56 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine MansfieldThe Garden Party
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1922A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
The Hat
The hat symbolizes class distinction. As Mrs. Sheridan advises her daughter for the future, she adorns Laura with a lavish hat with a velvet ribbon ornamented with daisies. This gesture is a reminder of her class as well as her life inside the Sheridan gates; indeed, the hat is the antithesis to the reality of Mr. Scott’s death. Though Laura decides to tell Laurie about the man’s death, she falters after he compliments her hat. The party guests, too, compliment the hat. However, while the hat may bring feelings of joy and beauty at the party, this doesn’t translate beyond the gates; Laura becomes self-conscious of her appearance, particularly the hat, on her walk to the widow’s house. In her moments at the wake, the only words she can say to the deceased is an apology for wearing the hat. The hat now changes from a symbol of beauty and adoration (as within the gates of the Sheridan home) to a burden that draws painful attention to class distinction and is inappropriate to the sober occasion.
The Garden Party and the Band
The garden party is the title of the story and the focal point of the plot, but it is also a symbol of life for the characters. The Sheridans plan and prepare the party with leisure and opulence, signifying their general approach to life. Additionally, their party continues regardless of the outside world; specifically, while a man’s death inside the gates would be cause for alarm, the same death outside the gates does not affect the party.
If the garden party represents life, the band represents life’s rhythm. Life only goes in one direction and, like Jose recommends to Laura, cannot be stopped “every time some one has an accident” (7). However, as Laura stares at the dead man in the widow’s home, she realizes, “While they were laughing and while the band was playing, this marvel had come to the lane” (12); this suggests that while the rhythm of life continues for some, it does not continue for all.
The band is also a status symbol; Laura is conscious of this when she speaks to the workmen in the beginning of the story, noting that their party would have “only a very small band” (2). She believes this answer will be more tolerable to the less socioeconomically privileged workman; however, such opulence of a happy rhythm of life is not as easily digestible for the outside world.
Flowers
In the broadest symbolic sense, flowers emphasize the fleeting nature of time: As flowers bloom in a short time, so is the amount of time that one has on this earth. However, for the characters, this ephemerality is neither scrutinized nor lamented. Rather, all characters who interact with flowers enjoy them in that moment: The workman enjoys the scent of lavender, and Mrs. Sheridan and Laura enjoy the delivery of canna lilies. In this vein, the characters appreciate life in the moment.
The species further differentiates the symbolism; in particular, daisies and lilies are the main flowers referenced throughout. Daisies, a common and simple flower, are replaced by roses (more ornate and luxurious) in the beginning of story within the garden; however, their presence persists on Laura’s hat, symbolizing her connection—through both her empathy and her physical location—to the unvarnished reality outside the Sheridan gates. Throughout the story, Mrs. Sheridan also references lilies, which are usually associated with death and mourning. Most broadly, though, the flower symbols evoke transience and collectively comprise a motif of mortality and temporality.
Mortality and Temporality
The story holds many motifs—ideas, images, or words that help convey or explain larger themes—and mortality and transience are among these, playing into the broad theme of the relationship between life and death. For example, images and events vividly illustrate the passage of time, such as flowers blooming (or wilting) and the fleeting party. These depictions of transience resonate with the thematic idea of how the beauty of life fades quickly only to harken death’s quick arrival. Furthermore, Jose’s song touches on the weariness of life while also emphasizing the syllable “wake” in the word “awakening” in the last line; this bit of hidden wordplay connects to the wake at the end of the story. In addition to serving the motif of mortality, the lyrics include “a Dream,” which ties into Laura’s impression of Mr. Scott as merely being asleep. (Among all the story’s plot points, this song is the closest to foreshadowing, a literary device in which the narrative offers a hint of upcoming plot events; such hints directly influence a reader’s expectations and create a sense of suspense.)
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By Katherine Mansfield
