1.

Author

Katherine Mansfield, a short-lived writer with rare individual gifts is a famous name in
the field of literature. Her publications are a few, but by these few she has been able to
establish herself as an immortal short story writer. Through her short stories, she has
presented the ordinary, lonely, pathetic people to us. Her characters are taken from
different corners of society. They are presented to us with their intense internal and external
conflicts. Sometimes they convey to us the harsh realities of life with bare social truth.

2. Summary

The Garden Party, one of her finest short stories is such mind-arresting story where she
criticizes class distinctions in society. Let us now see how she has made a contrast between
the rich and poor in The Garden Party. The story The Garden Party deals with an upper class
teenage girl who faces the issue of class distinctions when she is unexpectedly broken by the
news of the death of an underprivileged neighbor who perishes while she is busy with the
preparations of a huge party.

3. Plot

+ Exposition: The weather was warm and windless, and there were no clouds in the sky.
It took place on a fancy lawn next to a big house. The grass was mowed, and there were
daisies and roses in full bloom. It was in the early morning, before breakfast, in the summer
time. The main character is Laura, a young lady with blonde hair and a stubborn family.

+ Rising: While they are setting up for the garden party, Laura hears that a man from a
trashy cottage nearby has died. She wants to cancel the party to show sympathy, but her
mother and sisters convince her to keep the party on.

+ Climax: After the party is over, Laura sees all the food they have left. Her mom tells
her to take it down to the cottage but do not enter the house. Laura doesn’t follow her
mother’s instructions. She goes and at the dead man’s house, she was invited in to see him,
looking at his body on the bed. When she saw how peaceful he is, she is overwhelmed with
the emotion and begun to cry.

+ Falling: After Laura saw how peaceful the dead man was, she realized that life is not
all about good looks and fancy parties. On way home, she met her brother, Laurie and told
him about her realization.

+ Resolution: Laurie agreed with Laura about just how short, precious, and serious life
is, and that frivolous things, such as their garden party, are not important.

4. Setting

+ Place: The setting of The Garden Party is primarily the Sheridan estate, where their
elaborate gardens and tennis courts are being prepared for an expensive party complete
with flowers, food, a marquee and a band. In contrast to this luxurious estate are the
cottages below, where the impoverished people reside. The first part of the story is set in a
festive, light mood on a “perfect day.” The sky is described as “without a cloud” further
representing the light mood which seems to take away all your worries. In contrast, the
second half of the story is set in the poorer area of the family’s neighborhood. In this setting
there is dark almost depressing mood. The street becomes increasingly “smoky and dark” as
Laura gets closer to the dead man’s house. Furthermore, the houses are described as “mean
little cottages” with a “flicker of light.” This imagery shows the juxtaposition between the
two settings and emphasizes their contrasting mood.

+ Time: It is a beautiful summer day and a respectable family are having a garden party.

+ Mood/atmosphere: All the roses and other flowers are colorful and fresh and the
garden is extremely well-kept. The flowers, the music, and the food etc. must all form the
wonderful atmosphere. It is a chance for the women to show their new dresses and hats,
chat about how wonderful the summertime is and enjoy all the fresh flowers and bushes in
the magnificent garden. The author also describes the neighboring houses as a great
contrast to that of the Sheridans’. The houses are dirty, smelly and with lots of animals and
children. The black smoke from the chimneys really creates a depressing image. The low
social class of the people living there is pointed out as another “black stain”, destroying the
perfect view of the landscape for Mrs Sheridan.

5. Point of view

Mansfield wrote "The Garden Party" in limited third-person point of view. It is limited in
that the author presents the thoughts of Laura only. The personality and outlook of the
other characters reveal themselves only through what they say and do.

6. Character

- Laura: The protagonist (round and dynamic)

+ Her outer characterization shows that she is “the artistic one” in the family. When her
mother offers her a hat to make her forget about the Scotts, Laura is described as a
“charming girl in her black hat trimmed with gold daisies, and a long black velvet ribbon”. At
the garden party, Laura looks “quite Spanish” in her “lace frock” and “big hat with the velvet
streamer”. Overall, Laura’s appearance reflects her social status.

+ As she begins to come of age, Laura starts to realize the pitfalls of her privileged
upbringing, especially the restrictions it places on socializing. She is disappointed, for
example, by the “silly boys” courting her rather than “extraordinarily nice” men from the
lower classes, like the workmen who put up the marquee.

+ Laura’s mother calls her “the artistic one” and sends her to do various odd jobs in
preparation for the garden party that afternoon, but as Laura increasingly realizes that
working-class people in her community must work tirelessly and endure poverty in order for
her family to maintain their extravagant lifestyle, she becomes increasingly torn between
the leisurely gentility of her upbringing and her sympathy for the workers her parents and
siblings barely acknowledge.
 + When Laura overhears that Scott has died in a horrible accident, she urges the rest of
her family to cancel the party, but her protests fall on deaf ears and she decides to go on
with the party once she sees herself in the mirror wearing her mother’s extravagant daisy-
trim hat.

+ Later, Laura’s mother sends her to deliver a basket of leftover food to the cart-driver’s
family. When she arrives, Laura is unsettled by the cottages’ squalid conditions and
overwhelmed with anxiety about her own wealth, especially the hat and clothes that make
her class status obvious. Upon seeing Scott’s body, Laura has an epiphany about life, death,
wealth and poverty (although the reader never quite learns what exactly she has figured
out).

- Mrs Sheridan (flat and static)

+ Mrs. Sheridan is the matriarch and commanding figure of the Sheridan family. As the
family sets up for the party, the readers get a sense of Mrs. Sheridan’s overwhelming
influence over everyone’s actions. Guests and family alike ask her opinion on every detail
from where flowers should be placed to what they should wear. When the family hears of
the death, she expresses detached pity for her working-class neighbors. But she dismisses
Laura’s sympathetic response to cancel the party stating: “People like that don’t expect
sacrifices from us.” Unlike her daughter Laura, Mrs. Sheridan is a static character. However,
she orchestrates Laura’s final epiphany. Mrs. Sheridan sends Laura to take leftovers to the
poor grieving family after the party has ended. Her actions and statements throughout the
story create the impression of a privileged woman of the upper class who is largely sheltered
from the troubles of the poor.