Characterism In Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party

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The Garden Party Response
Katherine Mansfield set the scene for the most perfect garden-party in her story The Garden Party. The weather could not have been better; it was a cloudless and warm day with no wind and the flowers were divine. Mansfield’s common literary device of choice, personification, is used throughout The Garden Party to give humanlike characteristics to nonhuman objects with the vivid and beautiful descriptions like the roses. This section immediately caught my attention because of my own personal bias towards roses and their beauty. Mansfield’s beautifully written verse about the roses at the garden party that caused me to unconsciously smile was “You could not help feeling they understood that roses are the only flowers …show more content…

The mouthwatering cream puffs had everyone on the edge of their toes. The cook preparing for the party even promised to not tell the children 's’ mother is they grabbed a dessert before breakfast. Even the older children who tried to suppress their desires gave in to their sweet tooth and ate the fancy dessert. This section was extremely relatable for me; the image of scrumptious food being placed out for a special family gathering but not wanting to take before being told it was time to eat. The cook instantly reminded me of my grandmother who was always ready to offer me a treat before the event and a promise to never …show more content…

The cook and another man had shared the sad news with Laura revealing that the dead body was being brought home to the man’s wife and five children. Horrified by the news, Laura attempts to calls off the party. Laura asks her sister, Jose, how they should stop the party. Jose argues that there is no need to stop the party because nobody would expect them to. When Laura detests, Jose concludes the pair’s argument with the harsh but true statement, “You won 't bring a drunken workmen back to life by being sentimental” (Mansfield 7). After being rejected by her sister, Laura attempts to convince her mother to stop the party who diverts the situation by giving her daughter a beautiful hat. After feeling unsuccessful again, Laura rushes to her brother Laurie for help but decides not to ask after he completes her and her

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