New Zealand Zealand,, childho childhood, od, adultho adulthood, od, social social class, class, class class conflic conflict, t, innoce innocence, nce, and experience.
Setting The time is early summer in a year in the first decade of the 20th Century. The story unfolds at the estate of a well-to-do upper-class family on Tinakori Road in Wellington, New aeland !which was the real-life locale where author "atherine #ansfield li$ed %eginning in &'('), at the near%y home of a poor lower-class family, and on the road %etween the two dwellings. #ansfield, grew up in Wellington, attended school there, furthered her education in *ngland in &(0+, returned to Wellington in &(0, and returned to *ngl *nglan and d whil whilee stil stilll under under age age twen twenty ty to pursu pursuee a writ writin ing g care career er.. er er fath father er,, a prosperous %anker, supported her mo$e with a generous financial allotment.
Major Themes The central theme of The /arden arty is commonly percei$ed to %e the contrast %etween life and death. The 1heridans garden is a place of thoughtless pleasure and %urgeoning energy, where young people resem%le %rilliant %utterflies and arum lilies %loom with an almost frightening $itality. 3n contrast, the home of the dead carter is dark and oppre oppress ssi$ i$e, e, guard guarded ed %y an aged aged cron cronee and surr surrou ounde nded d %y a shado shadowy wy crow crowd. d. #ansfield deli%erately e4aggerates the difference %etween these two locations in order to emphasi5e her theme. That life and death are part of the same continuum is suggested %y the temporal structure of the story, which %egins at dawn and ends in a gathering dusk. 6s many critics ha$e noted, 7auras 8ourney to $isit the %erea$ed family has strong mythic o$ertones and resem%les the tale of roserpina, a goddess who was a%ducted %y ades into the underworld. 7auras moment of epiphany testifies to a kind of knowledge una$aila%le in the sunny world of the garden party. 3n this way, her 8ourney also has the 9uality of an initiation rite, in which a nai$e young girl achie$es emotional and moral maturity.
Critical Reception #uch of the critical discussion a%out The /arden arty has centered on the storys structure. 1parking considera%le de%ate, Warren 1. Walker contended that the conclusion of The /arden arty is flawed %y 7auras am%iguous response to the carters corpse. Ro%ert #urray :a$is, :onald 1. Taylor, and 6dam ;. 1orkin ha$e all responded to Walkers misgi$ings, arguing that the storys central oppositions !life and death, dream and reality, youth and maturity, %eauty and ugliness) result in artistic unity and satisfying thematic tension. 6nother commentator,
Innocence and Experience The /arden arty traces the psychological and moral growth of 7aura 1heridan. The story presents her adolescent confusion regarding the social $alues of her family and her awakening to a more mature perception of reality after her e4posure to po$erty and death at the carters cottage.
7auras self-consciousness regarding her own youth and ine4perience is e$ident whene$er she encounters mem%ers of the working class. When sent to super$ise the workers who ha$e come to set up the mar9uee, she regards them as impressi$e %ecause...
Themes Growth .......On the grounds of the Sheridan home, beautiful flowers grow. One of them is Laura, a pretty teenager rooted in the traditions of her privileged family. Whether she flourishes depends on whether she can accept and understand the world beyond the Sheridan family’s garden paradise. Two developments, one minor and one major, suggest that Laura can do so and thereby grow into a mature adult. These a re as follows The First
.......When four wor!men enter the grounds to set up the mar"uee for the garden party, Laura approves of their smiling faces. #ut after she suggests placing the mar"uee on the lily lawn, a wor!man rejects the idea, saying that she should the mar"uee $where it’ll give you a bang slap in the eye.% Laura then wonders whether it is respectful of a laborer to spea! to a g irl of her upbringing in the crude language of the common people. &owever, Laura ends up approving of the men even though they are the ones who choose the location for the mar"uee'against the !ara!a trees. Thus, though failing to supervise the men with authority, Laura learns to overloo! class distinctions in dealing with the outside world. The Second
