The story of an hour by Kate Chopin provides many examples of “inside” and “outside”. The first impression I get of Mrs. Mallard when she is told …show more content…
the doll’s house’s major theme is the spitefulness of class divisions. In the story the families in the upper class don’t usually interact with the lower class because they see the lower class as outsiders in their social class. The reason they do in this story is because there were no other schools in the town. The school is represented almost as a pot, mixing all of social classes, and the Kelveys as the lowest of the social classes. The other children are too scared to even talk to the Kelveys; they are considered the outcasts. (135) Mrs. Hay gives a dolls ' house to the Burnell children as a gift. The doll house was a “perfect little house,” stated Mansfield. (135) I think that the doll house itself is a metaphor for the rich upper class. The doll house may be perfect, but what it symbolizes "stinks" figuratively and physically. The paint smell is the only negative thing about this doll house. The smell to me denotes the cruelty of society. However the inside of the doll house is definitely more appreciated than it is on the …show more content…
Similar to the window in The Story of an Hour the lamp is seen as a source of hope and freedom from the social class discrimination. When the girls went to show everyone the doll house The Kelveys, two poor girls, Lil and Else, could not see it because they were of a much lower social class. Not only are the Kelvey sisters disliked by their classmates, but even their teacher has a special way of talking to them, different from how she speaks to the other kids. Also when the girls at school got tired of the dollhouse, they would look for something new to amuse themselves with. The girls abused the Kelveys verbally, taunting them about their future and their father. According to Mansfield doing so makes these little rich girls “wild with joy.” Towards the end of the story Kezia wanted to show the Kelveys her doll house, but her mom did not want them having anything to do with their family because of their social class. “Lil gasped, then she said, “Your ma told our ma you wasn’t to speak to us” Oh, well,” said Kezia”. (Mansfield140) When Kezia invited the Kelveys to see her doll house, she was metaphorically, attempting to break the social hierarchy of class inequalities by bringing the girls into the courtyard to see the doll