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“The Doll’s House”

Katherine Mansfield

FIRST READ: Comprehension

Identify the choice that best answers the question.
1. In “The Doll’s House,” what can readers tell about Aunt Beryl from her
reaction to the doll’s house when the Burnells first receive it?
a. She is sweet and generous.
b. She often complains.
c. She is a very practical person.
d. She is nostalgic for childhood.

2. In this paragraph from “The Doll’s House,” whose impression of the doll’s
house is conveyed?
But perfect, perfect little house! Who could possibly mind the smell? It was part of
the joy, part of the newness.

a. Aunt Beryl’s
b. Else Kelvey’s
c. Mrs. Burnell’s
d. the Burnell girls’

3. In “The Doll’s House,” which words best describe Kezia’s impression of the
lamp in the doll’s house? Choose three options.
a. gigantic
b. realistic
c. glaring
d. shabby
e. perfect
f. homey

4. In “The Doll’s House,” why are the Kelvey girls treated so badly?
a. The other girls are jealous of their unusual, carefree lives.
b. They do not conform to the beauty standards of the day.
c. Their family is poor and considered very low class.
d. They are boastful children who often misbehave.

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 GRADE 10 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

"THE DOLL’S HOUSE" BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

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5. In “The Doll’s House,” which of the following most likely drives Kezia’s
attempt to let the Kelvey girls see the doll’s house?
a. her rebellious nature
b. her desire to be kind
c. her need to show off
d. her wish to act superior

FIRST READ: Concept Vocabulary

Identify the choice that best answers the question.
6. Which of these actions would most likely mean that someone is being
shunned?
a. slamming a door in the person’s face
b. attending the person’s graduation party
c. offering the person constructive criticism
d. exchanging text messages with the person

7. If Sophie sneered, which of these feelings was she most likely showing?
a. regret
b. contempt
c. happiness
d. loneliness

8. Which of these actions would most likely mean that Carlos is behaving
spitefully?
a. shaking hands with another person
b. fidgeting instead of waiting patiently
c. falling asleep in the middle of the day
d. sticking his tongue out at someone else

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 GRADE 10 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

"THE DOLL’S HOUSE" BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

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CLOSE READ: Analyze the Text

Identify the choice that best answers the question.
9. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A In “The Doll’s House,” what do the Burnell children—especially Isabel

Burnell—gain by having the doll’s house?
a. a new attitude toward life
b. even more status than before
c. additional, improved playtime
d. a better understanding of beauty

Part B Which of these sentences from “The Doll’s House” best supports the
answer to Part A?
a. Isabel was bossy, but she was always right, and Lottie and Kezia knew
too well the powers that went with being eldest.
b. For it had been arranged that while the doll’s house stood in the courtyard
they might ask girls at school, two at a time, to come and look.
c. The girls of her [Isabel’s] class nearly fought to put their arms round her,
to walk away with her, to beam flatteringly, to be her special friend.
d. While always, as near as they could get, sat the Kelveys, our Else holding
on to Lil, listening too, while they chewed their jam sandwiches out of a
newspaper soaked with large red blobs.

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 GRADE 10 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

"THE DOLL’S HOUSE" BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

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10. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A What main criticism does “The Doll’s House” offer about the class
system that prevailed in the place and time of its setting?
a. The class system created a sense of responsibility in the upper class.
b. The class system brought physical hardship to the lower classes.
c. The class system could be cruel to the lower classes.
d. The class system was governed mainly by women.

Part B Which of these sentences from “The Doll’s House” best supports the
answer to Part A?
a. They walked past the Kelveys with their heads in the air, and as they set
the fashion in all matters of behavior, the Kelveys where shunned by
everybody.
b. They were the daughters of a spry, hard-working little washerwoman,
who went about from house to house by the day.
c. The truth was they were dressed in “bits” given to her [Mrs. Kelvey] by
the people for whom she worked.
d. She [Else] was a tiny wishbone of a child, with cropped hair and
enormous solemn eyes—a little white owl.
11. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A What does “The Doll’s House” suggest about the role of adults in the
snobbery in which children sometimes engage?
a. Adults try to stop such behavior.
b. Adults encourage such behavior.
c. Adults mostly ignore such behavior.
d. Adults misunderstand such behavior.

Part B Which of these sentences from “The Doll’s House” best supports the
answer to Part A?
a. For, really, the smell of paint coming from that doll’s house (“Sweet of old
Mrs. Hay, of course; most sweet and generous!”)—but the smell of paint
was quite enough to make anyone seriously ill, in Aunt Beryl’s opinion.
b. For it had been arranged that while the doll’s house stood in the courtyard
they might ask the girls at school, two at a time, to come and look.
c. Even the teacher had a special voice for them [the Kelveys], and a special
smile for the other children when Lil Kelvey came up to her desk with a
bunch of dreadfully common-looking flowers.
d. A letter had come from Willie Brent, a terrifying, threatening letter, saying
if she did not meet him that evening in Pulman’s Bush, he’d come to the
front door and ask the reason why!

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 GRADE 10 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

"THE DOLL’S HOUSE" BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

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12. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A What does “The Doll’s House” suggest about the way that most people
feel when they demean or insult other people?
a. They feel guilty and embarrassed.
b. They feel upset with themselves.
c. They feel completely indifferent.
d. They feel pleased and superior.

