How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped

1912 short story by Katherine Mansfield

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"How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped" is a 1912 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in Rhythm in September 1912 under the pen name of Lili Heron. It was republished in Something Childish and Other Stories (1924).

Plot summary

Pearl Button is playing outside whilst her mother is ironing clothes. Two Māori women go up to her and ask her to come with them. After a long walk they arrive at a Māori settlement, where the little girl is given a fruit to eat. Then they drive towards the seaside. Pearl has never seen the sea; they play about. Suddenly, a crowd of policemen runs toward them to take Pearl away again.

Characters

Pearl Button
two Māori women
more Māori people
family*
police*

Major themes

Māori culture : the story is written from the child's perspective, who takes to Māori culture right away. However, she is scared by the white men coming to pick her up.

Literary significance

The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.

Footnotes

Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics, explanatory notes

v t e Short stories by Katherine Mansfield
"Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding" "The Woman at the Store" "How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped" "Millie" "Something Childish But Very Natural" "The Little Governess" "Revelations" "The Escape" "An Indiscreet Journey" "The Wind Blows" "Prelude" "Mr Reginald Peacock's Day" "Feuille d'Album" "A Dill Pickle" "Je ne parle pas français" "Sun and Moon" "Bliss" "Psychology" "Pictures" "The Man Without a Temperament" "The Stranger" "Miss Brill" "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" "Life of Ma Parker" "The Young Girl" "Mr and Mrs Dove" "Her First Ball" "The Singing Lesson" "Bank Holiday" "An Ideal Family" "The Lady's Maid" "Marriage à la Mode" "At The Bay" "The Voyage" "A Married Man's Story" "The Garden Party" "The Doll's House" "The Fly" "A Cup of Tea" "The Canary" "The Sister of the Baroness"

Short stories by Katherine Mansfield

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