DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL ELECTRONIC CITY

TOPIC: THE LITTLE GIRL

NOTES FOR REFERENCE

Grade: IX

________________________________________________________________________________

Summary of ‘The Little Girl’ by Katherine Mansfield

In the story, there is a little girl named Kezia. She lives with her father, her mother, and her grandmother. She is
afraid of her father and tries to avoid him all the time. She feels comforted on seeing her father leave for office.
She was so afraid of her father that she mumbled in front of him as he appeared to her rude, critical, and harsh.
Her grandmother wanted her to understand her parents better, that’s why she would encourage her to go to the
drawing-room to chat with her parents. There she found them cold towards her. So, one fine day her grandmother
suggested Kezia prepare a pin cushion for her father’s birthday.
Consequently, Kezia stitches the three sides of the pincushion. But after that, she needed to stuff the cushion with
something. That’s why she goes to her mother’s bedroom and on the bed table, there she finds many sheets of fine
paper. She tore the paper into small pieces and filled the pincushion and sewed up the fourth side. However, she
doesn’t know that those papers contain her father’s very important speech for the Port Authority. Although she
accepts her mistake, she tries to explain the reason why she had done it.
But her father was too angry to listen to her reason and punished her with a ruler on her palm. However, she
failed to understand why she met up with punishment even after she accepted her mistake. Terribly she said,
“What did God make fathers for?”
She used to see Mr. McDonald, playing with his five children, laughing and enjoying with them. This event
influenced Kezia that all fathers are not similar. She concluded that some fathers are caring and loving like Mr.
McDonald and some are harsh like her father.
However, her attitude towards her father changed. One day, her mother needed to be hospitalized and her
grandmother went with her. So, Kezia was alone in the house with the cook. The day went fine but the night was
different. In the middle of the night, she woke up screaming and weeping as she had a terrible nightmare. When
Kezia opened her eyes, she saw her father right next to her. Her father carried her to his bedroom and made her
comfortable and warm on his bed. Further, her father told her to rub her feet with his legs and set them warm. She
spends the night with him feeling comfortable and safe. After that, she realized that her father was not a bad
person. And he loves and cares for her in his own way. Moreover, he had to work for the whole day to provide for
his family and was too weary in the evening to play with her.
https://youtu.be/nirDKSYpuWE ( video link)
Questions and Answers:
Q1. Why did Kezia avoid her father?

Ans. Kezia avoided her father because according to her, her father was an emotionless person. He never spoke to
Kezia lovingly and calmly. He scolded Kezia and reprimanded her for making mistakes. Kezia stammered in
front of her father since he was a very huge and had a giant-like figure far from the warmth of a father.

Q2. What made Kezia’s father punish her?

Ans: Kezia tore the important papers of her father to stuff in the pin cushion because she was
making a gift to present her father. Since the papers had her father’s speech written on it, she was punished for
tearing them.

Q3. What kind of person was Kezia’s father?

Ans: Kezia’s father was a hardworking man but short tempered. He was a strict disciplinarian too. When Kezia’s
mother was hospitalized, Kezia realized that her father loved her but didn’t have the art of expressing his love.

Q4. What did Kezia find whenever on Sunday afternoons her grandmother sent her down to have a talk
with her parents?
Ans: Whenever Kezia was sent by her grandmother to talk to her parents on Sunday afternoons, she always found
her mother reading and her father stretched out on the sofa, sleeping soundly and snoring.
Q5. What were the circumstances that forced Kezia to change her opinion about her father?
Ans: When her mother was hospitalized, her grandmother went to stay with her. Kezia used to sleep alone at night.
She was so scared that she started shouting at night. She had nightmares and trembled a lot with fear. Then her
father came to her room and took her into his aims to comfort her. She felt secure with her father near her. Then
she realized that her father was busy with work and had no time to play with her. She even realized that her father
loved her but didn’t have the art of expressing it. Thus, her attitude towards her father changed towards positive.

