"The Garden Party;" A relook at the story

Wendell Frink

Mr. Salsich

9English

5 November 2008

“The Garden Party”

A relook at a short story

Sometimes after rereading a book we can find something that we didn’t see, like a puzzling word, or a descriptive sentence, or even a whole page. After rereading the story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield there were parts to the story that I had noticed. For example, Laura wanted to be a work girl, she thought that she could do things a lot better then other people, and Laurie asked her “to take a squiz at [his] coat.” Rereading a book or a story is a good way to find something new and interesting.

When I reread the story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield I found several points that I had overlooked. Firstly, noticed that Laura wanted to be like the “workmen.” The thought of just being so carefree was appealing to her. She didn’t want to stay in “these absurd class distinctions,” it was tiresome to her. Secondly, “she thought that she could do [things] so much better than anybody else.” Arranging things made her proud. She “loved to arrange things” as do we all. Lastly, I noticed a word that was quite funny, actually. Laurie asked Laura to “give a squiz at [his] coat” and “see if it wants pressing.” With a word that outrageous I should have picked it up right away, but I didn’t. That’s what rereading shows you, information in the story that you had missed before.

As you can see, rereading is not a bad idea. Reading a story for a second time might make you understand it a lot better, you’ll be able to understand the plot, find new information about the characters, and be able to talk about the story better. It might make you go, “Oh, I never saw that before” or “this is something new.” Sometimes its just fun to reread a story.