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Literary Elements In Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party

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In the short story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield, Mansfield uses a third-person narrative Laura who explores her surroundings. Laura is growing up with a wealthy family who is upholding a garden party. The garden party is sustained with the beauty of flowers and the rejoice from Laura’s family. However, the harmonic tone of the festivity is momentarily overturned with Laura’s empathy on a passing of a worker at the lower-class cottages. Thus, Katherine Mansfield utilizes different settings to develop the character Laura as Laura adapts with a new perspective on adulthood. In the beginning, Mansfield develops a scenery with a calm tone. As the narrator Laura is amazed by the “weather [being] ideal,” she is astonished by the actuality …show more content…

With her transpring thoughts of identifying the correct house with a funeral, she sees “a dark knot of people [standing] outside.” (Short Fiction, 107) Laura classifies the people with a visual imagery of a knot. The “knot” is a symbol of unity because knots are strings tied together. The strings represent the “people [standing] outside,” but as they stand together for the funeral, they become the “knot” for the same common goal. However, Laura sees them as a “dark knot” to suggest that they are a different type of class because she initially desires to make a visit rather than becoming a part of the “dark knot.” Sequentially, Laura finds “herself in a wretched little low kitchen, lighted by a smoky lamp,” and finds a “woman sitting before the fire.” (Short Fiction, 107) The atmosphere in the “little low kitchen” implies that Laura is incongruous because before Laura goes on the journey to the cottages, she has been upholding a garden party. The circumstance of the party can only take place in a spacious area, especially an area filled with guests admiring the beauty of the flowers. In addition, the “woman sitting before the fire” “seemed as though she couldn’t understand why Laura was there...with a basket?” (Short Fiction, 107) Laura contemplates about her arrival because she has deemed the individuals who is standing outside as an outcast. Furthermore, the “basket” is a symbol for hospitality; however, the connotation of hospitality is overturned by Laura’s internal conflict. As a result, Laura isolates herself from the people at the cottages despite her initial goal giving her wishes to the passed

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