A Little Princess Analysis

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Imagery and Transformation in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “A Little Princess” The use of imagery in a story is a way to aid the readers’ imagination towards characters or events. In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “A Little Princess”, the narrator starts by depicting a vivid description of the day when Sara and her father arrives in London by using particular words: “Once on a dark winter 's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night...” (Burnett 1) The word “dark”, “thick and heavy [fog]” aids our imagination to generate a visualized scene of a gloomy weather and ambience. It also means, of course, a “dark” day for Sara, for the reason …show more content…

While his father has gone away leaving her, Sara is quietly staying in her own room, making the least particle of noise. Her current feeling that she doesn’t want anyone to disturb her by saying “I have locked [the door]” (Burnett 16) represents her tendency that she locks and keeps her memories with her father inside that room, in light of the fact that her sitting room is the place where her father talks to her for the last time before he leaves. She is not ready yet to confront the world outside without her beloved father and prefers “to be quiet by [herself]” (Burnett 16) in her own room. Sara is left with many dolls in her room. “The dolls” is a symbolism that indicates the transformation of Sara. To Sara, as a little girl, “dolls ought to be intimate friends” (Burnett 11). In the earlier chapters, the narrator mentions a lot in the neighborhood of dolls, especially the last doll Sara has, Emily, whom she tells about almost everything to. Sara treats Emily as if it’s a human being, but apparently Sara’s not the only one. The narrator does, too. It can be perceived by noticing the pronoun that comes up to describe the