At the beginning of “The Garden Party,” the story’s mood is bright, jovial, and full of childlike wonder. Laura, the story’s protagonist, marvels as she interacts with workmen setting up a marquee (a large outdoor tent):
What nice eyes he had, small, but such a dark blue! And now she looked at the others, they were smiling too. “Cheer up, we won’t bite,” their smile seemed to say. How very nice workmen were! And what a beautiful morning!
Laura’s reaction is one of delight; she is happily surprised by “how very nice” the workmen are and how beautiful the garden looks. This continues as the workmen build the marquee:
And now there came the chock-chock of wooden hammers. Some one whistled, some one sang out, “Are you right there, matey?” “Matey!” The friendliness of it, the—the—Just to prove how happy she was, just to show the tall fellow how at home she felt, and how she despised stupid conventions, Laura took a bit bite of her bread-and-butter as she stared at the little drawing. She felt just like a work-girl.
Whimsical sound imagery—”chock-chock” and “Matey!”—create a sense of vividness that captures Laura’s childlike, innocent state. For Laura, the garden is a self-contained world, a place of play and wonder. And although she feels “just like a work-girl,” she is ignorant to the fact that the workmen are not there for her own pleasure, but rather because they must labor in order to survive.
The story’s mood shifts and turns apprehensive and melancholy later as Laura enters the Cottages:
It was just growing dusky as Laura shut their garden gates. A big bog ran by like a shadow. The road gleamed white, and down below in the hollow the little cottages were in deep shade.
The encroaching darkness, evident in the words ”dusky,” “shadow,” and “deep shade,” contributes to the story’s grim mood. Moreover, it reflects Laura’s apprehension at her decision to pay a visit to the Scotts. The Cottages down the hill, where Scott the cart driver is killed, represent the harsh realities of working-class life (and death) that the upper–class Sheridans are insulated from.
This melancholy mood continues as Laura approaches the Scott House, where Scott’s dead body is found:
The lane began, smoky and dark […] 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.
Again, descriptive details about the quality of light—”smoky and dark,” “flicker,” “a shadow, crab-like”—capture Laura’s growing fear as she gets closer to facing the reality of death. There is a sense of unease and unknown amid the darkness. However, at the very moment Laura witnesses Scott’s dead body, the story’s mood shifts back to one of wonder and frivolity:
[Scott] was wonderful, beautiful. While they were laughing and while the band was playing, this marvel had come to the lane. Happy … happy … All is well, said that sleeping face. This is just as it should be. I am content.
Laura finds herself transfixed, even uplifted, by the sight of Scott’s dead body, and is not fearful. Although moments later she leaves the room with a “loud childish sob,” the story’s mood shifts to relief as Laura leaves toward home and sees her brother Laurie:
She found her way out of the door, down the path, past all those dark people. At the corner of the lane she met Laurie. He stepped out of the shadow.
Laurie steps into the light, suggesting that he represents what is familiar and safe to Laura. As a member of her family, he also symbolizes a return of her class consciousness. Despite Laura’s attempt to cross class lines, the story’s final tone shift suggests that Laura is bound to her world of privileged idealism.