.......(ews of the fatal accident prompts Laura to suggest cancellation of the garden party out of respect for the grieving family. &owever, upon seeing how smart she loo!s in the hat her mother gives her, she agrees with her mother and )ose that it would be absurd to call off the party. *fter the festivities end and the family members gather in the mar"uee for coffee, +r. Sheridan broaches the subject of the fatal accident, saying how horrible it must be for the wife and children to cope. The family goes silent. Laura thin!s, $eally it was very tactless of father . . . ,% but does not finish her thought. &er mother then decides to send a bas!et of uneaten sandwiches and pastries down to the Scotts. Whether she sincerely wants to help'or simply wishes to get rid of the leftovers or assuage a feeling of guilt about the Scotts'is arguable. *t any rate, Laura agrees to ta!e the bas!et. *fter wal!ing down the hill from her home, she crosses a wide road and enters the the environs of the common fol!. &ere, Laura faces a severe test She wished now she had put on a coat. &ow her froc! shone- *nd the big hat with the velvet streamer'if only it was another hat- Were the people loo!ing at her They must be. /t was a mista!e to have come0 she !new all along it was a mista!e. Should she go bac! even now #ut she continues on, meets the family, and sees the dead man. The e1perience is not at a ll horrible, as she thought it would be. &e was dreaming. (ever wa!e him up again. &is head was sun! in the pillow, his eyes were closed0 they were blind under the closed eyelids. &e was given up to his dream. What did garden2
parties and bas!ets and lace froc!s matter to him &e was far from all those things. &e was wonderful, beautiful. Laura learns that a common cart driver can be noble in death and that she and the $dar! people,% though living worlds apart, share a common humanity unbounded class distinction. When twilight comes, the shadows fall on both worlds, and the night ma!es all men e"ual. Isolation .......+r. and +rs. Sheridan tend to isolate their children from the harsh reality of the mundane, wor!aday world. 3ntry to the estate is open only to the upper2class ac"uaintances of the family' the guests at the garden party, for e1ample, or the friends of Laura, such as 4itty +aitland and the $silly boys . . . who came to Sunday night supper.% +ansfield compares the Sheridan children to the e1otic !ara!as'$trees you imagined growing on a desert island, proud, solitary, lifting their leaves and fruits to the sun in a !ind of silent splendour. +ust they be hidden . . . % When Laura and Laurie were small children, they were confined to a 5desert island5 6the Sheridan estate7, and their parents refused to allow them to visit the $disgusting and sordid% settlement of common fol! down the road. When they were older and eager to brea! out of their isolation, $Laura and Laurie on their prowls sometimes wal!ed through% the settlement. $They came out with a shudder. #ut still one must go everywhere0 one must see everything.% Transition .......Laura struggles toward young adulthood, trying hard to thin! and act maturely but sometimes behaving capriciously. &owever, when she crosses the $broad road% at the bottom of the hill with a bas!et of food for the Scotts, she also crosses into the first stage of adulthood. When she sees the body of +r. Scott'who has made the ultimate transition'she begins to u nderstand the meaning of life and death in a world in which all human beings share a common humanity and class distinctions are none1istent.
Climax The clima1 occurs when Laura enters the Scott home and sees the grieving wife and the corpse.
Imagery: Light and Darkness ......./n 5* 8arden 9arty5 the world of the Sheridans is bright, shining, and heavenly. The world of the Scotts, on the other hand, is dar!, gloomy, and cimmerian. #esides contrasting the two worlds, the imagery also reflects the conflicting moods of Laura as she perceives life around her. .......+ansfield opens the story with descriptions of the weather'perfect, with a cloudless s!y and a golden ha:e. She follows with a description of the garden, something of a demi2paradise where the grass $seemed to shine% and the rose bushes, heavy with budding flowers, $bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels.% The wor!men set up the mar"uee against the !ara!a trees'$so lovely, with their broad, gleaming leaves, and their clusters of yellow fruit. They were li!e trees you imagined growing on a desert island, proud, solitary, lifting their leaves and fruits to the sun in a !ind of silent splendour.% Then a florist arrives with a $bla:e of lilies.% .......+ansfield dar!ens her imagery when first referring to the cottages of the common fol! living down the hill from the Sheridans 5They were little mean dwellings painted a chocolate brown.5 She then mi1es light and dar! imagery when she writes that 5The very smo!e coming out of their chimneys was poverty2stric!en. Little rags and shreds of smo!e, so unli!e the great silvery plumes that uncurled from the Sheridans; chimneys.5 .......When Laura is in conflict over whether it is right to hold the garden party when a family down the road is grieving, she goes to her room wearing a fashionable hat her mother gave her, a hat whose hues reflect the conflict.
