The Garden Party

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Class Consciousness in Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden-Party" As everyone knows, the equal position between each person should be a normal relationship. However, it is very difficult to achieve this goal. Even in the modern society, there are several classes between people to people, and it is the largest conflict in nowadays world. In Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden-Party", she described a upper class family to hold a garden party. When the party was ready to start, a little girl who was the daughter of the master got a news that her neighbour was died by a terrible accident, and left a sad and poor wife and five children. She felt sympathetic, and she asked her mother to cancel the party:"'Of course, we can't have our party, can't we.'"(Mansfield 297). However, her mother refused his suggestion. Her mother though that she did not need to sympathize that poor family. Finally, the party still took place as scheduled. The whole story show the readers two totally different lives which reveals two different classes. In this story, Mansfield utilizes imagery, symbolism, and irony to convey a heavy class consciousness. Firstly, Mansfield uses imagery to show a serious class consciousness. Through "Jose, the butterfly, always came down in a silk petticoat and a kimono jacket."(Mansfield 291), the author described a upper class girl always to wear luxurious clothes, and to care about the beauty. At the same time, Mansfield writes,"Four men in their shirt-sleeves stood grouped together on the garden path. They carried staves covered with rolls of canvas,"(291). This lines revealed the life of the underclass. According to the contrast, the readers can realize a serious class consciousness. Ben Satterfield writes,"Laure's world is a world of parties and flowers, a pristine world of
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