One of the themes in this short story centers around the idea that every person ultimately craves inclusion.
The Kelvey girls are excluded from the social circles at school because of their poverty. They are "always by themselves," and the other girls ridicule them about their prospects of becoming servants when they grow up. They endure the mocking jeers of Lena, who drags one foot behind her, giggling behind her hand, as she attempts to engage Lil Kelvey in demeaning conversation. And every other girl gets invited to see the glorious doll house except the Kelvey girls.
They don't beg for an invitation like the other girls because they are used to rejection and exclusion. Yet when a chance opportunity presents itself, they follow Kezia "like two little stray cats" to share in the same experience that the other girls have enjoyed.
Even after being chased off the property by Aunt Beryl, the Kelvey girls look "dreamily" across the land in front of them, still focused on the "little lamp" in...
