Katherine Mansfield revolutionized the short story genre by ending the predominant reliance upon traditional plot structure, instead relying more on a specific moment in time, expressed through image patterns. By doing this, Mansfield carried the short story genre away from formalistic structuring and helped to establish its credibility as a literary form.
This collection of short fiction contains the following stories: “At the Bay,” “The Garden Party,” “The Daughters of the Late Colonel,” “Mr. and Mrs. Dove,” “The Young Girl,” “Life of Ma Parker,” “Marriage à la Mode,” “The Voyage,” “Miss Brill,” “Her First Ball,” “The Singing Lesson,” “The Stranger,” “Bank Holiday,” “An Ideal Family,” and “The Lady’s Maid.”
The Garden Party centers on female protagonists and the roles they play in family and social structures. These female characters differ in both age and class, ranging between the ages of six and sixty-five years and belonging to lower-, middle-, and upper-class social groups. For example, in “The Garden Party,” the collection’s title story, the female protagonist is approximately sixteen and is a member of aristocratic society, whereas in “Life of Ma Parker,” the title character, a maid, belongs to the lower class and is perhaps fifty.
Not only does Mansfield like to juxtapose differences in class and in age, but she also likes to position fictional elements against one another. Characters, settings, and themes are juxtaposed in her short fiction. In “The Garden Party” two classes are juxtaposed: On one hand there is the affluent and aristocratic Sheridan family celebrating the new flowers in bloom, and on the other hand there is the poor family, less than two miles away from the Sheridan estate, that has just suffered the father’s untimely death.
A feminist, Mansfield juxtaposes the roles of men and women in “At the Bay.” She uses the character of Linda to address the idea that women need more than a husband and children to fulfill their lives. The story’s narrative depicts Linda’s growing realization that there is more to life than wifely and motherly duties. Increasingly evident within the story is her desire to take an active role in her own life.
Mansfield is a master of utilizing and implementing many literary techniques. A striking use of metaphor is apparent in Mansfield’s short fiction. Her stories also tend to operate by means of the implied rather than the direct. Furthermore, she uses a voice that is influenced by the characters, experiments with point of view, employs the use of natural elements, and begins stories in medias res.
Mansfield uses voice to present a character accurately. If a character is a young woman or an adolescent, for example, voice conveys the character’s young or adolescent feelings. If the narrator speaks from the consciousness of a young child, the words are short, to the point, and not complicated, like the language and speech patterns of an actual child. Thus does narrative voice help to give the reader a realistic impression of the character.
Mansfield also experiments with point of view. She uses first and third person viewpoints, standard to short fiction, yet she has also created a point of view peculiarly her own that seemingly derives from her gift of impersonation. Her early mimicking of family and acquaintances carries over in her fiction to her use of a multipersonal perspective. Writing from a multipersonal point of view also allows Mansfield to give readers an extended sense of time, in both a historical and an immediate sense. This point of view also allows Mansfield to extend the viewpoint of a story from that of a single character to that of an entire group. In “The Garden Party,” the beginning viewpoint is that of Laura Sheridan; however, at the end of the story, the viewpoint has shifted to be inclusive of the entire family.
The use of natural elements is an essential component of Mansfield’s narrative craft. She believes that natural elements, such as air, sea, and gardens, help to create one’s existence. In “Bank Holiday,” for example, the use of the wind is important. The characters are pushed by the wind and do not realize the role played by the wind in moving them to their ultimate destination. Another use of natural elements is in “The Voyage.” During the night, the young girl Fenella is taken by sea from a place that is familiar to her and emerges in a new place at the beginning of a new day.
Another characteristic device used by Mansfield is beginning stories in medias res, for example, in “The Voyage” and “The Daughters of the Late Colonel.” In “The Voyage,” Fenella is whisked away from her father, and readers do not understand why until near the end of the story. Similarly, when “The Daughters of the Late Colonel” begins, the father has died and the daughters are indecisive as to how to behave. These in medias res beginnings emphasize endings in a way that typical plot structure does not.
Not only are Mansfield’s short stories characterized by female protagonists, each story addresses a social or psychological issue, including class, loneliness, or despair. “Miss Brill,” “The Voyage,” “Life of Ma Parker,” and “The Lady’s Maid” are representations of different women’s existences and their varying relationships with those around them. In “Miss Brill,” for example, Mansfield brings to the reader’s consciousness the struggle between the young and the old. Miss Brill is elderly and alone, so she is forced to become “an actress” in the lives of those around her. She is no more than an observer in the conversations and lives of others who are also in the park, and at the end of the story she is compelled to realize this. The mean and hurtful words of the young couple she encounters force her to recognize that she is an outsider and unappreciated. Upon her return home, Miss Brill begins returning her fur stole to its box and then seems to hear the fox whimpering. In actuality, Mansfield suggests that it is Miss Brill herself who is crying because she is not only alone but also without hope of ever being more than “an actress” in the lives of others.
Both female protagonists in “The Lady’s Maid” and “Life of Ma Parker” exemplify women who have an undying commitment to those who surround them. Ellen in “The Lady’s Maid” has previously declined a marriage proposal she received as a young girl in order to fulfill her obligation to her “lady.” Ellen wants to marry but realizes unselfishly that it will not be such a good idea to leave alone a lady who cannot adequately take care of herself. Along with Ellen, Ma Parker also demonstrates a sense of commitment. She never once sheds a tear or thinks of herself when her husband dies of consumption or when seven of her thirteen children die. She exemplifies strength and a strong commitment to others. Eventually, she realizes that she needs to release her pent-up emotions and begin healing from the pain she has experienced over the years.
Other themes and issues brought forth by Mansfield in The Garden Party include those of suffering, loneliness, abandonment, denial of self-fulfillment, and, most important, death’s effect on human consciousness.
The effect of death on human consciousness is the thread that connects most of the stories. According to Saralyn R. Daly, death is relevant to the human condition: “In each instance the characters are affected by a death, but it becomes clear that death is not central in the author’s mind.” In “The Stranger” and “Marriage à la Mode,” the death that occurs is not of a human being but of a relationship. In both stories, the bond between husband and wife falls apart for one reason or another. In “The Stranger,” the relationship deteriorates because Janey Hammond has emotionally shut herself off from her husband. In “Marriage à la Mode,” the relationship falls apart because there is a communication gap between William and Isabel. In the early years of their marriage William is content and Isabel is not. They decide to move to appease her, and then the roles are reversed: William is unhappy and Isabel is ecstatic. Their relationship falls apart because they have failed to express their feelings to each other. What each of these stories suggests is that death comes in all forms and is capable of affecting everything and everyone. In many of Mansfield’s stories, relationships die because people fail to acknowledge the needs of others.
To Mansfield, death is the beginning of a self-awakening process. In “The Daughters of the Late Colonel,” the father’s death leads the sisters to the discovery of how desperate their lives have been up to that point. As a result of the colonel’s death, the sisters realize that they have been excluded from others and are lonely for companionship. After their father’s death they are not able to communicate or socialize independently. Everything has been organized and dictated to them by their father, and now there is no one to tell them what to do.
All of the stories that belong to The Garden Party suggest that life needs to be examined and that everyone needs to pursue some sort of happiness, whether it be alone, in a relationship, or in practicing everyday rituals such as going to the park and listening to music. Each story presents a moment in which such happiness is either missing or attained, and together these tales reinforce the value of such moments by presenting them vividly and convincingly.