English 1205 Take Home Assignment
Prepared by: Julia Loparco
Student #: A00385431
Prepared for: Jackie Cameron
Course: ENGL 1205
Date: October 7, 2014
12. Comparing the rich and poor in Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party"
In the story "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield, many events occur to make the reader think that Laura, the main character has lived a very sheltered and confined life. Coming from a wealthy family, perhaps she was restricted in a sense that she didn't get to see how people on the other side of the world, or in her world, down the road lived. Specifically in this story, Laura is not exposed to poverty. Her unsupportive family being one of the main factors in this but by the end of this story she comes face-to-face with all of these.
At the start of the story, Laura was secluded in a bubble.
English: Signature of Guy De Maupassant Français ...
English: Photo portrait of French writer Guy de Ma...
English: Guy de Maupassant. Français : Guy de Mau...And that's where she'd been for her whole life. Growing up in a wealthy family, she was protected from many things, poverty being one of them. From the beginning, Laura begins to be exposed to the working class. As she prepares for the garden party, the workers show up to put up the marquee, and she gives them direction as to what she needs done. Because of course, her and her siblings cannot set up for this backyard bash themselves, they must hire people to do all the work for them. Her being from a higher class then these working class men, she was almost offended when they started speaking to her like a fellow human being.
The division between rich and poor was very dominant in this story. Laura was the most reasonable character in the story after news of the death of a working class man down...