The garden party door Katherine Mansfield

The Garden Party

Katherine Mansfield

1922

Foreword

For this assignment I chose The Garden Party because it was available on Somtoday. Katherine Mansfield describes in her story the protagonist’s change in her perception of herself and the world around her. From her childhood innocence, shielded from reality by her upper class upbringing, to her taking a more critical look at the social hierarchies that are in place by being confronted with reality.

Summary

‘The Garden Party’ follows Laura Sheridan, a young, upper class girl from the wealthy and status obsessed Sheridan family. In the story the family is preparing to host a garden party. As Laura “the artistic one” her mother, Mrs. Sheridan has tasked her to tell the workmen where they should set up the marquee. Though she was nervous at first, she was surprised to find that the workers were far more gentle than she had assumed. Laura was then called inside to answer the phone, when she went back outside she found some of the servants standing horrified in the doorpost. Laura learned that a man called Scott had fallen off his cart and died. He was a poor working-class man from one of the dilapidated cottages down the street. She believed it would be unsympathetic to continue the party, but she finds no such sympathy from her sister or mother who consider her concern for the poor ridiculous. 

Once the party was over the family gathered in the marquee, here the accident that had taken place was brought up once more. Mrs. Sheridan, though annoyed by the mention of the accident, had suddenly gotten the idea to give the leftovers to the family of the deceased. All the scraps were gathered together and Laura was sent out to deliver the basket to the family down the street. 

As she crossed the broad road that seperated the rich from the poor neighbourhood she felt woefully out of place in the dark, smoky lane with her beautiful clothes. She walked up the garden path and knocked on the door. Ms. Scott’s sister answered the door and invited her in, Laura reluctantly agreed. She entered into a small kitchen lit by an oil lamp. In front of the fireplace sat the crying widow of the deceased, Em Scott. Em didn’t understand why the rich girl had come by but she thanked her nonetheless. Laura tried to run outside but instead opened the bedroom where Mr. Scott was. Em’s sister assumed that she wanted to see the body and drew down the sheets; there laid the face of a young man, fast asleep, his head buried in the pillow. Laura was enchanted by how peaceful and content the man appeared. He was not concerned about things as garden parties. Yet at the same time she recognised the tragedy and felt that she had to cry. She apologised for her attire and ran out the front door and back to her estate.

Themes

Important themes are life and death, class divide, and empathy.

The main theme is class divide. ‘The Garden Party’ is about the strong social divide between the rich and the poor. This is most blatantly seen in the story in the street that literally divides the rich on the top of the hill from the poor farther down the hill. 

Furthermore, The Sheridans’ have a clear prejudice against the working-class and an apparent inability to sympathise with them. This is most blatantly seen in Mrs. Sheridan’s reaction when the accident was brought up in the marquee. Here Mrs. Sheridan, only being concerned about her own interests, complained that the accident had nearly ruined their party. She perceives the accident as a mere inconvenience and made no further mention of the impact the death must have had on the Scott family.

Analysis of main characters

Laura Sheridan

Laura Sheridan is one of Mrs. Sheridan’s daughters and sister to Laurie, Jose and Meg. She’s a naïve rich girl who has not interacted much with people outside her class. She was tasked with organising the party for the most part and was also the one who visited the Scott family. Despite coming from an affluent background she’s deeply fascinated by working-class people. In contrast to her family who feel superior to lower classes, she’s more concerned about the wellbeing of the Scott family than of her enjoying the party and so she’s frustrated with her mother’s decision to continue the party, though eventually she also agreed to hold the party. Laura is conflicted between her sympathy for the dead labourer and her sense of obligation to conform to her social background.

Mrs. Sheridan

Mrs. Sheridan is the authoritative mother of the Sheridan family. She claims that she has left the managing of the party entirely to her daughters, but it becomes clear that she is monitoring and managing everything. Mrs. Sheridan feels no problem with ordering the servants around and clearly sees herself as higher than them. 

Historical context

‘The Garden Party’ was written in the early 1920s, during the interwar period. The social commentary the story contains in many ways reflects the early twentieth century; this time period saw a great amount of social disturbance around the world and most notably in Europe. 

Quotations

‘ “And just think of what the band would sound like to that poor woman,” said Laura. “Oh, Laura!” Jose began to be seriously annoyed. “If you’re going to stop a band playing every time some one has an accident, you’ll lead a very strenuous life. I’m every bit as sorry about it as you. I feel just as sympathetic.” Her eyes hardened. She looked at her sister just as she used to when they were little and fighting together. “You won’t bring a drunken workman back to life by being sentimental,” she said softly. “Drunk! Who said he was drunk?” Laura turned furiously on Jose.’

Laura taking offence with Jose’s assumption that the workman was a drunk shows that she has not adopted the general disdain the Sheridan family has for working-class people. 

‘There lay a young man, fast asleep—sleeping so soundly, so deeply, that he was far, far away from them both. Oh, so remote, so peaceful. He was dreaming. Never wake him up again. His head was sunk in the pillow, his eyes were closed; they were blind under the closed eyelids. He was given up to his dream. What did garden-parties and baskets and lace frocks matter to him? He was far from all those things. He was wonderful, beautiful. While they were laughing and while the band was playing, this marvel had come to the lane. Happy...happy….All is well, said that sleeping face. This is just as it should be. I am content.’

When Laura saw the body of the dead man she experienced something of an epiphany. Though it’s never made clear exactly what had dawned on her, it is clear that she has realised the meaninglessness of frivolities such as garden parties in the grand scheme of things.