American Research Journal of English and Literature

 This paper deals with two affecting family issues: (1) “parental favoritism” and (2) “hypocrisy of family love” represented in one of Mansfield’s best-known stories i.e., “New Dresses” (1912). The analysis of the issues is based on a couple of psychological considerations; i.e., “favoritism” and “hypocrisy of love” of parents. Parent-child relationship is a paramount exhibition in New Dresses. This study encompasses two basic questions: (1) how the themes of parental favoritism and hypocrisy of love are depicted in the story, (2) what consequences of these categories of stances of parents have in the family relationships. The present analysis comes up with a finding that Helen is a much -less favored child. But, her little brother, very affectionately called ‘Boy,’ and her younger sister, Rose, are her parents’ favorites. Helen’s parents show some sort of dislike towards Helen, and they justify it by pointing to a few of her flaws. However, Helen’s parents’ justification, at any rate, does not make sense to her grandmother. With a feeling of astonishment and shock, she observes that Henry and Anne, the parents, cause Helen’s mental destruction by making unjustifiable excuses. Favoritism and hypocrisy of love of her parents result in a hostility between Helen and her parents. Consequently, this leads Helen to go to seek surrogate parents; e.g., her grandmother and Dr. Malcolm. Mansfield’s attention towards her depiction of such issues as parental favoritism and parent-child relationships may have derived from her psychological tension about the contemporary parenting model; it may also have derived from her personal experience of the treatment that she received as a child from her parents. Ergo, this paper, too, briefly focuses on Mansfield’s biographical facts, and often links them with Helen’s scenario.