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Kezia was a little girl, who lived with her mother, her father and her grandmother. She was afraid of her father and used to avoid him. She used to feel relieved on seeing her father go to his oce. Kezia was so afraid of her father, that she stuttered in front of him. He appeared to her as harsh, rude, and critical. Her grandmother wanted her to understand her parents better, and would ask her to go to the drawing room to chat with her parents. But she found them indifferent towards her. One day grandmother suggested that she should prepare a pin cushion for her father’s birthday. Kezia stitched the three sides of the pin cushion casing. Now she wanted to stuff it with some thing. In her mother’s room 6 number the bed table she found many sheets of ne paper. She tore them off into small pieces and lled the pin cushion and stitched the fourth side. By mistake she had used the very papers which contained her father’s very important speech for the Port Authority. Though she accepted her mistake and tried to explain the reasons behind it, her father was too angry to listen to her. 

One evening she saw Mr. McDonalds, playing with his 5 children, laughing and enjoying , with them. This convinced Kezia that all fathers are not alike. Some are loving and caring like. Mr. McDonald and some are cruel like her father. But soon her attitude towards her father also changed. One day, her mother had to be taken to the hospital and her grandmother accompanied her. Kezia was left alone in the house with the cqok. The day was ne. But night was a different issue. She Woke up in the middle of the night screaming as she had a horrible nightmare. She was weeping out of fear. When she opened her eyes, she saw her father beside her bed. He carried her to his bedroom, and made her warm and comfortable on his bed. Father told ljer to rub her feet with his legs and set them warm. She felt very safe and comfortable with him. It was now she realized that her father was not all that of a-giant. That he loved and cared for her in his own way. That he had to work the whole day to provide for his family and was too tired by die evening to play with her.

The Little Girl

‘The Little Girl’ by, KATHERINE MANSFIELD is a story of a little girl, Kezia who on account of little understanding about her father, usually remained scared of him. She kept a distance from him, whenever he would be at home. She considered him to be as big as a giant. She would often get nervous and stutter while talking to him.

Once she was kept indoors on account of being affected by cold. Her grandmother advised her to make a gift for her father’s birthday next week. She suggested she should make a pin-cushion for him. Kezia made a beautiful pin-cushion; but she inadvertently made a mistake. She filled it with a paper that had father’s important speech on it. She was punished for that. This incident further estranged Kezia from her father.

She would often look at the neighbours, the Macdonalds playing joyously in their lawn. Mr. Macdonald was such a good father and played so lovingly with his children. She wondered he might be a different sort of father.

Once her mother fell ill and was hospitalized. She was left alone at home under the care of the cook. At night she had a nightmare and woke up screaming. She found her father standing by her bedside. He picked her up and took her to her room. He tucked her up in his bed and soon fell asleep. Kezia felt secure lying near her. She realized her father was not as big as a giant. She felt the beating of her father’s loving and large heart. Finally she realized her father was also very loving.    

Reference:  Brainly.in 

Answer: Kezia efforts to please her father resulted in displeasing him. On every Sunday, her grandmother sent her down to the drawing room to have nice talk with father and mother. But her presence always irritated the father. He used to call her ‘little brown owl’. One day her grandmother told her that her father’s birthday would be next week and suggested that she should make him a pin-cushion for beautiful gift. After stitching three sides of the cushion with double cotton with great care and effort, Kezia was stuck as to what to fill the cushion with. Since her grandmother was busy in the garden, she searched her Mother’s bedroom for scraps. Finally, she discovered sheets of paper on the bed table. She gathered these, tore them up and filled the cushion with the torn pieces. Unfortunately, her efforts to please her father not only went in vain but also had an unanticipated consequence. This was because the sheets she had torn were her father’s speech for the Port Authority. Her father scolded her for touching things that did not belong to her and punished her by hitting her palm with a ruler. 

Answer: Kezia compared her father with Mr. Macdonald, her next door neighbour. He was a loving, gentle and forgiving father. He was always smiling and playing with his children. He treated his children in a friendly manner. He was just opposite to the Kezia’s father. Unlike Kezia’s father he never punished his children. He played with them whenever he was free. Kezia’s father was very harsh and a strict disciplinarian. 3. How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her sympathy? Answer: With her mother and grandmother at the hospital, Kezia is left at home in the care of Alice, the cook. At night, after she is put to bed by the cook, she has a nightmare. She calls for her grandmother but, to her surprise, she finds her father standing near her bed. He takes her in his arms and makes her sleep next to him. Half asleep, she creeps close to him, snuggles her head under his arm, and holds tightly to his shirt. Her father asks her to rub her feet against his legs for warmth. Her father goes off to sleep before her. This makes her understand that he has to work hard every day and this leaves him too tired to be like Mr Macdonald. She expresses her altered feelings for her father by telling him that he has a ‘big heart’. 

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