The Garden Party: And Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

Laura, like Kezia in "Prelude" and "At the Bay," is another version of the young Mansfield. More sensitive and artistic than the rest of her family, she identifies with the workmen who are helping get the house and the garden ready for the party. But hers is clearly a childish identification borne out of rebellion against the artificial atmosphere in which she has been raised. The rest of the family is indifferent to the plight of the Scotts, seeing them as part of a community that is an eyesore and has "no right to be in that neighborhood at all." When Laura suggests canceling the party, Mrs. Sheridan stands on class prejudice: "People like that don't expect sacrifices from us. And it's not very sympathetic to spoil everybody's enjoyment as you're doing now."

Cook
The Sheridan's cook is a nurturing figure, allowing Laura and one of her sisters to indulge in eating rich cream-puffs that have been delivered for the garden party just after they finish breakfast.

Mother
See Mrs. Sheridan

Jose Sheridan
Jose is Laura's class-conscious older sister. She takes a dim view of Laura's wish to cancel the garden party when she tells Laura that she "won't bring a drunken workman back to life by being sentimental."

Laura Sheridan
Laura Sheridan is an idealistic and impressionable young person who struggles with her own and her family's perceptions of class difference. Learning that a working-class neighbor was accidentally killed, Laura wants to cancel the garden party planned for that afternoon. The narrative centers on Laura's vacillation between feelings of empathy for the dead laborer and her vanity and class elitism. She unsuccessfully tries to convince her mother to cancel the party. However, her mother distracts her with the gift of a new hat, and when Laura sees herself in the hat, she no longer presses for cancellation of the party. By the end of the story, however, Laura has made an attempt to relate to the lives of the family's working-class neighbors, although the conclusion to the story is ambiguous. It is not clear what, if anything, she has learned or if the experience has changed her.

Laurie Sheridan
Laurie is Laura's older brother and closest family member. After viewing the...