What is conflict? Bring out the conflict in ‘The Garden Party’.

Ans. Conflict is the opposition of characters and views. It gives pace to a fiction or play. In ‘The Garden Party’, Katherine Mansfield has employed multi-layered conflicts to raise several issues. There are both external and internal conflicts. The two locations chosen as the place of action contradict each other. The Sheridans’ garden is lovely and their house is spacious. But their poor neighbours down the hill live in shabby cottages. Their gardens are kitchen gardens. The Sheridans only know how to enjoy within their class but the poor neighbours know how to stand by their fellow men. Laura’s upbringing puts her in conflict with her upper-class values and the world outside. She stammers in addressing the workers employed for setting the marquee. What incites the main conflict in the story is the news of Mr. Scott’s death. Laura is terribly shocked. She pleads for cancelling the party. Her proposal brings her into conflict with Jose and her mother. Her mother tries to distract her mind by placing a decorated hat on her head. But this makes Laura’s internal conflict take a new turn. She is torn between her own sense of empathy and the expectation of her family. She decides to join the party and think about the poor carter’s death after the party. When Mrs. Sheridan decides to send a basket of leftover food to the Scott family, Laura hesitates. But Laura carries out her mother’s instruction. As soon as Laura reaches there, she is in conflict with herself. She feels out of place due to her fashionable dress and decorated hat. She wants to drop the basket and leave, but urged by the widow’s sister, she enters the cottage. There, she faces the grieving widow and the corpse of Mr. Scott. The conflict of the story culminates as Laura realises that Mr. Scott’s ‘wonderful, beautiful’ sleeping face is far better than their party’s gaiety. Laura now stands between the two conflicting worlds – the world of the affluent Sheridans and that of the poor neighbours. Passing through a series of external and internal conflicts, Laura experiences an epiphany that completes her journey from innocence to maturity. She realises the meaninglessness of their garden-party and understands that death is the ultimate truth that equalises all, regardless of their status. All through the story, her sensitivity leaves her in conflict with upper-class values and insensitivity.

Describe the atmosphere as presented in ‘The Garden Party’.

You’ll have to go, Laura; you are the artistic one. – Who says this? Where will Laura have to go? What is the context of the speech? Why will Laura have to go?

Good morning, she said, copying her mother’s voice. – Who is ‘she’? Why did she copy her mother’s voice? Why did she stammer? What made her recover?

Describe the setting of The Garden Party

Explore the symbolism of the Sheridan family’s garden in the story.

Describe the garden of the Sheridan family.

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