Discuss the various themes as exhibited in ‘The Garden Party’.
Ans: In ‘The Garden Party’, Katherine Mansfield explores multiple themes within the limitations of a short story. Only a few paragraphs are concerned with the afternoon party itself while the rest deals with various issues. The major themes are as given below:
i. Beauty and Privilege: Only upper-class people like the Sheridans enjoy the privilege of aesthetic beauty. The poor, like the Scotts, are deprived of this beauty. The Sheridans’ sense of beauty and status is evident in their garden, clothing, food choices and manner of speaking. On the other hand, the garden and cottage of the Scotts appear neglected and shabby.
ii. Class Consciousness and Empathy: The Sheridans are conscious of their family status. They have no empathy for their poor neighbours. So they do not bother about Mr. Scott’s death. Only Laura overcomes this class barrier as she comes in contact with the working class.
iii. Innocence and Experience: The story depicts Laura’s journey from innocence to experience. Her first encounter with death in the Scotts’ cottage changes Laura’s perception of life and death. After this visit, Laura returns home as a changed person.
iv. Life and Death: The story suggests a marked division between life and death. The Sheridans, their garden and the party represent the over-abundance of life with all its dazzling colours and festive mood. But the Scotts’ cottage and its impoverished locality down the hill represent death with its gloomy look and mourning neighbours. But the news of Mr. Scott’s death creeps into the Sheridan household, causing discord between Laura and her family. Laura’s arrival at the Scott home is actually the arrival of life in the land of death. She brings leftover food, which symbolises life. Looking at Mr. Scott’s body, what Laura discovers is beauty and peace. Laura finds a greater understanding of life in his death.
There are other minor themes explored throughout the story. Of them, familial relationships, Laura’s coming of age, social prejudice of the rich, quest, acceptance of death and the march of the Industrial Revolution over native culture are significant.
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