Previous
Dialect
Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Kezia and Isabel:
In “The Doll’s House,” Isabel acts as a foil to Kezia, meaning that the ways in which Kezia is different from Isabel reveal important qualities of Kezia’s character. Isabel, as the oldest sister, is bossy and quite comfortable embracing “the powers that went with being eldest.” She leads the other schoolchildren in shunning and mocking the lower-class Kelvey sisters and revels in the attention she receives for having a fancy doll house.
Kezia, on the other hand, is quiet, sensitive, and concerned about the ways that the Kelveys are treated. Not only does she ask her mother if she can invite the Kelveys over to see the dollhouse (after all of the other children in school have), but, after her mother says no, she goes against her mother’s wishes and invites them over when she sees them walking by the house. The following passage captures Kezia’s scrupulousness:
Now she could see that they were the Kelveys. Kezia stopped swinging. She slipped off the gate as if she was going to run away. Then she hesitated. The Kelveys came nearer, and beside them walked their shadows, very long, stretching right across the road with their heads in the buttercups. Kezia clambered back on the gate; she had made up her mind; she swung out.
This passage captures the moment that Kezia stops emulating the cruel and rule-following Isabel in order to do what she thinks is right. Though she initially “hesitates” from her place swinging on the house’s front gate, she ultimately “ma[kes] up her mind” and opens the gate up to the Kelveys, who she believes deserve to see the dollhouse like everyone else. Ultimately, when compared to Isabel, Kezia comes across as caring, attentive, and committed to acting with integrity.
Related Themes:
