Parker Verhoeff

9th Grade English

Mr. Salsich

November 04 2008

A Second Look:

An Analysis on a second reading of, “The Garden Party” by, Katherine Mansfield

Why would anyone read a story over again, you ask? Well, you can look for sentences, words, or themes that you didn’t see the first time you read it. It is extremely helpful if you want to be a serious reader, and try to understand what the author was trying to say, but you’ll also appreciate the story more as well. Overall, re-reading a story is a great way to understand more about what the author’s message was, and the aspects of the story that you didn’t understand the first time around.

"The Garden Party" was a very interesting read the first time, but reading it a second time gave me the opportunity to watch for things that I might have missed. For example, I realized how much Laura adored parties. But on the contrary, when the man died right across the street- without even giving it much thought- she assumed that the best decision was to call the party off. Laura heard that a man died, she thought it would be of best interest not to have the garden party, and quickly explained this to her mother and sister. However, both her mother and sister thought otherwise; her sister Jose says, "Stop the Garden Party? My dear Laura, don't be so absurd. Of course we can't do anything of the kind.", and finally the mother explained her argument; "But, my dear child, use your common sense. It's only by accident we've heard of it. If someone had died there normally [...] we should still be having our party, shouldn't we?" In addition, I also found that the song that Jose sang in the beginning, related to one of the themes of the whole story. She sings, "This Life is Wee-ary A Tear-a Sigh, A Love that Chan-ges. This Life is Wee-ary, A Tear-a Sigh. A Love that Chan-ges, And then... Goodbye! This LIfe is Wee-ary, Hope comes to Die. A Dream-a Wa-kening.", all of this relates to the theme of how people take life for granite and don't pay attention to life until they die or see death first hand. Like Laura, she didn't realize how "marvelous" life was until she saw the dead man's body lying there- peaceful and sanguine. Also, because I read the story a second time, I noticed that Laura did not enjoy walking across the street to give the basket to the newly widowed woman. But some how she managed to say, "[this experience] was simply marvelous", even though during her walk up to the house she was thinking, "Oh, to be away from this! [...] To be away from those staring eyes […] [I] only [want] to get out, to get away." I thought it was extraordinary for a teenager like her, after having that terrifying experience, to still come away with what was really important; how wonderful life really is- which was what Mansfield was trying to say in her writings as well. I also, gained a new appreciation for Mansfield’s writing, since I understand it more. In the end, I believe that reading this exceptional piece of literature twice was beneficial towards my understanding of the general theme, which was stated in this short story.

I enjoyed reading the short story, “The Garden Party” for a second time. I saw themes of the story in a new light. I wouldn’t have seen this if I had stopped reading after the first time I read it. Lastly, this second look helped my overall understanding of the story, which- in turn- made me appreciate the story more.