The Doll’s House
By Katherine Mansfield
Grade 9
When you were a child. What was your
  favorite toy? Recall some of your
         experiences with it.
Is social discrimination inherent or
 learned? What indignities do the
  ostracized poor have to suffer?
Katherine Mansfield
➔ Katherine Mansfield was born Kathleen
  Mansfield Beauchamp in Wellington,
  New Zealand, on October 14, 1888.
➔ Educated in Wellington and London,
  Mansfield left New Zealand for England
  at the age of 19 to begin a career as an
  author.
➔ Much of Mansfield's early work is in the
  form of the sketch, in which a segment of
  life is described highly popular in journals
  of the time.
Katherine Mansfield
➔ Innovative, accessible, and
  psychologically acute,
  Mansfield’s numerous short
  stories pioneered the genre’s
  shape in the 20th century.
Katherine Mansfield
➔ Her fiction, poetry, journals, and letters
  cover an array of subjects: the difficulties
  and ambivalences of families and
  sexuality, the fragility and vulnerability of
  relationships, the complexities and
  insensitivities of the rising middle
  classes, the social consequences of war,
  and overwhelmingly the attempt to
  extract whatever beauty and vitality one
  can from mundane and increasingly
  difficult experience.
Katherine Mansfield
➔ In France during the summer of
  1915, Mansfield spent time with her
  brother Leslie, reflecting on their
  family and life in New Zealand.
➔ Tragically, Leslie was killed during
  training for service in WWI; “blown
  to bits” while demonstrating how to
  throw a hand grenade, remarked
  Mansfield.
Katherine Mansfield
➔ Following his death, she drew
  upon the memories of New
  Zealand discussed with her
  brother in writing some of her
  most well-known work, including
  Bliss and Other Stories (1920),
  The Garden Party, and Other
  Stories (1922), and her novel The
  Aloe (1930).
Katherine Mansfield
➔ Following his death, she drew
  upon the memories of New
  Zealand discussed with her
  brother in writing some of her
  most well-known work, including
  Bliss and Other Stories (1920),
  The Garden Party, and Other
  Stories (1922), and her novel The
  Aloe (1930).
The Doll’s House
Theme
➔ Refers to the central idea of the story. It is a general statement
  about life that the writers expresses in the story. Usually the
  theme is expressed in a complete sentence.
Stated theme
➔ is directly expressed in the story.
➔ This theme can be stated by the author, or by a character at
  the end of the story.
Implied theme
➔ Is not directly stated.
➔ It is revealed by the other elements in the story.
➔ You may discover an implied theme by examining the
  following elements of the story.
Implied theme
1. The title may tell us the author’s opinion of what happens in the story.
2. A character may learn a lesson about life.
3. The personality traits of a character may tell us the author’s ideas about
   people in general.
4. Details of setting may suggest the author’s ideas about the world in
   general.
5. The author’s point of view may suggest how he/she wants us to react to
   the story.