Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party"

**felavaz** · August 13th, 2007, 11:03 AM

Why do you think Laura is unable to finish her final statement, "isn't life...Isn't life--". The narrator says that "she couldn't explain" what life is. Her brother Laurie responds by adding, "Isn't it, darling?" What is the "it" that he speaks of? Why the "darling"?

For a teenager that had lived all of her life trapped in her own bubble of society, with no contact whatsoever with lower classes, it is obvious Laura wouldn't be able to encompass whatever she thought of when she saw the corpse. This experience opened a whole new, different window that she had no idea existed up until then: the real life. The author left the sentence incomplete on purpose; this way, every readers' imagination can complete the statement in whatever way they desire.
The "it" Laurie spoke about is life, since he responded to his sister. He tried to act as someone to support her after opening her eyes. However, the "darling" in the end incites to the vanity and atmosphere of their usual lives, foreshadowing that this sole experience won't change Laura's life. She will end up just as her mother.

**benitezj** · August 14th, 2007, 12:04 AM

Laura cannot explain what life is?for who is really capable of answering that question? One must also note that Laura has never been outside her ?protected? and natured environment. Her world of peace and ?perfection? had never before been placed in perspective, which is why the death of the ?poor? and all feelings it may have conveyed for her were simply too much to abhor. ?It? can symbolize and mean anything the reader chooses it to be. For how could any person on earth be ready to express the meaning of life?surely the writer is smart enough to accept and recognize that some questions, in this case the statement?have simply no answer.

Jorge Benitez

**J tanner wade** · August 14th, 2007, 12:11 AM

the reason she cant finish her sentence is because she had just undergone such a shocking experience and she was at a loss of words. she has this perfect little view of life and once the fog is lifted and she sees life in its entirety she is no longer naiive. the brothers response to her kind of makes you feel like he knows what she's been through and maybe he himself has experienced it as well.

**RodrigoCC** · August 14th, 2007, 12:14 AM

Laura can't finish her sentence because she had just experienced what life really is. She had never seen nor been through something like that. Laura can no longer define life after seeing something like that. She realizes her life has been some sort of a lie and she can no longer define life in her own words.

Rodrigo Campos

**mariaceleste** · August 14th, 2007, 01:20 AM

Laura is unable to finish her sentence because she can find no word that fully encompasses all that she perceives life is. I think that, although sad, the experience of visiting the deceased?s home was nonetheless valuable and, to some extend, gratifying to Laura because she was eager to encounter and experience a reality other than her own, and to adopt an attitude less negligent than that of her mother towards her neighbors. Because it seems that Laura confides in Laurie, I believe he may resemble her and have that same degree of empathy. Therefore, the line ?Isn?t it, darling?? possibly shows agreement between their opinions.

**hcaceres08** · August 14th, 2007, 11:54 AM

Laura is unable to finish her sentence because she truly does not know life. She had never before experienced life before visiting the dead man?s house; never had she felt so overwhelming emotions as she did that day. Once Laura returned to her home and was met by her brother, she could not respond because she realized she did not know the answer. Finally, the use of ?darling? is to show the reader how the human mind tries desperately to attribute some connotation to what it does not know. This misperception proves that much identification of emotions is in fact, incorrect.

SMILE BACK

**dainkelly** · August 16th, 2007, 12:35 AM

Laura isnt able to finish her sentence because she is extremely confused by death and suffering, which dont fit with her life, or in this case her vocabulary. Teenage years (supposing she is around the age of 15) are supposed to be about finding who you are and where you are in this world; in Laura's wrld she had never before been placed in doubt, or in a place where she would have to understand such a deep concept by herself. I belivethat the story and especially these lines show Laura in the middle of the comming of age process.

When Laurie said "isnt it, darling?" i thought that it showed that Laurie hasnt come of age yet, and is just a tool the author uses to compare the superficiality by which people at the garden took life.