The Doll's House

The lamp in Katherine Mansfield's "The Doll's House" and the monkey in Liliana Heker's "The Stolen Party" illuminate the common theme by showing children in the middle of learning a harsh reality about the world they live in. The young main characters, Kezia Burnell in "The Doll's House", and Rosaura in "The Stolen Party", live in a society where classism is common. They are both naÐ"Їve though, to the fact that classism exists and that people are seriously affected by it. The lamp and the monkey are symbols that symbolize how the young main characters of each story deal with the classism around them, and in Rosaura's case, how she is treated because of the classism.

The lamp in "The Doll's House" symbolizes how Kezia sees things that are simple and how she is usually ignored by the rest of her upper class society. The lamp is the most simplistic item in the doll house, and Kezia considers it as her favorite detail of the dollhouse. Her older sisters and peers though, are fonder of the elaborate details of the house, giving the lamp little or no attention. Also, Kezia is the only one out of her materialistic sisters that notices the Kelveys, the lower class sisters Lil and Else. Everyone else ignores them, and when they are noticed, they are ridiculed for being poor. Kezia doesn't understand why this is happening, so she shows the Kelveys the doll's house, even though her mother told her not to. By showing the Kelveys the dollhouse, Kezia realizes the simplicity of being nice, rather than be like her sisters and be classist towards the Kelveys.

Much like Kezia, Rosaura is naÐ"Їve about the classism, which leads to her being considered a pet, like the monkey at the birthday party. She is "invited" to the birthday of Luciana, a girl that Rosaura thinks is her friend. Senora Ines makes Rosaura do certain jobs, having her think they are special privileges. Rosaura later figures out that she was manipulated when Senora Ines offers her money instead of a present at the end of the party, and calls Rosaura "her pet". Rosaura is considered equal to the monkey, and she is thought of as a pet because