Fantasy Worlds in The Garden Party and Her First Ball by...

In the short stories ‘The Garden Party’ and ‘Her First Ball’, both written by the well-known New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield, the importance of detail lies in several fields. As Mansfield herself states, â€Å"there is an indefinite value and delight in detail† and this is shown constantly as she uses it much effectively to portray themes, provide us with a contrast between the two different settings and also paint us a clear picture of the protagonists’ fantasy worlds. Mansfield shows and doesn’t tell. In both the short stories, she plunges you straight into the imaginative and personified worlds of the protagonists and then the plot follows. The detailed description of the â€Å"perfect day for a garden-party† depicts Laura’s†¦show more content†¦Simple common details including â€Å"Meg’s tuberoses, Jose’s long loop of amber, Laura’s little dark head†¦Ã¢â‚¬  are seen by her as most charming and extraordinary. Unmistakably, Mansfield is constructing a ‘fairy land’ and she does it extraordinarily well as we see it through Leila’s childish eyes. As well as in the description of the protagonists’ joyous anticipation and childish fantasies, detail is used to illustrate two different settings in each story. The contrast is between upper class and lower class in The Garden Party and is achieved by describing both the Sheridans’ house and the Carters’ in detail. The Sheridans are portrayed as living in a grand, luxurious residence with the air that blows past being â€Å"windless and warm†, while the Carters’ live down a â€Å"gloomy passage† in a lane that is â€Å"smoky and dark.† â€Å"Great plumes of silvery smoke uncurled the Sheridans’ chimney†, while â€Å"the very smoke coming out of their (Carters’) chimneys was poverty-stricken.† A beautiful â€Å"green-baize door led to the kitchen regions† of the Sheridans’, while the Carters’ cooked their food in a â€Å"wretched low kitchen.† The Sheridans’ house has a lil y lawn, tennis courts and a grand piano, while the Carters’ â€Å"poky little hole† is not at all attractive. This amount of fine detail takes us throughShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Katherine Mansfield s The Garden Party Essay1428 Words   |  6 Pages2016 Title Katherine Mansfield was a modernist short story writer during the 1920’s. She wrote various short stories in the few years as an author, Mansfield s stories often commented on class, relationships, families, and sexuality, After reading a few of her most popular works the common theme of them though out was the central conclusion of them all is the protagonist coming of age by seeing the more realistic view on life. The common theme aids Mansfield’s in communicating to her readers theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Katherine Mansfield 2012 Words   |  9 PagesIntroduction: Katherine Mansfield was a well acclaimed author born in 1888. Her literature was in the form of short stories spanning no more than several passages long. Many dub her as an innovator in literature for her distinctive use of realism and symbolism which at the time was foreign to short stories and writing in general. Most authors at the time fabricated fictional worlds with fantastic characters in th eir stories but Mansfield was more interested in writing and emerging her audience into