The Garden Party: And Other Stories

Laura is romantic, impulsive, shallow, self-centered, and easily caught up in the emotions of the moment to the point of deluding herself. For example, in the course of few minutes, Laura moves...

This scene is a point of climax in the story -- it is the point where Laura can't go back to her sweet innocence, and yet she is not scarred or cynical as a result of her moments with the dead man....

At the beginning of the story there is a clear contrast between the speech of the characters from the upper class Sheridan family on the one hand, and the speech of the lower class workmen on the...

One type of conflict in the story is external. The morning of the garden party, a working-class man named Scott who lives nearby with his wife and five children is killed in an accident. Laura, the...

This part of the story comes when Laura takes a basketful of food to the Scott family as a token of sympathy for the death of Mr. Scott, who died in an accident that morning. As she goes in to see...

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...

This becomes one of the fundamental issues in Mansfield's short story. Laura is unable to explain what she considers life to be. To a great extent, this makes sense. Laura has had a moment where...

The way Laura grows in "The Garden Party" is by experiencing the first paradigm shifts of her life. Rather than changing the way that she sees life by going through a ceremonial "coming of age"...

This is a great question! It seems to me that the song that Jose sings actually foreshadows the events that occur later in the story, in particular the death of Mr. Scott and the confrontation that...

Laura starts the story having a positive interaction with workmen setting up her family's garden party. This convinces her that there are no class differences and that the classes can all get along...

The story illustrates the sharp power differential between the English social classes. The Sheridans live in a fine house, have servants, and can afford to spend money on beautiful clothes, hats,...

As with many works of modernist literature, "The Garden Party" has a fairly straightforward plot. And yet, beneath the simple surface, there is a lot more going on. This itself is one of the key...

One point of contrast between Laura and her family members in "The Garden Party" lies in her level of care and philosophical insight. Laura is different than her family members because she cares...

In "The Garden Party," the short story by Katherine Mansfield, the are presented with a stunning contrast: the wealthy, carefree family to which the main character, Laura, belongs, and the...

A narrative climax can be an action-packed dramatic event, a quietly decisive event, a heightened emotional event, or a subtle psychological event. In addition, in short stories, the climax is...

Laura Sheridan wants to cancel the garden party her family is giving that day when she hears about the death of the workman who lived nearby. Her mother talks her out of it by offering her a...

Laura decides that social-class distinctions are ridiculous when she is told to go outside and direct the workmen setting up for the garden party. She takes a decidedly romantic or rose-colored...

The house was alive with soft, quick steps and running voices. In this first example of a metaphor, the house is described as "alive." This is a specific type of metaphor called personification....

Epiphany comes at the end of "The Garden Party." Laura begins the story lacking insight and understanding. She happily greets the workers who have arrived at her home to help her family set up for...

The third-person-limited point of view immediately establishes the irony because of the distance between information and subject matter.The narrator withholds information in favor of limiting what...

Laura's first reaction when she hears about the death of Mr. Scott is that the party must be cancelled. She is so shocked by the news, and shown to be rather innocent and naive, and thus she feels...

The setting of "The Garden Party" begins at Laura's home and shifts to the neighborhood and home of the dead man's widow. When the story opens in medias res (or res in medias), Laura is making...

One of the many potential themes that you could comment on in response to this question is that of class. Essentially, this is a story of a young woman who is made to realise the importance of...

I believe that many students cause themselves problems and even writer's block by trying to come up with a thesis statement before they have written their paper. A thesis statement comes first in a...

Katherine Mansfield packs several issues worthy of contemplation into her short story "The Garden Party." The relationship between social classes, peer pressure and social status, standing for...

Money makes all the difference in "The Garden Party," because, as Mansfield demonstrates, it is what separates the social classes. It gives the middle and upper classes a great deal of power, and...

The meaning of this story is very closely intertwined with Mansfield's reasons for writing it. In this story she seems to explore the issue of class and how class consciousness is conveyed and...

Analysing symbolism takes a little work and a little digging. First, the definition of a symbolic word, object, statement or concept is that it is one that stands for itself (e.g., a rose is a...

I would strongly suggest that you begin by taking a look at the themes section of the enotes study guide to this brilliant short story. I have included the link below. This will help you identify...

I think that Moore's quote can connect to Laura on several levels. Consider that Laura represents "the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers." Laura is one of the few members of the Sheridan...

"The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield is a short story in which class distinction plays a large role. Laura is part of a rich, aristocratic family. When we meet them, all but Laura are...

No, the Sheridans should not have called off the garden party at the very last minute because someone they barely knew died. When Jose, Laura's older sister, says that Laura is being sentimental,...

While we can certainly be sure that Laura loves all her family members--we do love our families regardless of their faults and actions--it is obvious that she is closer to her brother, Laurie, than...

This broken thought from Mrs. Sheridan is kept deliberately ambiguous by Katherine Mansfield. Most of the story is told from Laura's point of view; however, the reader gets occasional glimpses of...

Katherine Mansfield's coming-of-age story "The Garden Party" focuses on the social and psychological discoveries of a young, well-to-do woman who vicariously experiences through certain events the...

About Mansfield's ending to her short story, critic Warren Walker remarks, "[It]leaves readers with a feeling of dissatisfaction, a vague sense that the story somehow does not realize its...

Laura is presented very differently from her older and more experienced sister Jose. At the start of the story, Laura considers class distinctions to be "asburd" and says that they do not matter to...

"The Garden Party" and "The Doll's House" both deal with issues of class. They differ, however, in that in "The Garden Party," class is examined from the point of view of the impact it has on an...

Themes in literature allow writers to share their intended message with readers and help to create a structure and an intention. The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield follows...

A representative of Kate Mansfield's style, "The Garden" party is a story where self-realization, social differentiation, coming of age, and life discoveries are thematic key elements. Set in the...

Check the link below for help with your answer. You may also want to visit the study guide to this story with regard to characters.Good Luck!

Laura's interest in the workingmen is triggered by the workman pinching off a sprig of lavender and smelling its fragrance. This simple gesture seemed to form a connection to her love of the...

As an avowed modernist, Mansfield provides the reader with an insight into the subjective opinions and emotions of her characters. She does this through the deployment of a third-person limited...

Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party" was published in 1922, but the story's Sheridan estate is based on Mansfield's childhood home in New Zealand. Given that she moved to London in 1903, the...

In Katherine Mansfield’s story “The Garden Party,” Laura Sheridan is a young girl who is excited about the lavish party that her parents are hosting, of which her mother is in charge. She is...

At the end of the tale, we are left with a sense of the inadequacy of words to describe a transcendent experience. Laura has just experienced a radically different world from her own world of...