doll's house and other stories prl4

8/14/2019 Doll's House and Other Stories PRL4

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Introduction

What can you do if you are thirty and, suddenly, turning the corner of your own

street, you feel perfectly happy, as if you had swallowed a piece of the late autumn sun?Berthas feelings show her love of the moment and her satisfaction with her

home, her family and her interesting circle of friends. Yet pain is not far away.

Before the day is over, Bertha's safe, happy world has been destroyed and she faces

an uglier, crueller reality.In the other stories in this book, we are shown other uncomfortable

comparisons: the way a music teacher behaves towards his pupils and towards hisown family; the friendliness which richer children show towards each other and the

cruelty with which they treat poor ones; the way in which one neighbouring familygives an epensive party and the other is affected by a sudden death.

!atherine "ansfield is now recogni#ed as one of the greatest short story

writers in the $nglish language but she had a difficult life and was often unhappy.

%he was born in &ellington, ew (ealand, in )*** but went to +ondon when shewas fourteen and lived the rest of her life in $urope. %he married ohn "iddleton

"urry, an important -ournalist and critic. hrough him she met other famous writers,

such as /. 0. +awrence and 1irginia &oolf. 0er best2known collections of short

stories areBliss and Other Stories 3)4567 and The Garden Party and Other Stones3)4557. 0owever, she had serious health problems. %he died of tuberculosis in

8rance in )459, at the early age of thirty2five.

Bliss

lthough Bertha Young was thirty, she still sometimes wanted to run instead

of walk. %he wanted to dance in the street. %he wanted to throw something up in theair and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at 2 nothing at nothing, simply.

&hat can you do if you are thirty and, suddenly, turning the corner of your

own street, you feel perfectly happy, as if you had swallowed a piece of the late

afternoon sunh, is that you, Ber< +ook here. I'll be late. I'll take a tai and come along as=uickly as I can, but can we have dinner ten minutes later< ll righth, 0arry?''Yes


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"arried women used to sometimes be called by their husband's first name in

$nglish. his does not often happen now.

'>h, I think so I hope so,' said Bertha brightly.'I have had such a terrible time with a tai driver; he was most strange. I

couldn't get him tostop he more I tried, thefaster he went.'

0e took off his coat. Bertha noticed that his socks were white, too most

charming and unusual.'But how terrible?' she cried.

'Yes, it really was,' said $ddie, following her into the sitting2room. 0e knewthe orman !nights. In fact, he was going to write something for orman !night

when the theatre opened.'&ell, &arren, how's the writingh, "r &arren, what happy socks?'

'I am so glad you like them,' he said, looking down at his feet. 'hey seem to

look so much whiter when there is a moon.' nd he turned his thin sad face toBertha. here is a moon, you know.'

0e really was a most attractive person. nd so were the orman !nights.

he front door opened and shut. 0arry shouted: '0ello, you people. /own in

five minutes.' hey heard him hurry up the stairs. Bertha smiled, she knew how0arry liked to be always busy.

%he liked his enthusiasm and his love of fighting. o other people he

sometimes seemed strange, but they did not know him well. %he understood him.

%he talked and laughed until 0arry came down. %he had forgotten that @earl 8ultonhad not arrived.

'I wonder if "iss 8ulton has forgotten


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about her. %he's wonderful. nd besides, how can you feel so differently about

someone who means so much to me< I shall try to tell you all about it when we are

in bed tonight.'

t those last words, Bertha suddenly thought: '%oon these people will go. hehouse will be =uiet. he lights will be out. nd you and he will be alone together.'

%he -umped up from her chair and ran over to the piano.

'&hat a pity someone does not play?' she cried.

8or the first time in her life, Bertha Young wanted her husband.>h; she had been in love with him, of course. But her feelings were different

from his.hey talked together about it they were such good friends.But now she felt different. %he really wanted him. &as this the meaning of

that feeling of perfect happinessf

course, it wasn'tpersonal "ay I send it to you


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look as if they belonged there. But the lamp was perfect. It seemed to smile at !e#ia,

to say: 'I live here. 'he lamp was real.

he Burnell children could hardly walk fast enough to school the netmorning. hey wanted to tell everybody, proudly to describe their doll's house

before the school bell rang.

'I'll tell them,' said Isabel,'because I'm the eldest. nd you two can -oin in

after. But I'm going to tell first.'here was nothing to answer. Isabel was always right, and +ottie and !e#ia

knew this. %o they walked along the road to school and said nothing.'nd then I'll choose who's going to come and see it first. "other said I could

bring someone.'heir mother had told them that they could ask the girls from school to come

and look at the doll's house, while it stood outside. he girls could come two at a

time. hey could not stay for tea, or come into the house, though. But they could

stand =uietly outside, while Isabel pointed to all the beautiful things in the doll'shouse, and +ottie and !e#ia looked pleased ...

But even though they hurried to school, the bell was ringing as they arrived at

the gate. hey didn't have time to tell the others about the doll's house, after all. But

Isabel looked very important and whispered behind her hand to the girls near her,'Eot something to tell you at playtime.'

@laytime came and the girls surrounded Isabel. he girls in her class nearlyfought to put their arms around her, to walk away with her, to be her special friend.

