Set in the 1900’s, The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield is a captivating short story demonstrating the differences between the various socio-economic stratas. It follows a day in the life of the wealthy Sheridan family who are preparing for hosting an elite garden party but are struck with the tragic death of their middle class neighbour. Through the family members opposing perspectives on death conveying significant themes, including, “the judgement and mistreatment of members in society based on their financial status”, it offers modern audiences an insight into the treatment of different classes in the twentieth century.
Mansfield cleverly utilises the setting of the early 1900’s to clearly portray the idea of “differences between social classes’”. It is an idea which is still prominent in our society today, yet is most explicitly stated in pre twenty-first century texts. I think that Mansfield has deliberately decided to focus on this idea because it was true to the twentieth century and forced me as the reader to feel sympathetic towards Laura’s response to Mr Scott’s death as over time the way in which we treat different classes has developed and changed. This idea was clearly evident when Laura and her mother, Mrs Sheridan, were arguing about whether or not they should call the party off. Mrs Sheridan’s self-elected superiority and opinion on the tragic event is apparent in her response to Laura’s empathetic idea to call off the party, with her stating “It’s only by accident we’ve heard of it. If someone had died there normally- and I can’t understand how they keep alive in those poky little holes- we should still be having our party, shouldn’t we?” This line of dialogue made me feel outraged because it clearly exposes Mrs Sheridans inferior perspectives of her neighbours which have been stereotypically fostered by their housing arrangements and monetary status. Quite frankly I believe she lacks any human decency! These baseless judgments are unfortunately still prevalent in today’s society. Time and time again we find ourselves forming opinions about each other based on whether or not we have the latest devices, clothes and cars rather than one’s character. This has vastly improved since the early 1900’s, although it still appalls me that this stereotyping still exists. In fact, it has been drilled into our heads so much throughout history that often these preconceptions about people based on their materialistic value, cloud our perception of them without us even realising.
The oppression of the lower social classes in society that is seen in The Garden Party, is also seen in Shakespeare’s play of Romeo and Juliet, through its depiction of Juliet’s complaint attitude at the beginning of the text. It showcases the way in which Juliet was manipulated and forced to keep her love with Romeo a secret and pretend to marry Paris, rather than being allowed to form her own perspective on love. Much alike Laura in The Garden Party, Juliet had to deal with the pressures of her parents judgements and with the overpowering expectations and influence to be the person which they wanted them to be. This emotion that both Laura and Juliet are feeling is felt by many teenagers all around the world. Multiple times we find ourselves trying to please our parents and say/do what we think they want us to, rather than what we actually want to. This means that we lack individuality and instead end up becoming clones of our parents rather than becoming who we truly are. I found it interesting to compare these two texts because although they both investigate the same significant idea they are set in two different countries and time periods, which emphasises how overpowering parental influence is a timeless and universal idea.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the short story The Garden Party as it opened my eyes to the inequalities experienced by different members of society based upon their social status. Before reading this text, I knew that inequalities existed however, I didn’t realise the true extent that it affected how I personally perceive people. I have definitely become more aware of the almost innate judgement that occurs and have learnt not to judge so prematurely. I would recommend this text to year 12 students as it provides insight into the 1900 century, the weight of parental/societal pressure on peoples’ lives which is extremely relevant as we are beginning to pave our own paths for the future.
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