Download The success of short stories depends on the subtlety with which their

The success of short stories depends on the subtlety with which their ideas and characters are
presented. To what extent do you agree with this view?
It can be agreed to a significant extent that the success of short stories depends on the subtlety with
which their ideas and characters are presented. In the short stories ‘The Doll’s House’, ‘and ‘The
Garden Party’, Katherine Mansfield presents the idea of early 1900’s society’s restricting norms and
expectations in a way that is not immediately evident but still highly impactful. Critic David Daiche
has said of Mansfield that “she writes only to tell the truth”, and this is obvious in the way she
effectively presents her ideas through a range of language techniques. Through subtly presenting
the idea of society’s influence over people’s lives in the early 1900’s, Mansfield successfully provokes
us to consider how we are affected by society today, and whether we unconsciously are being
negatively influenced by norms and expectations.
Katherine Mansfield was a conflicted young woman who struggled with mental illness throughout
her life. This illness made her, as an outsider looking into the sphere of humanity, more cognizant of
the prejudices and shortcomings of society. This in turn heavily influenced her purpose in writing, as
she wrote to make her audience aware of the superficial nature of their society. The perceptive view
of the society she grew up in is conveyed in ‘The Dolls House’ and ‘The Garden Party’. ‘The Doll’s
House’, set in the early 1900’s is a caricature of New Zealand society at the time, portrayed through
the lives of children as a more subtle and therefore successful way of presenting the idea. The
upper-middle class Burnell children are required to attend the common public school with children
from all parts of society because of there being too small a population to sustain high class private
schools. Unable to be separate, the children are instead taught by the adults in their family to
ostracise their poorer classmates. This is representative of New Zealand at the time which although
it had such a small population was still attempting to emulate the class distinctions of the mother
country. ‘The Garden Party’, which is also set in New Zealand in the same time period, also conveys a
message about the negative influence of society’s rules and expectations. The young main character
Laura Sheridan is conflicted between conformity and resistance to her family’s perpetuation of the
class system, as her family hold an extravagant garden party, while a young labourer from down the
road has just been killed.
Mansfield’s purpose in writing these short stories was to change the attitude of her audience, saying
“Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to
be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a
change in attitude.” She attempted to change society by changing people’s attitude to it and making
them see it differently – confirming that ‘she wrote only to tell the truth’ – the truth about the
society that she was so unhappy with. In order to convey her attitudes about society, Mansfield used
the modernist style of writing. This style, which began in the early 20th century as a result of society
rejecting the old Victorian standards, caused widespread change in literature as authors departed
from following set ‘rules’ when writing. It is typified by the absence of linear plot structures, instead
often using fragmented and discontinued plots, and unresolved endings. The writing itself is less
focused on the character and is more of an exploration of the psychology of human nature. It suits
her purpose well as it more effectively communicates significant ideas rather than plot. A typical
trait of modernism in Mansfield’s writing is the stream of consciousness literary technique.
Mansfield uses this technique in ‘The Garden Party’ to enable the audience to get inside Laura’s
mind, which then provides clues to her emotional stability.
Mansfield successfully employs the technique of symbolism to subtly present the idea of society’s
detrimental influence over the lives of her characters, in particular with the perpetuating of the class
system. In ‘The Garden Party’, the symbol for the harmful effects of society’s influence becomes the
calla lilies which Mrs Sheridan orders for the garden party. Also known as death lilies, these flowers
are beautiful but very poisonous, and through using them as a symbol Mansfield intends to make us
realise that they mirror the Sheridan family lifestyle. Although the family’s frivolous life may
outwardly be seen as beautiful but banal/harmless, in reality it is very poisonous as it supports and
maintains the prejudiced expectations of society. A further symbol that emphasises the idea of
Laura’s conflict with society’s control over her life is the hat. When Laura wants to cancel the garden
party because of the man that has been killed, Mrs Sheridan places the hat on Laura’s head, telling
her that the party will go on. ““People like that don't expect sacrifices from us. And it's not very
sympathetic to spoil everybody's enjoyment as you're doing now." As Laura sees her reflection with
the hat on she begins to think her mother was right about the party and decides to “remember it
(the death) again after the party’s over”. Therefore, the hat symbolises the prejudiced views and
class-consciousness of society and the way Mrs Sheridan has passed that over to Laura through the
action of placing the hat on her head. However, Laura realises how she has been influenced by the
hat as she feels conspicuous and guilty wearing it to the labourer’s cottage.