Isabel stood under the trees and the little girls pressed up close. nd the only twowho stayed outside the group were the little !elveys. But they were always on the

outside. hey knew better than to come anywhere near the Burnells.he fact was, the school was not really the kind of school that the Burnells

wanted their children to go to. But it was the only school for miles. %o all the

children in the neighbourhood, rich and poor, went there. But the !elveys were

different from all the rest. "any of the parents, including the Burnells, even toldtheir children that they must not speak to the !elveys. nd so the other girls, led by

the Burnells, walked past the !elveys with their noses in the air. $ven the teacher

had a special voice for the !elveys, and a special smile for the other children when+il !elvey brought her a bunch of sad2looking flowers.he !elveys were the daughters of a hard2working little woman who went

from house to house washing people's clothes. his was awful enough. But where

was "r !elvey< obody knew for certain. But everybody said he was in

prison.1ery nice friends for other people's children? nd their appearance? @eoplesaid that they couldn't understand why "rs !elvey dressed her children in such

strange clothes. he truth was that the people "rs !elvey worked for sometimes

gave her old things that they did not need. %he used these things to dress her

children.

+il !elvey, the older girl, for instance, came to school in a skirt made from the

Burnells' old green tablecover, and a blouse made from the +ogans' old red curtains.

0er hat used to belong to "iss +ecky, who worked in the post office. +il reallylooked very funny 2 it was impossible not to laugh at her. nd her little sister, $lse,

wore a long white dress and a pair of little boy's boots. But $lse looked strange all

the time. %he was small and thin, with very short hair, and enormous eyes. obody

had ever seen her smile, and she rarely spoke. %he spent her life holding on to +il, apiece of +il's skirt held tight in her hand. &here +il went, $lse followed.

ow, they stood on the edge of the group of girls; you couldn't stop themlistening. &hen the little girls turned round and looked at them coldly, +il, as usual,

gave her silly smile, but $lse only looked.nd Isabel's voice, very proud, continued telling. he girls were ecited when

they heard about the carpet, and the beds with real covers, and the cooker with an

oven door.

&hen she had finished, !e#ia said,'You've forgotten the lamp, Isabel.''>h yes,' said Isabel, 'and there's a little lamp, all made of yellow glass, that

stands on the dining2room table. It looks -ust like a real one.'

'he lamp's best of all,' cried !e#ia. %he thought Isabel wasn't telling the girls

enough about the little lamp. But nobody was listening to her, because now Isabelwas choosing two girls to come back with them after school and look at the doll's

house. %he chose $mmie Dole and +ena +ogan. But when the others knew that theywere all going to have a chance to see the doll's house, they were very, very nice to

Isabel. >ne by one, they put their arms around Isabel's waist and walked away withher. hey had something to whisper to her, a secret,'Isabel's my friend.'

>nly the little !elveys moved away, forgotten there was nothing more forthem to hear.

/ays passed, and more and more children saw the doll's house. It was all they

talked about.'0ave you seen the Burnells' doll's househ, isn't it lovely?'

'0aven't you seen it yet< >h, dear?'$ven in the lunch hour, they talked about it. he little girls sat under the treeseating their thick meat sandwiches and big pieces of cake. ll the time, the !elveys

were sitting as near as they could. hey listened too, little $lse holding on to Lil, as

they ate their -am sandwiches out of a newspaper.

'"other,' said !e#ia, 'can't I ask the !elveys -ust once


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t last, everybody had seen the doll's house ecept the !elveys. >n that day,

the little girls were not =uite so interested in the sub-ect. It was the lunch hour. he

children were standing together under the trees. %uddenly, as they looked at the!elveys, eating out of their paper, always by themselves, always listening, they

wanted to be nasty to them. $mmie Dole started the whisper.

'+il !elvey's going to be a servant when she grows up.'

'>2oh, how awful?' said Isabel Burnell, and she looked back at $mmie withvery wide eyes.

$mmie swallowed and nodded to Isabel. %he had often seen her motherswallow and nod like that at similar times.

'It's true 2 it's true 2 it's true,' she said.+ena +ogan looked very interested. '%hall I ask her


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singing a little song to herself.

fter the !elveys had gone =uite a long way from the Burnells' house, they

sat down to rest at the side of the road. +il's cheeks were still burning? %he took off

her hat and held it on her knee. %ilently, they looked across the fields, past the river,to the group of trees where +ogan's cows were standing. &hat were their thoughtsh, +aura,' said ose angrily. 'You can't stop a band playing every time

someone has an accident. I'm sorry that the accident happened, too. I feel -ust assorry as you do. But you won't bring that man back to life by feeling sad about it.'

'&ell, I'm going straight up to tell mother.''/o, dear,' said ose.

'"other, can I come into your roomf course, child. &hy, what's the matterf course,' said her mother. '&hat's the matter with you today


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'ake it yourself, +aura dear,' she said. '/on't change your clothes. o, wait,

take these flowers too. @oor people like flowers.'

'he flowers are wet. hey'll spoil +aura's dress, 'ose said.

'>nly the basket then. Aun along,' said her mother.It was growing dark as +aura shut the garden gates. he little houses down

below were in deep shadow. 0ow =uiet it seemed after the afternoon. %he was still

too full of the party to reali#e that she was going to visit the home of a dead man.

%he crossed the broad road, and entered the dark, smoky little street. &omenhurried past and men stood around. Dhildren played outside the doors. here were

weak lights inside the houses and shadows moved across the windows. +aurahurried on. %he wished that she had put a coat on. 0er dress shone, and her hat with

the gold flowers seemed to be too big. @eople must be staring at her. It was amistake to come. %hould she go back home

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