Assess the importance of Kezia and Aunt Beryl in some or all
Katherine Mansfield's New Zealand stories on the surface appear to be innocent tales of an extended middle-class family early this century. On a hidden level, however, they represent the sad reality of a society which entraps and controls its individuals. In "Prelude" the themes are of entrapment within a patriarchal world, and less explicitly of identity and the façade human beings adopt. The story appears to focus on Kezia, Linda, and Stanley but the hidden story is about Aunt Beryl and her avoidance of the conflicting truths by which she lives her life. In "The Doll's House" the surface story is about Kezia and our Else: a story of childhood innocence and class prejudice. But, again, the real story is about Aunt Beryl and the dichotomy between her clandestine sexual assignations and her social portrayal as proud moralist. In "Prelude" and "The Doll's House" Mansfield tells the stories from the point of view of the various characters. But it is Kezia as the quiet heroine and Aunt Beryl as the hidden focus, of both stories, and their contrasting recognition of, and connection to the symbols and themes central to these stories that make them two of the most important characters.
her themes of entrapment and identity through the private reflection of her central characters. Linda is trapped by her husband and children, and is overpowered and weakened by them. She longs for escape and imagines herself fleeing in a boat: "They rowed far away over the top of the garden trees, the paddocks and the dark bush beyond. Ah, she heard herself cry: 'Faster! Faster!' " (53). Yet she knows there will be no escape except in her dreams and imagination. In "The Doll's House" Kezia is important to the story not only because of her relationship to the themes of innocence and prejudice but also, as in "Prelude", because of her connection to the central symbol in the story, the little lamp. Of all the things in the doll's house it is the lamp that mesmerises her: "But what Kezia liked more than anything, what she liked frightfully, was the lamp.…The lamp was perfect. It seemed to smile at Kezia, to say, 'I live here.' The lamp was real" (384). Just as in "Prelude" when she was overawed by the beauty of the "exquisite cream [rose]" (33), in this story it is Kezia's delight in the "exquisite little amber lamp " (384) that sets her apart from the other characters. The camellias were in bloom…The roses were in flower – gentlemen's button-hole roses, little white ones…pink monthly roses with a ring of fallen petals round the bushes, …and a certain exquisite cream kind with a slender red stem and bright scarlet leaves… Beryl, too, is dependent on, and trapped by Stanley. She is dependent on him financially: " 'How frightfully unreasonable Stanley is sometimes,' she thought, buttoning [her night-gown]. And then, as she lay down, there came that old thought, the cruel thought – ah, if only she had money of her own" (22), and trapped by being forced to live where Stanley dictates the family live and at the same time resigned to the fact of this entrapment: " 'One may as well rot here as anywhere else,' she muttered savagely, digging the stiff brass safety-pins… " (31).
Some topics in this essay:
Prelude Mansfield,
Aunt Beryl,
Oh God,
Andrew Gurr,
House Kezia,
Prelude Beryl,
Willie Brent,
Doll's House,
Mansfield's Zealand,
Else Kezia,
doll's house,
aunt beryl,
sexual assignations,
central symbol,
real story,
lives life,
story aunt beryl,
story aunt,
class prejudice,
story childhood innocence,
childhood innocence,
hidden story,
childhood innocence class,
truths lives life,
avoidance conflicting truths,
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Approximate Word count = 2129
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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