Moreover, in ‘The Dolls House’, the dolls house itself becomes the symbol for the perfection that
society dictates. The ‘perfect, perfect little house’ is ‘too marvellous’ with its miniature furniture and
opening front. And yet there are two things that are not quite right – the ‘smell of paint was quite
enough to make anyone seriously ill’ and the dolls who ‘sprawled very stiff as though they had
fainted’. The smell is representative of the cruelty of society and this is reinforced by the sprawling
dolls which show the restriction and suffocating effects of society’s expectations. It shows that
although society may look superficially perfect and wonderful, in actual fact it is cruel and controlling
in its requirement to be perfect. Mansfield has used symbolism to present her ideas as it is a subtle
and yet meaningful technique. The banality of the objects she uses as her symbols – flowers, a hat, a
doll’s house – makes them not immediately noticeable as being meaningful, but as the full meaning
of the story is explored their significance becomes more and more apparent. It is this hidden
significance that makes Mansfield’s short stories so successful. Through the symbolism Mansfield
uses we are able to understand the restrictions of class in 19th century society which therefore
provokes us to think about whether we are controlled by society’s expectations for us today.
Mansfield also uses characterisation in a subtle way to help the audience understand her
commentary about society’s influence over our lives. In ‘The Dolls House’, Kezia is a strong child who
rejects the prejudice that society is teaching her. Though she is not allowed to speak to the low class
Kelvey children, she defiantly invites them to see the dolls house. Through presenting Kezia as a
strong character who had the courage to reject the influences of society, Mansfield is subtly
encouraging us to do the same. In ‘The Garden Party’, Laura Sheridan has already been somewhat
influenced by society’s prejudices. While Laura does display some of the prejudice and superficiality
of her class, there are two developments that suggest she could reject what she has been taught by
her family and society. One is her interaction with the workmen, where she realises “how
extraordinarily nice” they were and wondering why she couldn’t have them as friends – putting it
down to the fault of these “absurd class distinctions”. The second is the when she views the body of
the young man, and realises that “he was given up to his dream. What did garden-parties and
baskets and lace frocks matter to him? He was far from all those things.” Through seeing this in the
body of the labourer she realises that her lifestyle doesn’t mean a thing, and that she shares a
common humanity with this man – in death, class distinctions are non-existent. Laura is a conflicted
but ultimately non-conforming young woman who, like Kezia rejects the prejudices that society
demands. Through presenting these characters that we can understand and identify with, in a subtle
way Mansfield is attempting to change our attitude so that “life would undergo a change of
appearance” and become less judgemental and more accepting of each individual person.
Katherine Mansfield’s short stories ‘The Doll’s House’ and ‘The Garden Party’ embody her own nonconformist perspective and through subtle ways of presenting ideas and characters, successfully
challenge us to consider society’s influence over our lives. Mansfield’s perceptive view of early
1900’s society makes the texts relevant for us as they consider issues that are still pertinent today –
issues that challenge how accepting we are as a society and whether distinctions of class, race or sex
still exist. In some parts of the world, women are still objectified and not viewed as equal to men. In
the US recently, an unarmed African-American teenager was shot and killed by a white off-duty
policeman. While these issues raise questions about the equality of our society today, they also
make it clear that now as much as in the early 20th century, Mansfield’s writing continues to ‘tell the
truth’.