SUMMARY, by Begoña Devis
At the beginning of this story,
Katherine Mansfield tells us how the Sheridan family is preparing a party in
the garden of their mansion. The opulent family is made up of the parents and
four siblings: one boy, Laurie, and three girls, Meg, Jose and the youngest
one, Laura. The latter is the true protagonist, and the narrator will make us
see the events through her eyes.
During the preparations, Laura receives
news of the death of a neighbour, a carter named Scott, who lives in a neighbourhood
next to the Sheridans’, but completely different, indeed. It is a poor,
working-class neighbourhood, where people live overcrowded and in poor
situation. In fact, Mrs Sheridan cannot explain herself how anyone can live in
such terrible conditions, although that doesn’t really seem to worry her at
all.
For Laura, it is evident that the party
must be suspended; it seems indecent to her that the widow and her five small
children, who have lost their father, have to hear the music and merriment of
the party. But for both her mother
and her brothers, especially for Jose (who enjoys giving orders to the
servants, as it is said in the story, and who sings
about the hardness of life only to delight herself in her own voice) it is a
crazy idea. Just because the neighbours suffer (the death of a man), doesn’t
mean that they have to suffer too (cancelling a party). For them, there was no difference between these
situations.
Laura sees things differently, she does
not believe in absurd class distinctions (she thought that), although the
education she has received and her age make her manipulable and naive. At the
beginning of the story, when she goes out to talk to those who are going to put
up the marquee (this time the mother wants to be another guest, and Laura is
delighted to be outside socializing with people of different class), she thinks
that the fact of eating carelessly a piece of bread with butter in front of the
workers will already convert her in one of them, and now, in the case at hand,
just her vision in the mirror wearing a beautiful hat that flatters her a lot
is enough to make her believe that her mother must be right. For her, in short,
the working class is a blurry vision, something she only knows through
newspapers.
This vision will change dramatically
when Laura is forced by her mother to bring the Scotts a basket with
sandwiches, cakes, and other food left over from the party (which has been a
success).
When she enters the poor neighbourhood
and sees what state these people really live in, she is ashamed of her luxurious
dress, and especially her hat. She wants to leave quickly, but Mrs Scott’s
sister politely invites her to go in, and even to look at Mr Scott’s corpse.
And it is this vision that will upset Laura the most. She sees a calm, relaxed man who no
longer cares about parties or jobs. She feels deeply disturbed, and leaves
there saying only “Forgive my hat.”
On her way home, she meets her brother
Laurie, who has gone to look for her, and can’t find words to express what she
feels and can only say “Isn’t life…”, to which her brother replies “Isn’t it,
darling?”
PERSONAL OPINION
This is a story that tells us about the
difference between classes, about the futility of a luxurious and easy life
compared to a miserable and poor working life, especially at the beginning of
the 20th century. The narrator uses Laura as a catalyst for those differences.
She thinks with more freedom than the rest of her family, but she is too young
and naive to fully understand the problem. But when she visits the poor neighbourhood,
and especially when she sees the peace in the face of the carter’s corpse, she
has a kind of revelation. Can her high class feel that peace with the
meaningless life they lead? Can it be felt by someone who wonders how the poor
can live this way without doing nothing to change it, someone who subtly blames them
for their situation, as if they had chosen it voluntarily?
I think that when Laura asks for
forgiveness for her hat, she is actually asking for forgiveness from her neighbours
for belonging to a class that humiliates them and that gives them the leftovers
of their food just to make them feel their superiority.
The fact that Katherine Mansfield has
once again chosen a woman as the protagonist of a story against the established
norms of her time tells us once again about her revolutionary character and her
recognized feminism. Laura
(a woman) has had a revelation. Laurie (a man) seems to understand his sister
when she can’t find words to describe her feelings, but is that true? Can he,
who has not entered the house or seen the body, understand Laura’s confusion?
We will never know.
QUESTIONS
-They say the girls’ names are after the protagonists’
names in Little Women. What do you know about Little Women? Can you
consider it a feminist story?
-Working people and well-to-do people use different levels of language. Is it possible to break the barriers between these two kinds of people? How?
-According to you, who has righter feelings for the dead man’s family, Laura or the rest of the family? Are Laura’s condolences an intrusion in the family’s pain? Do every social class have to limit their sympathy to their own class?
-Working people and well-to-do people use different levels of language. Is it possible to break the barriers between these two kinds of people? How?
-According to you, who has righter feelings for the dead man’s family, Laura or the rest of the family? Are Laura’s condolences an intrusion in the family’s pain? Do every social class have to limit their sympathy to their own class?
VOCABULARY
mowing, marquee, staves, lanky, haggard, looped up, pressing, meringue-shells, castors, playing chase, print skirt, cream puffs, icing sugar, carry one back, yer, shied, relish, prowls, sympathetic, cooed, poky, fray, becoming, frock, palings, crutch