The Garden Party

“The Garden Party” is a short story by modernist writer Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) which was published in 1922. “The Garden Party” focuses on the social and psychological discoveries of a young, well-to-do woman who vicariously experiences, through certain events, the realities of life. These realities include social injustice, the classicism of society, life, and death. Mansfield wrote “The Garden Party” in limited third-person point of view.

The story tells about Sheridan family who belongs to the upper class society. Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan tend to isolate their children from the harsh reality of the mundane, workaday world. Entry to the estate is open only to the upper-class acquaintances of the family. Mansfield compares the Sheridan children to the exotic karakas–“growing on a desert island, proud, solitary”. Despite the apparent isolation from others, Laura does appear to attempt to make some type of connection with those who would have been commonly perceived to have been beneath her class. Although she’s obviously a member of the family – the Sheridans – her sensibility and openness of thinking, the honest effort she reveals to free herself sets her apart; she stands for change, potentially, and in her role no other character would do. This is noticeable by the fact that while Laura is talking to the workmen she wishes that she had friends who were workmen rather than the ‘silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper.’ It is also interesting that Laura, as the workmen are working ‘felt just like a work-girl.’ Though at a time she wonders whether it is respectful of a laborer to speak to a girl of her upbringing in the crude language of the common people she finally learns to overlook class distinctions in dealing with the outside world.

In one day the image of her family in her own eyes fully changed. No one in her family shares her concern which causes Laura to begin to view her family in a different light. During the hectic preparations for the party, every single detail of which no doubt delights the Sheridans, the news reaches them that a workman, a nearby resident dwelling just below the hill and the father of five children, has been killed in an accident. This news of death is the initiating action or the event that triggers tension in “The Garden Party,” and it puts Laura in a state of conflict with others as well as with herself. She wanted to cancel the party as a sign of respect for the dead man, but to stop a party is outside Mrs. Sheridan’s cultural repertoire. She cannot understand her family’s lack of empathy. Mrs. Sheridan’s mindset further illustrates the prejudice toward the lower classes. After the party Mrs. Sheridan tries to console the mourning family by sending off Laura to the cottage with a basket full of food left from the party, the round of scraps that they themselves have no more appetite to eat. Observant Laura begins to see her family and specially her mother very differently.

After walking down the hill from her home, she crosses the road and enters the poverty stricken home of the Scotts, she begins a metaphysical transition from adolescence to adulthood. When she crosses the “broad road” she also crosses into the first stage of adulthood. When she sees the body of Mr. Scott–who has made the ultimate transition–she begins to understand the meaning of life and death in a world in which all human beings share a common humanity and class distinctions are nonexistent. Her discovery that death is universal, for the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, leads her to the conclusion that her fantasy life is not accurate.

Death, a reoccurring theme in Mansfield’s work, often acts as a catalyst, prompting other characters to reevaluate their own lives. Through this experience, Laura becomes more mature. She sees the beauty that is in death and is not scared by it anymore. She feels a deep sense of shame for having come to the Scott house dressed as she is. When she apologizes for wearing the hat, Laura may realizes that she has been disconnected (or isolated) from the world outside. She also realizes that “garden-parties and baskets and lace frocks” doesn’t matter to him anymore. When she sees him, however, she feels “he was wonderful, beautiful” for he had no worries anymore and he was happy. For a brief moment Laura is envious of Mr. Scott, he has escaped society’s expectations and is answerable to no one.

The ending of the story is quite unusual. It may show how life is indescribable. The author leaves the gap unfilled to really show the feelings of Laura. She was speechless as she had a different experience. The images of the text remain like flashes, memories that cannot be merely scrutinized. Transfixed by her experience, Laura’s final statement in the story is “Isn’t life [. . .] isn’t life–” Thus with an open dash Mansfield ends Laura’s self-expression, informing us that, what life was no one can explain. So the story reaches its conclusion without offering a clear-cut resolution.