1. By Katherine Mansfield
“The Garden Party”
By Katherine Mansfield

2. In Groups
It is noon on Saturday. At 4:00 P.M., your mother is to give a birthday party for your eight-year-old sister. Twelve children and four adults are invited. The telephone rings and your mother answers it. You hear her talking and you learn that your uncle, who lives twenty miles away, has died. Would you have the party, or would you cancel it? Discuss this situation in your small group and reach a consensus concerning an acceptable course of action. Be prepared to justify your response to the rest of the class. Choose a spokesperson for your group.

3. Questions-Separate Sheet of Paper
What is the setting of the story, and what situation is presented?
What news does Godber’s man bring when he comes to deliver the pastries?
How does Laura differ from the other members of her family? Give at least two examples to support your answer

4. Questions-Continued
Why is it ironic that Laura’s mother says, “Why will you children insist on giving parties!” (p.10) and “I’m determined to leave everything to you children [to do] this year” (p. 1)?
Why does Laura say she sees beauty in the dead man, who appears “fast asleep—sleeping so soundly, so deeply” (p. 13)?

5. Writing Assigment
The story you have read concerns two topics: social status (social class), and appropriate behavior. The author has posed a question through Laura’s questioning of, and reaction to, her family’s decision to hold the party regardless of the fatal accident that has occurred right down the street in the poorer section of town. What would you have done in a similar situation, had you been in a position to decide whether or not the party should be held as planned. In at least 100 words, justify your decision, using relevant details from the story.