Summary
Background The shorty story “The Garden Party” is authored by Katherine Mansfield. The story presents Laura Sheridan as one of the main characters. In the short story, Laura Sheridan plans for a huge garden party and invites high society visitors. Just before the party begins, Laura Sheridan learns that one of her neighbors has lost her husband through an accident (Kaya, 55). The death of the neighbor leaves the neighborhood, mourning the death of their breadwinner. The man dies, leaving behind a widow and five children. The death of the man conflicts with Laura’s intent of having a garden party. She feels that it would not be appropriate to hold a garden party while the neighborhood is mourning the death of Mr. Scott. Laura insists that they should not hold a party when the neighbors are mourning, but her family declines to bow to her request. They hold a garden party, and after it's over, Laura Sheridan's mother insists on delivering the party leftovers to the grieving home while still in her garden party outfit. The event teaches Laura Sheridan about death and social class.
Setting
The setting of a story refers to the context through which a story occurs. It plays a critical role in allowing the readers to visualize and gain experience of the scenes in the story (Rappaport, 287). In "The Garden Party," the setting is of great importance. The setting of the story is in a garden in the Sheridan Estate. The setting of the story is directly related to its title and is relevant to the occurrences which take part in the better part of the story. If the setting was not in a garden in a rich estate, then the story would not have achieved some of its themes like social class. In the story, Laura is conflicted about holding a garden party while the neighbors are mourning for the death of Mr. Scott. On the day of the party, the garden is manicured well and decorated greatly to make it appealing to the eyes of the high society guests invited to attend the party. The preparation of the garden is important to the setting of the story and shows the importance of the party and the garden.
Time
Timing is an important aspect of a story. The story was written in 1900 in New Zealand. This era was characterized by heightened gaps between the rich and the poor. Laura's family represented the rich, while Mr. Scott's family represented the poor. Laura was preparing for a garden party where only the high-level guests in the village were invited. Social class was a critical element in the 1900s and thus making the timing of the short story to be perfect.
Point of view
In the story, Mansfield uses the third person point of view. In the story, the author instills the third-person narration with the thoughts and feelings of Laura as she excels in most scenes of the story. The author utilizes point-of-view when she explains about the death of Mr. Scott following an accident. The author also uses point of view to present different characters. For instance, she says that Laura’s mother insists the must go on with the party despite the death of Mr. Scott. She also uses point of view to illustrate Laura as a caring person. Before the party is set to begin, Laura is burdened with conducting it while the neighbors are mourning- here, Mansfield attempts to use point of view to more clearly inform the reader of the characters of Laura.
Characters
All great stories pay great attention to characterization. Characters in a story play a great role in giving directions and plot to the entire story. One of the most effective ways of creating a substantial character in a story is by developing a specified desire in them (Card, 2010). “The Garden Party” has several characters. One of the characters in the story is Laura Sheridan. As Laura begins to become of age, she begins to realize how her upbringing and her family places her to some privileges while still bringing forth some restrictions to her life more so in socializing. For instance, due to her upbringing and restrictions to socialization, she ends up being disappointed when she is courted by what she refers to as "silly boys" rather than "extraordinarily nice" men in the lower ranks of the social class the workmen. Laura is portrayed as a kind and caring individual. When she is sent to help in preparing the garden, she realizes that people from lower classes are often overworked for the rich to live extravagant lives and develop sympathy for them. Her sympathetic nature is also displayed when she tries to convince her family to cancel the garden party and instead mourn with Scott's family after he dies in a horrible accident.
Another important character in the story is Mrs. Sheridan. She is portrayed as a character who greatly embraces the concept of social classes in society. She commands respect and attention. She insists that the garden party must be held and that her echelon can't allow her to go and mourn with people of the lower class. She is authoritative and has the propensity to be vocal on almost all subjects. This character makes Laura not to be in a position of expressing the disagreements she has with Mrs. Sheridan, her mother. This is what leads to the conflict that arises following Mr. Scott's death. Mrs. Sheridan does not seem to care about the death even as Laura insists that they should cancel the party to pay respect to Mr. Scott. Jose and Mrs. Sheridan become angry with Laura when she speaks her mind.
Among the characters, there is also the presence of Jose Sheridan. She depicts the characters of her mother. She is authoritative and has the tendency of ordering around her siblings and servants in the family. She seems to enjoy being her mother's confidant and does well in assuring Laura not to worry about the death of Mr. Scott. She also does well at appeasing the cook, who was said to be terrifying by Mrs. Sheridan.
Themes Themes help one to getter a better understanding of the message and the intentions of the writer of eh story. Themes are critical at presenting the exact message of the writer of the story (Williams et al., 235). The story has numerous themes, including the theme of innocence and experience. It traces the psychological as well as the moral growth of Laura Sheridan. It presents Laura’s adolescent confusion concerning the social values of her family and the emergent to a more mature insight of reality following her exposure to death and poverty at Mr. Scott’s home.
There is also the theme of death. In the story, the theme of death is a ground for major changes in Laura. She learns about the thin line between the haves and the have-not in society. When she visits Scott's home, she realizes how people look at her and note about the privileges she faces growing up in a well up family. The death of Mr. Scott informs Laura Sheridan about her family’s love for elitism. When she tries to persuade her family to cancel the party, all the members of the family, including her younger sister Jose disagree with her.
There is also the theme of social class. The garden party held at Sheridan estate is a perfect illustration of the theme of social class. The party is held, and only the rich are invited. People belonging to the low classes were employed to ensure that the rich in society live their extravagant lifestyle. When the people in the low class were struck with the sudden death of Mr. Scott, the rich represented by Mrs. Laura did not feel bothered. It was ironic to see the rich hold a party while the neighborhood was mourning the sudden demise of one of them.
Conclusion
I decided to analyze this story because it is interesting, and its themes relate to the issues taking place in society. The main themes in the story are a direct depiction of the difference that exists between the rich and the poor in society. From the story, one can learn the struggles the poor go through and how they are used by the rich to maintain their extravagant lifestyles.
