells about the loss of mother’s watch. This is a symbol for the relationship with her mother. Following this, she claims to have lost her houses. The poet owned houses in Key West, Petrópolis, and Ouro Prêto and she had to sell them. Even the loss of these houses does not seem to be a disaster to her.

Next, in the fifth stanza, she describes the loss of two lovely cities, rivers and even a continent. This once again refers to her movement from place to place. For some part of her life, she lived in Brazil and had to leave. She does not consider the loss of these many emotionally important places, a disaster.

In the final stanza, the poet’s casual joking ironical tone disappears for a moment when she tells about the loss of a loved one, presumably Lota de Macedo Soares or Alice Methfessel whom she loved. She ends the poem by repeating the theme that it is not hard to master the art of losing, despite the loss looking like a disaster.

 

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson

     Hans Christian Anderson was a 19th Century Danish author. He has penned several plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, but he is best remembered for his Fairy Tales. Andersen's Fairy Tales consists of 156 stories in nine volumes and is translated into more than 125 languages.

    This is a fairy tale about a dying little girl’s wishes and her visions. The harsh reality of poverty, hunger and lack of parental care is presented in this story. 

    The story begins on a freezing New Year’s Eve. A small, poor girl is shivering and bareheaded. She had lost her mother’s big slippers, hence barefooted too. She tries to sell match sticks in the street, but she is unable to get even a cent.

    Despite the harsh weather, she is afraid to go home because her father usually beats her for the unsold matches. As it is New Year’s Eve, all the houses are bright with lights she is tempted by the smell of roast goose. She huddles between two houses and lights a match to warm herself. 

    The freezing weather and hunger cause hallucinations. In the flame of the first match, she sees a series of a large warm stove and so she stretches her legs to get some warmth. The stove disappears, as the match goes off. Then she strikes another match stick on the wall and sees a big roast goose. That too disappears and with the striking of the third match, she sees a large and beautiful Christmas tree with bright candles. 

    In the sky, she sees a shooting star and says that a soul is on its way to Heaven, just like her beloved grandmother had taught her. Her grandmother was the only person who was kind and loving to the little girl, but even she was no more. In the flame of the next match she sees her grandmother and in order to prolong the vision, the little girl lights the entire bundle of matches. She pleads her grandmother to take her along and so she carries the little girl’s soul to Heaven. The Heaven is a place where there is no starvation and hunger.

 

    The next morning, people find the little match girl with a smiling face sitting frozen and dead. They express pity. They did not know anything about the amazing visions that the little match girl had seen before she died.