Critical Analysis of 'The Garden Party' by Katherine Mansfield: Essay

This essay offers a critical analysis of Katherine Mansfield's short story, "The Garden Party," focusing on the significance of metaphors for class distinction. The author argues that the bread and butter and Mrs. Sheridan's hat serve as powerful symbols of wealth, status, and societal divisions. The essay examines how these objects reflect Laura's evolving understanding of her social class and her reactions to the tragedy of her neighbors. It also explores the influence of the Persephone myth on the story's themes of transformation and the impact of death. The analysis considers the satirical elements present in the story, highlighting the connection between aesthetics and politics. The essay uses references from various sources including the work of Agha-Jaffar, Day and Kleine to support its arguments.

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Running Head: CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF “THE GARDEN PARTY” BY KATHERINE
MANSFIELD
Critical analysis of “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield
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1CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF “THE GARDEN PARTY” BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD
Introduction
The aim of this essay is to analyze the significance of metaphors for class distinction in
the short story of Katherine Mansfield “The Garden Party”. The thesis statement states that the
bread and butter and the hat of Mrs Sheridan play a significant role in being metaphors for class
distinction.
Discussion
The hat in the upper-class families is considered to be a symbol of wealth and obsession
with status as well as materialistic things. It also signifies the growth and maturity as Laura is not
required to don it. The change in the behaviour of Laura in terms of her attitude towards the
tragedy of her neighbours is also significant. It seems that Mansfield wants to communicate to
her readers about the true self of Laura, and the recognition of her class as she steps in front of
the mirror after putting on the exquisite hat. It also served as a distraction for Laura as her
concern for the neighbours seems to be “blurred, unreal, like a picture in the newspaper
(Mansfield)”.
The bread and butter are also significant as Laura stands in front of the works which were
present to build the marque for the garden party. Laura realizes that there was a certain air of
familiarity and comfort in those men in comparison to those who were courting her. In order to
address the dilemma of her identity, she must choose between her own class and that of those
men. In this moment of choice, she adopts a façade by taking a big bite from the bread and butter
as she attempts to be one of those workers. Apart from the act of trying to become one of them,
the bread and butter seem to be a misfit in the huge array of delicacies that were prepared by the
cook in order to serve the guests in the party. Bread and butter stood out in a very similar way

2CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF “THE GARDEN PARTY” BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD
amidst the fifteen different varieties of sandwiches, cream puffs, and lilies, just like the shady
neighbourhood outside the Sheridan household (KLEINE).
The myth of Persephone is significant in the story as well as in the myth, Zeus had
promised to marry Persephone to Hades, the king of the Underworld. However, Demeter, mother
of Persephone, was distraught about the fate of Persephone and asked Apollo to bring her back to
her. Before Persephone could be brought back to her mother, Hades tricks her into eating seeds
of pomegranate and was thus condemned to the underworld for the rest of eternity. In the
Garden Party, Laura’s character can be compared to that of Persephone who visits the household
of her dead neighbour and returns as a different woman. The seeds of pomegranate in the myth
of Persephone is in Mansfield’s story is Laura’s encounter with death. Both of these events alter
the life of the protagonists (Agha-Jaffar).
Conclusion
The Garden Party also has a satirical stance to it as it states that aesthetics and politics are
not very mutually exclusive. The creative tension in the story is in complete synchronization
with the tensions of the society.

3CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF “THE GARDEN PARTY” BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD
Works Cited
Agha-Jaffar, Tamara. Demeter and Persephone: Lessons from a myth. McFarland, 2002.
Day, Thomas. "THE POLITICS OF VOICE IN KATHERINE MANSFIELD'S ‘THE GARDEN
PARTY’." English 60.229 (2011): 128-141.
KLEINE, DON W. “‘The Garden Party’: A Portrait of the Artist.” Criticism, vol. 5, no. 4, 1963,
pp. 360–371. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41938365. Accessed 26 Feb. 2020.
Mansfield, Katherine. The Garden Party. 1921, http://katherinemansfieldsociety.org/assets/KM-
Stories/THE-GARDEN-PARTY1921.pdf. Accessed 26 Feb 2020.