Part B Which of these sentences from “The Doll’s House” best supports the
answer to Part A?
a. And the only two who stayed outside the ring were the two who were
always outside, the little Kelveys.
b. She [Else] went through life holding on to Lil, with a piece of Lil’s skirt
screwed up in her hand.
c. But when the others knew they were all to have a chance, they couldn’t be
nice enough to Isabel.
d. But now that she [Aunt Beryl] had frightened those little rats of Kelveys
and given Kezia a good scolding, her heart felt lighter.
13. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A How does Else most likely feel when she says, “I seen the little lamp”
at the very end of “The Doll’s House”?
a. frightened by Aunt Beryl’s treatment of her
b. pleased by the lamp and by Kezia’s kindness
c. jealous of the Burnells for owning a doll’s house
d. sad that her chance to see the doll’s house was interrupted

Part B Which quotation from “The Doll’s House” best supports the answer to
Part A?
a. At the back door stood Aunt Beryl, staring as if she couldn’t believe what
she saw.
b. Burning with shame, shrinking together, Lil huddling along like her
mother, our Else dazed, somehow they crossed the big courtyard.
c. When the Kelveys were well out of sight of the Burnells’, they sat down to
rest on a big red drainpipe by the side of the road. Lil’s cheeks were still
burning; …
d. But now she [Else] had forgotten the cross lady. She put out a finger and
stroked her sister’s quill; she smiled her rare smile.

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 GRADE 10 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

"THE DOLL’S HOUSE" BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

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CLOSE READ: Analyze Craft and Structure

Identify the choice that best answers the question.
14. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A What is one likely meaning of the symbol of the doll’s house in
“The Doll’s House”?
a. creativity
b. social status
c. foolish ideas
d. unpleasantness

Part B Which of these sentences from “The Doll’s House” best supports the
answer to Part A?
a. For, really, the smell of paint coming from that doll’s house (“Sweet of old
Mrs. Hay, of course; most sweet and generous!”)—but the smell of paint
was quite enough to make anyone seriously ill, in Aunt Beryl’s opinion.
b. There stood the doll’s house, a dark, oily, spinach green, picked out with
bright yellow. Its two solid little chimneys, glued on to the roof, were
painted red and white, and the door, gleaming with yellow varnish, was
like a little slab of toffee.
c. The Burnell children could hardly walk to school fast enough the next
morning. They burned to tell everybody, to describe, to—well—to boast
about their doll’s house before the school bell rang.
d. “The lamp’s best of all,” cried Kezia. She thought Isabel wasn’t making
half enough of the little lamp.

15. Which of these abstract ideas are the most likely symbolic meanings of the
little lamp in “The Doll’s House”? Choose two options.
a. human kindness
b. passionate anger
c. social acceptance
d. economic hardship
e. excessive ambition

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 GRADE 10 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

"THE DOLL’S HOUSE" BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

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16. Which of these sentences best expresses the theme to which the symbol of the
doll’s house points in “The Doll’s House”?
a. Maturity means putting away childish things and behaving as the adults
around you behave.
b. Gifts that seem beautiful or wonderful when first received sometimes turn
out to be quite unpleasant.
c. Those who enjoy the privileges of upperclass life should share their joys
with those who are less fortunate.
d. No doll’s house, painting, short story, or other work of human creation
can ever capture the world realistically.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Word Study

Identify the choice that best answers the question.
17. The word glee means “joy.” Based on this information and your knowledge of
the suffixes -ful and -ly, choose the correct meaning of the word gleefully.
a. the state of being full of joy
b. the state of being without joy
c. in a manner that is full of joy
d. in a manner that is without joy

18. The prefix un- means “not.” Using that information and your knowledge of the
suffixes -ful and -ly, choose the sentence that correctly uses the related word in
italics.
a. A person would most likely be arrested if he or she acts lawful.
b. A person would most likely be arrested if he or she acts lawfully.
c. A person would most likely be arrested if he or she acts unlawful.
d. A person would most likely be arrested if he or she acts unlawfully.

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 GRADE 10 • UNIT 2 • SELECTION TEST

"THE DOLL’S HOUSE" BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

Name: Date:

19. Which statement best describes the syntax in this passage from “The Doll’s
House”?
It stood in the middle of the dining-room table, an exquisite little amber lamp with a
white globe. It was even filled all ready for lighting, though, of course, you couldn’t
light it. But there was something inside that looked like oil, and that moved when
you shook it.
The father and mother dolls, who sprawled very stiff as though they had fainted in
the drawing room, and their two little children asleep upstairs, were really too big for
the doll’s house. They didn’t look as though they belonged. But the lamp was
perfect. It seemed to smile at Kezia, to say, “I live here.” The lamp was real.

a. A series of short, punchy sentences are interrupted by one long, complex

sentence.
b. A few long, complex sentences followed by short, punchy sentences.
c. All of the sentences are long and complex.
d. All of the sentences are short and simple.

20. Which phrases in this passage from “The Doll’s House” illustrate Katherine
Mansfield’s use of slang or informal diction most clearly? Choose three
options.
Presently our Else nudged up close to her sister. But now she had forgotten the
cross lady. She put out a finger and stroked her sister’s quill; she smiled her rare
smile.
“I seen the little lamp,” she said, softly.

a. our Else
b. she had forgotten
c. the cross lady
d. put out a finger
e. her rare smile
f. I seen
g. the little lamp

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