Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield
1. Katherine Mansfield was born in 1888. She was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world, and have been published in 25 languages. Mansfield wrote short stories and poetry under a variation of her own name, Katherine Mansfield, which explored anxiety, sexuality and existentialism alongside a developing New Zealand identity. When she was 19, she left New Zealand and settled in England, where she became a friend of D.H.Lawrence, Virginia Woolf,Lady Ottoline Morrell and others in orbit of the Bloomsbury Group. Mansfield was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1917, and she died in France aged 34.
2.The plot of the “The Doll’s House”
A doll’s house arrives at the Burnell home as a gift. The dollhouse smells so strongly of paint that Aunt Beryl thinks it could make someone sick. Isabel, Lottie and Kezie, the Burnell’s three daughters, do not mind the smell however and couldn’t be more delighted by the house. Kezia the youngest sister notices a small lamp which she thinks it the best part of it. The next morning the Burnells are excited to boast to the other girls at school. Isabel the oldest forbids her sisters from saying anything before sh’s had a chance to describe the doll’s house to the others. She also reminds Lottie and Kezia that she is allowed to choose which two girls will visit first to see the house. Kezia asks her mother if she can invite the Kelveys to see the doll’s house but Mrs.Burnell refuses and tells Kezia she knows why. More days pass and by now everyone has seen the house except the Kelveys. At school the other girls cruelly taunt the sisters who react only with silence. Later afternoon Kezia is at home swinging on the big white gates of her family’s courtyard. When she spots the Kelveys walking down the road she decides to swing the gates open and invite then inside. Lil shakes her head and reminds Kezia that they aren’t supposed to talk to one another. Kezia assures Lil that it doesn’t matter. Lil still doesn’t want to go but Else standing behind her tugs on her dress and looks at her pleadingly. Kezia lead the Kelveys inside. While she is showing the Kelveys the doll’s house, Aunt Beryl spots them and shouts furiously at Kezia. She shoos the Kelveys away and slams the doll’s house shut. It is revealed that earlier that afternoon Aunt Beryl had received a letter from Willie Brent. In the note, Willie had threatened to come knock on the door if Aunt Beryl didn’t meet him that night in Pullman’s Bush. Aunt Bery’l is terrified by the idea of Willie coming to the door. After yelling at the girls however she feels better and hums as she walks back into the house. The Kelveys meanwhile run off and sit by the side of the road Else inches closer to her sister and smiles. She speaks for the first time in the story sayin “I seen the lamp”.
3.Characters
1.Aunt Beryl
2. Isabel
3. Lottie
4.Kezia-the youngest sister
5.Lil and Else Kelvey-the daughters of the village washerwoman and the poorest girls at school.
6.Emmie Cole and Lena Logan-as the first two girls to come see the house.
7.Mrs. Burnell
8. Willie Brent-Aunt Beryl had received a letter from that character.
4. If I were a writer, I would conclude the story with not desecration of Lil and Else Kelvey.
5.I want to change the title od a story in “Desecration”
6.Task1. True and False
1.The doll’s house semlls so strongly of paint that Aunt Beryl thinks it could make someone sick.
2. Isabel, Lottie and Kezia the Aunt Beryl’s three daughter.
3.Kezia the youngest sister notices a small lamp which she thinks it the best part of it.
4.Isabel chooses Lil and Else Kelvey as the first two girls to come see the house.
5.Kezia asks her mother if she can invite the Kelveys to see the doll’s house, fortunately Mrs. Burnell allows to her.
Task2. Multiple Choice
1.Who thinks the smell of paint makes someone sick?
A.Isabel
B. Aunt Beryl
C. Burnell
2.Isabel, Lottie and Kezia whose daughters?
A. Burnell’s daughter
B. Aunt Beryl’s daughter
C. The daughters of washerwoman
3.Isabel chooses whom to consider the house as the first?
A. Lil and Else Kelvey
B. Lottie and Kezia
C. Emmie Cole and Lena Logan
4.What color was the gate of the house of Kezia’s?
A. white
B. Blue
C.Black
5.At the end of the story wgo says about the lamp?
A. Else
B. Lil
C. Willie Brent
7.Answers
True and False: True, False, True, False, False.
Multiple Choice: B, A, C, A, A.

Author: Axmedova Durdona

Teacher: Zarifa G’ofurovna