The Garden Party
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Themes
All Themes Work and Leisure Empathy, Understanding, and Class Consciousness Beauty, Refinement and Detachment Childhood, Family and Independence
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Laura Sheridan Mrs. Sheridan Meg Sheridan Jose Sheridan Laurie Sheridan The Narrator Hans Cook Kitty Maitland The Workmen The Band Godber’s Man Em Scott Em Scott’s Sister
Symbols
All Symbols Marquee Hat
Literary Devices
All Literary Devices Allusions Genre Imagery Irony Mood Motifs Personification Setting Similes Style Tone Verbal Irony
Quiz
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The Garden Party

by

Katherine Mansfield
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The Workmen Character Analysis

The four workmen who arrive with their tools to set up the marquee in the Sheridans’ yard instigate the story’s first encounter between Laura and characters of another class background. Laura is impressed by their straightforward dialect and unassuming kindness, which contrast with her family’s Queen’s English and snobbishness toward people unlike themselves. Laura is particularly struck when she sees one of them bend down to sniff a lavender sprig, which makes her wish she could spend time with “men like these” rather than the “silly boys” of other rich families. She imagines herself as a “work-girl” while she watches them go about their business. The workmen largely serve to introduce Laura’s differences from her family—namely, her dissatisfaction with class divisions and sympathy for workers.

The Workmen Quotes in The Garden Party

The The Garden Party quotes below are all either spoken by The Workmen or refer to The Workmen . 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:
Work and Leisure Theme Icon
).
The Garden Party Quotes

He bent down, pinched a sprig of lavender, put his thumb and forefinger to his nose and snuffed up the smell. When Laura saw that gesture she forgot all about the karakas in her wonder at him caring for things like that the smell of lavender. How many men that she knew would have done such a thing? Oh, how extraordinarily nice workmen were, she thought. Why couldn't she have workmen for her friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper? She would get on much better with men like these.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Laura Sheridan , The Workmen
Empathy, Understanding, and Class Consciousness Theme Icon
Beauty, Refinement and Detachment Theme Icon
Childhood, Family and Independence Theme Icon
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Workmen Quotes in The Garden Party

The The Garden Party quotes below are all either spoken by The Workmen or refer to The Workmen . 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:
Work and Leisure Theme Icon
).
The Garden Party Quotes

He bent down, pinched a sprig of lavender, put his thumb and forefinger to his nose and snuffed up the smell. When Laura saw that gesture she forgot all about the karakas in her wonder at him caring for things like that the smell of lavender. How many men that she knew would have done such a thing? Oh, how extraordinarily nice workmen were, she thought. Why couldn't she have workmen for her friends rather than the silly boys she danced with and who came to Sunday night supper? She would get on much better with men like these.

Related Characters: The Narrator (speaker), Laura Sheridan , The Workmen
Empathy, Understanding, and Class Consciousness Theme Icon
Beauty, Refinement and Detachment Theme Icon
Childhood, Family and Independence Theme Icon
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
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