A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

This research paper will examine and explain how imaginative play via storytelling, doll play or other similar objects provide children an avenue to act out coping skills. By examining this thought, I will help to explain that “Children who live in supportive environments and develop a range of coping strategies become more resilient (DeBord: 2004).” This research paper will answer the question with a focus on resilience and coping: “Do children who play pretend have higher coping skills than children who do not play pretend?” The main character, Sara, in the story A Little Princess starts out in a supportive environment while living in India with her father, Captain Crewe. Sara’s father bought a doll especially named Emily as a special gift before leaving Sara to carry out his military assignment. After Sara is left in the care of Miss Minchin, Select Seminary for Young Ladies, her supportive and emotional environment1 in London drastically changes, especially upon being told of her father’s death and loss fortune. Sara encounters a very distressful situation as her social status changes into servant girl in lieu of being thrown out to the streets. Typically, childhood stress or can be caused by any situation that requires a person to adapt or change such as death, moving, and or abuse.2 Sara exercises her own set of positive coping strategies (doll play and imagination) throughout the story to bounce back in spite of her modified living environment. By adjusting to change, Sara was still able to remain and acknowledged by others as A Little Princess.

Doll Play as a form of Coping

Stover and Berkowitz3 stated that “children as young as 2 years of age have the ability to mentally represent and utilize pretend play to signify actual or imagined events” (708). In the story A Little Princess, Sara Crewe uses her creative imagination skills which resiliently play an important role when Miss Minchin

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