Q6. Do you think Kezia was wrong in tearing up the papers of her father? What does it show about her
character?

Answer: Kezia was certainly wrong in tearing up the papers of her father because they formed his important
speech for the Port Authority. She should not have used any of his things without his permission. The incident
only shows that she was too innocent and immature to know the wrong she was doing. All she wanted was to
please her father with a birthday gift.

Q7. Why did Kezia ask, “What did God make fathers for?”

Answer: Kezia questioned why God made fathers because she was very upset with her father’s strict behaviour.
She felt that he was too harsh and unforgiving. He did not give her even one chance to explain herself.

Q8. Kezia’s efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him very much. How did this happen?

Answer: She stitched cotton cloth to three sides and looked for the things that could be stuffed into the stitched
cloth. Soon she found many sheets of paper.

Actually, they contained her father’s speech for the Port Authority. She tore them into pieces and stuffed her case.
Next day when her father looked for the papers, he did not find them. After some time, he came to know that Kezia
had torn them into pieces to make a pincushion. He got infuriated and beat her with a ruler.

Q9. How do you interpret the behavior of Kezia’s mother towards her?

Answer: The behaviour of Kezia’s mother towards her is unlike the expected role played by mothers in
households. Perhaps, her husband’s strict nature does not leave enough room for her to pay the desired attention to
her daughter. The story reveals that her relationship with her daughter is distant. She treats the little girl in
accordance with her husband’s expectations. She orders her to take off her father’s shoes and put them outside as
this would indicate obedience. On Sunday afternoons, she spends time engrossed in a newspaper sitting with her
husband instead of talking to her daughter. When Kezia mistakenly tears the papers of her father, she drags her
downstairs to face the wrath of Father. She does not try to soothe her when Father scolds and beats her. Neither
does she defend her or try to protect her in any way. That is why Kezia turns to her grandmother to fulfil her need
for motherly care and affection.

Q10. Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers.” What kind of father was Mr. Macdonald and
how was he different from Kezia’s father?

Answer: Mr. Macdonald, Kezia’s next-door neighbour, had five children and Kezia would often see them playing
in their garden. One day, when Kezia looked through the gap in the fence, she saw the Macdonalds playing the
game ‘tag’. It was evening, and Mr. Macdonald had just returned from work but unlike her father, he looked happy
and energetic. He was having a good time with the hose on him, and he tried to catch them laughing two girls time
with his children – baby Mao was on his shoulders, was hanging on to his coat pockets and the party ran around
the flower beds, shaking with laughter. Mr. Macdonald’s sons turned. This happy scene made Kezia conclude that
there were different sorts of fathers. Mr. Macdonald was so different from her own father. He was not at all strict,
was always happy and thoroughly enjoyed the company of his children.

In contrast, her own father was often in an angry mood and remained much too busy in his work. She dreaded him
and avoided his company as much as she could. Whenever she was with him, he would get upset because out of
fear she would stammer and fumble and look silly. His strict discipline and his domineering nature would often
make Kezia wonder what God made fathers for.

Answer the following in your own words: (FOR PRACTICE AT HOME)

Q6. Why was Kezia scared of her father and how did she get over her fear?
Q7. How was Kezia’s father different from Mr. Macdonald?
Q8. Kezia in the story “The Little Girl” was afraid of her father because he never communicated with her. Write a
paragraph advising parents to make communication with their children a top priority. (80-100 words)
Explain with reference to the context: (FOR PRACTICE AT HOME)
She sat on a stool, gravely watched him until he woke and stretched, and asked the time…
1.Who is ‘she’ watching gravely?
2.Why was she sitting there waiting for him to wake up?
3. Describe the relationship between ‘she’ and ‘him’.
To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and avoided. Every morning before going to work he came
into her room and gave her a casual kiss, to which she responded with ‘Goodbye Father’.
1. What was the daily routine of the father?
2. When did the daughter feel relieved?
3. Why did the little girl fear and avoid her father?