was this charming girl in the mirror, in her blac! hat trimmed with gold daisies, and a long blac! velvet ribbon.5 .......When the guests arrive for the party, they are 5li!e bright birds that had alighted in the Sheridans; garden for this one afternoon, on their way to'where *h, what happiness it is to be with people who all are happy, to press hands, press chee!s, smile into eyes.5 *fter the party, the imagery dar!ens, although there are a few glimmers of light. =ollowing are e1amples /t was just growing dus!y as Laura shut their garden gates. * big dog ran by li!e a shadow. The road gleamed white, and down below in the hollow the little cottages were in deep shade. The lane began, smo!y and dar!. Women in shawls and men;s tweed caps hurried by. +en hung over the palings0 the children played in the doorways. * low hum came from the mean little cottages. /n some of them there was a flic!er of light, and a shadow, crab2li!e, moved across the window Then the door opened. * little woman in blac! showed in the gloom. The little woman in the gloomy passage seemed not to have heard her. She found herself in a wretched little low !itchen, lighted by a smo!y lamp.
Personification and Onomatopoeia +ansfield fre"uently uses personification 6a type of metaphor7 and onomatopoeia to animate her prose. =ollowing are e1amples The green bushes bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels. Bowing in deference personifies the bushes.
They were li!e trees you imagined growing on a desert island, proud, solitary, lifting their leaves and fruits to the sun in a !ind of silent splendour. Proud personfies the karaka trees.
The green bai:e door that led to the !itchen regions swung open and shut with a muffled thud. *nd now there came a long, chuc!ling absurd sound. /t was the heavy piano being moved on its stiff castors. Onomatopoeia: muffled thud and chuckling.
Little faint winds were playing chase, in at the tops of the windows, out at the doors. *nd there were two tiny spots of sun, one on the in!pot, one on a silver photograph frame, playing too. Playing personifies winds and spots of sun.
5Tu!2tu!2tu!,5
cluc!ed
coo!
li!e
an
their
chimneys
agitated
hen.
Onomatopoeia: tuk and clucked .
The
very
smo!e
coming
out
of
Poverty-stricken personifies smoke.
Symols The following may be interpreted as symbols in $The 8arden 9arty%
was
poverty2stric!en.
4ara!a Trees, >esert /sland, +ar"uee The narrator says that the !ara!as $were li!e trees you imagined growing on a desert island, proud, solitary, lifting their leaves and fruits to the sun in a !ind of silent splendour. +ust they be hidden by a mar"uee% The Sheridan children, of course, are somewhat isolated on their parents’ estate, protected from the outside world. Therefore, the trees would be the children, the desert island the Sheridan estate, and the mar"uee the overprotection of the parents. The Lilies They may represent the purity, innocence, and vulnerability of Laura, who $crouched down as if to warm herself at that bla:e of lilies0 she felt they were in her fingers, on her lips, growing in her breast.% Laura’s &at When Laura as!s her mother to call off the garden party out of respect for the grieving Scotts, +rs. Sheridan places a fashionable hat she had bought for herself on Laura’s head. $The hat is yours,% she says. $/t’s much too young for me. / have never seen you loo! such a picture.% Then she tells Laura that the party will go on as scheduled, saying, $9eople li!e that don;t e1pect sacrifices from us. *nd it;s not very sympathetic to spoil everybody;s enjoyment as you;re doing now.5 Laura then goes to her room, disconcerted. &owever, as soon as she loo!s in her mirror and sees how chic she loo!s in the new hat, she thin!s that perhaps her mother was right about the party and decides not to bother herself about the Scotts until after the party is over. The hat, thus, appears to symboli:e +rs. Sheridan;s worldview'including her class2 consciousness'which she has now passed on to Laura. The &ill The Sheridan estate is on a hill, suggesting that they are of good birth and high social standing. The oad >own the &ill This appears to represent Laura’s journey toward maturity'and the outer world from which she has been protected by her parents. The Wide oad *t the bottom of the hill is a wide road across which is the settlement of common people. /t appears to represent the class barriers between them and the Sheridans. The 8arden Throughout the story, the garden appears to represent the growth of the Sheridan children as well as a !ind of 3den in which their parents confine them.
