Unspoken Tensions

Some readers may find "The Doves' Nest" to be a challenging story to interpret, as the plot is quite simple and straightforward: Mr. Prodger comes to the villa and accepts a lunch invitation. Later that week, he returns to the villa for lunch and dines with Milly, Mother, and Miss Anderson. There is no explicit conflict in the story nor is there a discernible climax or resolution. This lack of obvious elements of most short stories is due in part to the fact that the story is unfinished, but more importantly, it derives from Mansfield's interest in the subtleties of everyday life. Through the narrative voice, readers become privy to unspoken tensions that build and begin to resolve as the story progresses. The first of these tensions is that between Milly and her mother. While Mrs. Fawcett tells Mr. Prodger that she could live inside...