The Garden Party: Laura’s Interrupted Journey to Womanhood Lauren Stark 12th Grade

The short story "The Garden Party" was penned by Katherine Mansfield, a burgeoning short story writer from New Zealand; this work of fiction was first published in 1922 in The Garden Party and Other Stories. This short story delves into modernity through innovative literary techniques, such as beginning in media res and using third-person over-the-shoulder narration. In doing so, Mansfield makes the time-honored "coming of age tale" new and fresh.

The short story takes place in a small town in New Zealand, where the wealthy Sheridan family lives up on a hill, towering above their less financially well off neighbors. Mansfield's narrative charts a particularly notable day in the life of Laura Sheridan, which is marked by a phenomenal garden party and a tragic death. Interacting with the lower class catalyzes Laura’s transition from childhood to womanhood. Although the short story has Laura take many steps in the transition to womanhood, she is unable to completely mature into a woman due to her inability to process mortality. The opening paragraph of the Garden Party sets the stage for a coming of age story, by presenting a symbolically powerful setting. The weather was “ideal”, and described as “windless, warm, the sky without...