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The Doll's House Essay

Decent Essays

Both, ‘The Dolls House’ and ‘The Garden Party’ reflect on similar situations that we see in our day to day lives such as class distinction and power. In ‘The Doll’s House’, the Burnell girls are so excited to show their doll’s house to the other girls at school at school the next day. Isabel (the eldest child) says “I’m to tell first because I’m the eldest.” This reflects on how in situations and society some people hold more power over other people. Things such as age and social status can often create division as the oldest or one of the highest status can be thought to be more important compared to others. ‘The Doll’s House’ also shows how most people are merely attracted to materialistic things, as soon as the Burnell girls show everyone …show more content…

In ‘The Garden Party’, Mrs Sheridan gives Laura her hat while giving her the hat she says, “people like them don’t expect sacrifices from us.” Once again the line suggests that Mrs Sheridan considers herself superior and detached to the people of a lower class around her. Also, when Laura looks at herself in her mirror whilst wearing the hat she sees a ‘charming girl’, this once again hints that Laura too like her mother is isolated from the outside world, she hasn’t interacted with people outside her class. The black colour of the hat relates to Mrs Sheridan coldness or rather lack of warmth towards the situation and the man’s death. The hat is an important part of the story as when laura goes to see the man’s family she apologises for the hat. This may be because she has suddenly realised how disconnected she has been to the outside world her entire life and has realised the how biased her mother’s and family’s treatment of other people is. Seeing the man’s body shocks Laura, her reaction upon seeing the body is odd, she is almost elated. This could be because this is her first real experience outside the shelter of her home. Upon seeing the lifeless body herself, Laura realises how fragile life truly is. Her not being able to finish her sentence to Laurie, “isn’t life..,” also shows how Laura has realised that regardless of class everyone has the same outcome, death. And if not anything else, they all at least have that in common. Similarly in “The Doll’s House”, the doll’s house itself is a symbol of the Burnell’s status in society as its popularity suggests that the Burnells are the only people with a doll’s house and are therefore different, more superior to everyone around them. The odd smell of paint coming from the doll’s house could be a representation of the Burnells themselves, that although they are of a higher class and are superior they are not perfect. The odd

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