Book Review of The Garden Party

The garden party by Katherine Mansfield is a classic story about a family of women and girls who are holding a garden party. The women hold a party but when they go to get the flowers and food, they meet a person who dies on the road and the hostess wants to cancel the party in honor of him but her beautiful hat and the company convinces her to keep on going. She does send someone to the family that belonged to the dead man to console them and bring them flowers. When the girl gets there, instead of consoling the family, she is being consoled while talking about her life. While walking there she realizes the poverty around her that she has never realized and also meets her brother but can't talk about her complex feelings. This book talks about social classes, the stereotype of ladies, and the change of main character- Laura.

In life, there are many social classes but among them we can classify them into three major classes. These classes are the higher class and the lower class which can affect your life depending on which one you belong in. In the garden party, the Sheridan family is in the upper class while the scott family is in the lower class. The relation between these two families is that the Sheridan family has no empathy for the scott family and the situation they are in. Another example of people in the lower class are the workers and servants. Their relation with the higher class is that the Sheridan family gives orders to them because they work for them. These social classes all relate to each other in some way and can affect how people think of each other based on their class.

During the time of the garden party, there was a prevalent stereotype of a lady characterized as a housewife married to a wealthy man. This ideal woman was expected to maintain an attractive appearance and excel as a great hostess, often entertaining guests with elegance and charm. A perfect example of this is Laura's mother. She was a typical lady and a hostess in a rich family. She arranged things perfectly for parties, gave orders to servants, and had a good appearance. This was what was taught of women to become and they strived to be like her. Laura's mother naturally raised her daughter to be like her. Laura was taught a lady should be like a lady and to be all the traits her mother had that turned her into the “perfect” lady. She learns to appreciate the aspects of the stereotype of women. The stereotype of women was widespread at the time, and many women began to turn themselves into these roles.

Although this stereotype was encouraged, change is possible. It can be brought about by many factors, whether big or small. For Laura, the stereotype women that changed, it was because of a party and the events that happened. Laura is like her mother who, like her whole family, has no empathy for the lower class and starts to become more mature and more aware of the whole world. After one of the lower class men died, she suggested ending the party but the other didn’t want to and only thought that the death might have ruined the party. They are blinded by their richness and only the mature people realize the tragedy. When she realizes how much more fortunate life is than just the material she regrets being in the higher class and becomes more mature. Even though this stereotype is rooted deeply, people have the power to challenge and change these beliefs through personal experiences.

The book The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield is an excellent story about a party that changed people like Laura. This book teaches us about social classes, the stereotype of women, and change. There are many social classes but among them are the higher class and the lower class. These two classes have relations like the social class being more powerful than the lower one. The stereotype of the women, strived for by the higher class, is a woman who is a housewife, has good appearance,  and hosts parties like the women in the book. Change in this book was mainly focused on Laura when a person dies and she has different views of it compared to the others who only focus on the party and themselves. This book gave me inspiring feelings about life and deep understanding of women at that time.