The Doll's House

Else and Lil Kelvey are the most sympathetic figures in the text. Their mother is a washerwoman, and their father’s whereabouts are unknown, though it is speculated that he is in prison. As the most socioeconomically-disadvantaged children in their school, they are bullied. Even their teacher is rude to them. Neither girl has done anything malicious; they are quiet and try to keep out of everyone else’s way. While the Burnell sisters are escorted to and from school in a carriage, the Kelvey sisters walk everywhere by themselves. Lil wears a dress made from the Burnells’ old tablecloth with a hat that used to belong to the postmistress. She looks more like a little boy than a little girl, causing people to make fun of her. Her younger sister, Else, is quiet and solemn, and her choice of clothes—a long white dress and boys’ boots—only exacerbates her odd appearance.

Their classmates, particularly Isabel Burnell and her closest friends, are cruel to the girls and tease them for their quiet demeanor and hand-me-down clothes. The Kelvey girls are fascinated by the description of the doll’s house, but they accept that their social standing means they will not be invited to see it. They are surprised by and grateful for Kezia’s kind invitation.

The Kelvey sisters are very close and take care of each other. Lil, the older sister, does most of the talking. Else communicates with her sister in public by holding onto the back of her skirt and tugging to indicate her opinion or the direction that she wants Lil to head in. Else does not speak until the very end of the narrative, when she tells her sister that she saw the lamp, which fascinated her since she first heard Isabel and Kezia describe it.

Aunt Beryl is the only adult whose perspective is shared through free indirect discourse. It is implied that she lives with the Burnells, though her relation to either of their parents is not directly stated. Her first impression of the doll’s house is that the smell of paint is unpleasantly strong.

When Kezia invites the Kelvey sisters to admire the doll’s house in the courtyard, they are caught by Aunt Beryl. Beryl reminds Kezia that she is not supposed to talk to Else and Lil and chases the little girls away. She is “cold and proud” about running them off, and she reflects that she feels better after yelling at her niece.

The reader briefly enters Beryl’s consciousness to learn that she received a “terrifying, threatening” letter from Willie Brent. The letter stated that she must meet him that evening in Pulman’s Bush or he will come to the front door to demand an explanation. This jarring moment in the narrative forces the reader to pause and consider why this adult’s psyche is the only one that we enter. The deliberately ambiguous circumstances surrounding her relationship with Willie generate intrigue. The reader knows that Beryl is a class-conscious snob who believes she is superior to others. The relationship between Beryl and Willie might be romantic, and he might be of a lower social station, which she would consider shameful.