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Laura Sheridan
Laura’s domineering and passive-aggressive socialite mother, Mrs. Sheridan obsessively plans the garden-party with her children’s help even as she insists that all the preparations are up to them. Her authority and tendency to speak in leading questions make Laura feel unable to express the disagreements she feels with her mother. This creates conflict after Scott’s death, since Mrs. Sheridan ceases to care as soon as she realizes the accident didn’t happen in her garden. Mrs. Sheridan, like Jose, becomes angry with Laura for proposing that they cancel the party and later even teases her for suggesting it. When her husband Mr. Sheridan mentions the accident, Mrs. Sheridan considers it “tactless,” but decides to feign sympathy by sending Laura to take leftovers from the party to the Scotts.
Mrs. Sheridan Quotes in The Garden Party
The The Garden Party quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Sheridan or refer to Mrs. Sheridan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Garden Party Quotes
“My dear child, it's no use asking me. I'm determined to leave everything to you children this year. Forget I am your mother. Treat me as an honoured guest.”
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After one of her children asks her where she wants the marquee, Mrs. Sheridan evades the question by insisting that her children are responsible for all the planning. Of course, the story later reveals that Mrs. Sheridan has tightly controlled the planning of the party, so the reality is that she has not given her kids control of the party. Rather, Mrs. Sheridan simply takes a back seat when it suits her, sending Laura or Jose to do the chores she doesn’t want to do. Knowingly or otherwise, the Sheridan daughters constantly try to please or emulate their mother: Laura Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. U
“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... Good-bye!”
But at the word "Good-bye," and although the piano sounded more desperate than ever, her face broke into a brilliant, dreadfully unsympathetic smile.
"Aren't I in good voice, mummy?" she beamed.
“This Life is Wee-ary,
Hope comes to Die.
A Dream—a Wa-kening.”
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Jose sings “This Life is Weary” to Hans, Laura, Sadie and Mrs. Sheridan as Meg accompanies her on the piano. Although such a melancholic ballad may seem out of place at a celebratory function like the Sheridans’ garden-party, Jose’s apparent inability to understand the song’s content and the implication that it may be played at the garden-party demonstrate how inconceivable the realities of human suffering are to her and her wealthy family. Throughout, the song also foreshadows the story’s closing scene. After Laura sees Scott’s body, which she describes as “dreaming,” Laurie finds her in tears because she realizes the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam
“It's only by accident we've heard of it. If some one had died there normally—and I can't understand how they keep alive in those poky little holes—we should still be having our party, shouldn't we?”
Laura had to say “yes” to that, but she felt it was all wrong.
“Mother, isn't it terribly heartless of us?" she asked.
“Darling!” Mrs. Sheridan got up and came over to her, carrying the hat. Before Laura could stop her she had popped it on. “My child!” said her mother, “the hat is yours. It's made for you. It's much too young for me. I have never seen you look such a picture. Look at yourself!” And she held up her hand-mirror.
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Mrs. Sheridan echoes Jose’s assertion that the Sheridans are the accident’s true victims. The notion that there is something “normal” about the cottages’ residents dying due to their lack of resources reflects Mrs. Sheridan’s inability to recognize that the poor labor precisely for the benefit of wealthier families like her own. Laura feels compelled to agree because her mother asserts this view through a leading question, but when she responds with her own leading question, her mother changes the subject. By giving Laura her hat, Mrs. Sheridan reinstates the sense of inheritance and continuity that ultimately leads her daughter to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaqu
The lane began, smoky and dark. Women in shawls and men’s tweed caps hurried by. Men hung over the palings; the children played in the doorways. A low hum came from the mean little cottages. In some of them there was a flicker of light, and a shadow, crab-like, moved across the window. Laura bent her head and hurried on. She wished now she had put on a coat. How her frock shone! And the big hat with the velvet streamer—if only it was another hat! Were the people looking at her? They must be. It was a mistake to have come; she knew all along it was a mistake. Should she go back even now?
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When she reaches the cottages with the basket her mother has prepared, Laura becomes astutely aware of her privilege, which manifests most of all in the contrast between her own expensive clothes and the utilitarian ones the cottages’ residents wear. In fact, those clothes are a metonymy for their wearers (“men’s tweed caps hurried by”), and Laura finds her family’s obsession with demonstrating their wealth through closely-cultivated outward appearances suddenly disadvantageous. Even though there is nothing concretely threatening about the area—children are playing and lights flickering just like in the Sheridan house—Laura’s feels threatened because she feels that she has Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui au
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Mrs. Sheridan Character Timeline in The Garden Party
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Sheridan appears in The Garden Party. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Garden Party
...Sheridan family’s gardener manicures their property in preparation for their garden-party later that day. As Mrs. Sheridan eats breakfast with at least two of her daughters, Meg and Laura, four workmen come...
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...Maitland and, again imitating her mother’s voice, invites her over for lunch before the party. Mrs. Sheridan yells from upstairs for Kitty to “wear that sweet hat you had on last Sunday.”...
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...concludes that it must have been a mistake for the florist to send so many. Mrs. Sheridan walks in and affirms that she ordered them herself after seeing them in the florist’s...
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...so she can practice, in case she has to sing at the party. Laura and Mrs. Sheridan enter the room as Jose begins to sing a tragic song called “This Life is...
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Sadie interrupts to tell Mrs. Sheridan that the cook needs the “flags for the sandwiches.” Mrs. Sheridan says she will “let...
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To Laura’s astonishment, once Mrs. Sheridan realizes the death wasn’t in the garden, she has no more sympathy for the Scotts...
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...father if the band can get drinks. Suddenly, the party is over and Laura and Mrs. Sheridan bid the guests goodbye. Mrs. Sheridan declares the party successful, but complains that she is...
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Mr. Sheridan brings up Scott’s death, about which he heard from another source. Mrs. Sheridan complains that Laura wanted to stop the party. Mr. Sheridan laments the tragic accident, which...
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