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The Doll's House | Context

Literary Modernism and Chekhovian Influence

Literary modernism emerged after World War I (1914–18) as a departure from the previous
era of literature, which prized tradition and the following of preestablished structures in
writing. Modernist writers rejected religious morality as a guiding principle of literature and
eschewed the rules, heeding the American poet Ezra Pound's (1885–1972) call to "make it
new." As a result, they chose to experiment with form and structure, largely as a reaction to
living in what they felt was a new era that the previous modes of writing failed to reflect.

The early 20th century was marked by rapid increases in industrialization; changes in social
structures, such as cultural symbols, values, acceptable behaviors, and social organizations;
and advances in science. The momentum of these changes caused writers, artists, and other
thinkers to quickly depart from traditional rules in order to keep pace with the swiftly
shifting social trends. Writers explored themes of alienation and disillusionment with
society. The catastrophic events of World War I had a profound effect on artists and writers,
who attempted to communicate how the conflict created a worldwide sense of upheaval.

Advances in the psychological concept of the self, which resulted in writers expanding upon
structures such as free verse, unreliable narrators, multiple points of view, and stream of
consciousness—a technique that ignores conventional sentence structures and instead uses
fragments of thought to mimic the flow of a character's thinking—also influenced the genre
of literary modernism. The experimentation offered up by writers, since they were no longer
mimicking styles that had come before them but were intent on inventing something
entirely new, often shocked and repulsed early audiences of modernism.

Modernism as a genre influenced not only writing but art and music as well. Artists such as
Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) and French painter Marcel Duchamp (1887–
1968) experimented with deconstructing form and shapes and using art as commentary on
society. Other modernist contemporaries of Katherine Mansfield include German-language
writer Franz Kafka (1883–1924), English writer Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), and Anglo-
American writer and poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965). Mansfield and her contemporaries
experimented with stream of consciousness in the narration of their stories. Mansfield also
relied heavily on symbolism, which can be seen in "The Doll's House," to provide
commentary on outdated classist—or advocating class division—modes of treating people
in society.

Mansfield was also highly influenced by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) of
the realist school, as both she and her husband, English writer and critic John Middleton
Murry (1889–1957), were enthusiastic readers of Russian literature. Chekhov's writing
characteristically has simple plots that explore the human condition and ask questions
rather than providing moral platitudes, or clichés. "The Doll's House" demonstrates
Chekhov's influence in its simplicity and in that it raises questions about the point of
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maintaining classism (prejudice based on class) rather than outright stating classism's
inherent cruelties.

British Colonialism and Class in Rural New Zealand

Katherine Mansfield's upbringing in rural New Zealand played a large role in her wanting to
write "The Doll's House." She was raised in a wealthy family in Wellington, New Zealand,
and grew up during a time when British colonialism thrived and created distinct class
divisions. Mansfield depicts these divisions with the Burnells and the Kelveys in "The Doll's
House."

In 1840 Britain formally annexed New Zealand, establishing a settlement at Wellington. The
indigenous Maori people, who had inhabited New Zealand since the 14th century, signed a
treaty recognizing British sovereignty in exchange for owning their own land. Still, the Maori
continued to battle with the colonialists until their population had significantly dwindled by
the 1870s. Although New Zealand became its own country, the influence of British
colonialism meant that the white settlers recreated many of the class divisions that were
prevalent in 19th-century England. Residents of Wellington dubbed their city "the empire
city" and modeled it on British society, which included a distinction between the classes in
which landowners and business owners had more social and political power. The wealthier a
family was, the more status and influence they wielded, handing down the benefits of their
class to the next generation. For people in the lower classes, such as the Kelveys in "The
Doll's House," it was expected that they would never change their station and that an
individual born into a lower class would stay in a lower class.

Literary and Biographical Parallels

Recurring Characters

Mansfield used recurring characters in her stories, and the characters of "The Doll's House"
also show up in the 1917 short story "Prelude." "Prelude" provides the account of the
Burnells' move from the more cosmopolitan town of Wellington to the rural village that is
the setting of "The Doll's House." The move to the village setting is only six miles, but it
marks a shift in the family's way of living and their connection to society. It provides the
background for why Mrs. Burnell finds it so distasteful that her daughters must attend
school with people like the Kelveys. Mrs. Burnell believes it casts an unflattering light on her
own children and that it threatens their family's social status.

"Prelude" also provides more context for the undercurrent of unhappiness that can be felt
in "The Doll's House," such as why Aunt Beryl's reaction to Kezia Burnell and her mean-
spiritedness toward the Kelveys would lessen the tension she feels in her relationship with
Willie Brent. The family is presented as providing a "front," or facade, in regard to the
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beautiful home they live in, which hides the unhappy nature of their relationships. In both
stories, Mansfield hints at the attempts of colonialists to tame their surroundings by forcing
class structures upon it in the same way they imposed manicured gardens on the wild,
natural quality of the landscape.

Mansfield's Life as Inspiration

As a young girl, Mansfield lived with her family in a rural New Zealand town named Karori,
and she drew upon it as an inspiration when writing "The Doll's House." Much like the
Burnells, the Mansfield family found living in a rural place less than desirable, but they fled
to Karori after one of their daughters died of cholera when they lived closer to town in
Wellington. While Mansfield may have observed the class divisions she depicts in "The Doll's
House" in Karori, her family mixed freely with people from different classes. She attended a
local school in Karori with her sisters until transferring to an exclusive girls' school. This early
exposure to children from different classes likely inspired the depiction of how the
schoolgirls in "The Doll's House" band together to treat the Kelveys poorly because of their
lower-class status. Mansfield always felt sensitive to the plight of the oppressed indigenous
Maori people. This growing awareness contributed to her modernist sensibilities in her
writing, as seen in her questioning the value of a class-based society when children like the
Kelveys are punished for the lower-class "sins" committed by their parents.