the garden party
.... She craves to be a part of it and eventually does “She feels just like a work-girl”. She is proud to be one of ‘them’. Laura encounters real life and death for the first time and realizes that the things that are valued in her level of society, parties and clothes and fine food, don't matter much at all. The death of the man questions the values she has learned from her privileged life, where anything unpleasant is ignored. She is transformed, but she cannot express what she has learned. "`Isn't life,' she stammered, `Isn't life--' But what life was she couldn't explain." The workmen make Laura realise what life is all about and how much she takes for granted. Laura is amazed at how the workmen cared for lavender “caring for the smell of lavender” something she never looked twice at before. “How many men that she knew would have done such a thing?” Laura had never taken notice of the beauty of nature before because the simplicities of life were not of importance to her family. Laura's self-consciousness regarding her own youth and inexperience is evident whenever she encounters members of the working class. She does not want to be considered more superior than the workmen. In her initial dealings with them, she attempts to play the role of her mother “Good morning’, she said, copying her mother’s voice” —the adult— but soon loses her composure “Laura wished now that she had not got her bread and butter, but there was no place to put it and she couldn't throw it away” With the very first sentence of the story, Mansfield pulls us into the dreamlike world of the middle class. As the story progresses, we find that this middle-class family can order nearly anything. The beauty of their garden-party results from the labours of a host of workers including the gardener, who "up since dawn, mow the lawns and sweep them, until the grass and the dark flat rosettes where the daisy plants had been seemed to shine"; the workmen, who assemble the marquee; Hans, who moves the furniture and sweeps the carpet; the cook, who makes fifteen different kinds of sandwiches; Godber's man, who brings the cream puffs that are so famous "nobody ever thought of making them at home" ; and Sadie, who oversees the arrival of the goods at the Sheridans' home. Yet, as the opening paragraph hints, the Sheridans operate under the illusion that their easy life is natural and not produced through the labour of others. Even the roses and the bushes act as if they have been visited by royalty" understand that roses are the only flowers that impress people at garden-parties" "hundreds yes, literally hundreds, had come out in a single night", "bow down as though they have been visited by archangels" Laura is uniquely ready for an experience that will transform her relation to the classes. She is the only Sheridan who feels an affinity with the working class. "just like a work-girl". Early in the story, in the presence of the men who are setting up the marquee, she thinks, "How very nice workmen were!" "these absurd class distinctions" Laura's identification with the working class represents a threat to her class and at the exact moment Laura loses her sophistication act and bonds with the workmen, she is reclaimed by the middle-class world by an anonymous voice calling her home to take a telephone call.The telephone representing another artificial tool. She answers obediently “Coming!” and “Away she skimmed, over the lawn, up the path, up the steps, across the veranda and into the porch. In the hall her father and Laurie were brushing their hats ready to go to the office” There is a progressive retreat from nature to society, with the subsequent final triumph of the latter. Throughout the story, Laura's close bond with her brother has been evident, yet Laurie has played a great role in the suppression of her potential to break free from the middle class. When Laurie returns home from work, Laura remembers the Carter's accident that she is persuaded by her sister and mother to forget. She intends to tell Laurie about it, but Laurie's praise for the hat that Mrs. Sheridan has used to distract and calm Laura down sidetracks her from mentioning the dead man. Here the power of praise conquers true emotion and reality. The hat is like an elaborate mask, which Laura hides behind. It is the symbol of extravagance and wealth. A hat tells you something abou...