The Garden Party

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1922

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Summary

Background

Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Literary Devices

Irony

Among the story’s most crucial and pervasive literary devices is irony, which occurs when a situation or utterance presents a surface meaning that contrasts with an underlying meaning. Therefore, while it can take many forms, irony always invokes a dual consciousness: an awareness of appearance (or expectation) versus reality.

The story’s most overt irony involves the Sheridan family’s reaction to Laura’s dismay. When Jose tells Laura not to be “so extravagant,” the narrative ultimately imbues Jose’s words with an opposite meaning: The party is the true extravagance—and so is Jose’s attitude. Her words, though they accuse Laura, are an unwitting self-indictment because they prove her self-absorption and commitment to indulgence. Likewise, when Mrs. Sheridan scolds Laura that “it’s not very sympathetic to spoil everyone’s enjoyment as you’re doing now” (8), the underlying truth is that Laura is indeed sympathetic, while Mrs. Sheridan is not.

Irony also exists in more subtle forms, some of which are perceptible only in retrospect. For example, even the story’s opening lines are ironic: “And after all the weather was ideal. They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it” (1). With the totality of the story in mind, a reader can see the irony: It’s actually an abysmal day for a garden party, because a man has died. Moreover, the idea of “ordering” a perfect day—though the thought is floated with a casual air—alludes to the entitlement of the Sheridans, who order just about anything they want.

Symbolism

A symbol is any entity that represents another entity (an object, idea, or relationship, etc.). In a literary work, symbols often play into an overarching theme. Manifold symbolism pervades “The Garden Party,” relating particularly to the themes of life and death but also to themes of wealth disparity and class distinction. Flowers are the most common symbol and appear in various forms: They first appear in the garden, as daisies (representing commonality) are swapped with roses (representing opulence). Then, Mrs. Sheridan references lilies (a flower usually associated with death). Crucial floral symbolism appears in the golden daisies on Laura’s hat; just as the common daisy contrasts with the extravagance of the velvet hat, so Laura’s empathic connection to the “outside world” contrasts with her wealth and status.

Personification

Personification is the attribution of human qualities to nonhuman entities. Mansfield uses this device to enliven the scenery through Laura’s eyes. For example, the story opens with a rapturous description of the garden, and the narration compares the plants to people who’ve just had a religious experience: The bushes are so overladen with the weight of new blooms that they “bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels” (1). This is a specific form of personification called a “pathetic fallacy,” wherein human psychological experience is ascribed to nonhuman entities (a famous historical example is William Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” which attributes loneliness to a cloud). Other personification occurs when Laura is in her house and is delighted to see little sun spots “playing.” By giving these inanimate objects life, Mansfield further highlights the theme of life and death; this enlivening personification occurs almost entirely within the Sheridan gates.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is when a word phonetically resembles the sound it describes; for example, the words “tick tock” not only denote but phonetically imitate the sound of a clock. There are two notable occurrences of onomatopoeia in this story: first, in the sounds of the workmen’s hammers as they set up the marquee (“And now there came the chock-chock of wooden hammers” [2]); second, in the sound that the cook makes while in the kitchen (“‘Tuk-tuk-tuk,’ clucked cook like an agitated hen” [6]). Both instances accompany less-affluent characters, thereby emphasizing the difference in class distinction through simplistic noise descriptions.