In “The Daughters of the Late Colonel” the theme is captivity and is explored by the author through the relationship between the two captive sisters.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Katherine Mansfield's short story “The Daughters of the Late Colonel”, the theme is the exploration of captivity and how it affects the primary characters of the story.
Josephine and Constantia have been imprisoned in a world where they have essentially two goals in their lives one is to avoid displeasing their cranky old father and the other is to keep away from him as far as necessary to.
This is the part where the relationship between the two sisters is explored in their silent and morbid captivity within the household.