Key Points of the Story
- As the title suggests, the little girl refers to the main characters of the story who goes by the name Kezia.
- It portrays the father-child relationship during the early 20th century.
- Kezia misunderstood her father’s strictness and usually remained scared of him.
- One day, her attitude towards her father changed.
- With this story, the writer wants us to feel the bond of love that children have with their parents.
Detailed Summary
In the story, there is a little girl named Kezia. She lives with her father, her mother, and her grandmother. Also, she was afraid of his father and tried to avoid him all the time. Moreover, she feels comforted on seeing his father leaving for office.
She was so afraid of her father that she mumbled in front of him as he appeared to her as rude, critical, and harsh. Further, 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. Then again, she finds 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 casing. But after that, she needs to stuff the cushion with something. That’s why she goes to her mother’s room 6 number the bed table, there she finds many sheets of fine paper.
Then she tore the paper into small pieces, 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 accepted her mistake and tries to explain the reason why she does 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 punishment even after she accepted her mistake. Terribly, she said, “What did God make father for?”Most importantly, one evening, she saw Mr. McDonald playing with her 5 children, laughing and enjoying with them. This event influenced Kezia that all fathers are not similar. She concluded, that some father is caring and loving like Mr. McDonald and some are harsh like her father.
However, her attitude towards her father changed. Someday, her mother needs to be hospitalized, and her grandmother goes with her. So, Kezia was alone in the house with the cook. The day went fine, but the night was a different issue. In the middle of the night, she woke up in fear, 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 a whole day to provide for his family and was too weary by evening to play with her.
Theme/Message
The main theme of the story is the relationship between parents and their children. Also, the writer Katherine Mansfield wishes to tell us that children share a very deep bond of love with their parents. Even though young children do not feel that their parents love and care for them because they are strict, to them, many of their parents’ actions appear unfair. Besides, when children grow up, they realize that all the acts of their parents were favorable for them. In addition, all along, the parents were afraid for them, and below their strictness lies a heart full of love for them.
Difficult Words
- a figure to be feared: a person to be feared
- Glad sense of relief: feeling relaxed
- Fainter and fainter: to lessen or reduce
- slip down: come down quietly and unwillingly
- Stutter: to stammer, to speak with pauses
- Wretched: unhappy, sad
- on the brink of suicide: about to commit suicide
- Snoring: the sound produced by some people when they are asleep.
- Gravely: seriously
- Laboriously: with a lot of effort or difficulty
- Wandered into: went into, by chance
- Scraps: small pieces of cloth or paper, etc, that are not needed
- Hue and Cry: angry protest
- The damned thing: used to express anger at something
- Clung: to attach yourself to something
- Snuggled: moved into a warm, comfortable position close to another person
- tucked up: covered up nicely in bed
- Butcher: a person who cuts animals, who cuts meat
