Imagery in The Garden Party

This sentence marks a massive transition in the tone of the story by introducing darker, more muted elements as the day comes to a close. In this paragraph alone we see words such as “dusky,” “shadow,” “shade,” and “pale,” all words that represent an absence of vibrance, color, and life. The transition is so strong that it’s as if Laura were leaving the land of the living behind her and venturing into the realm of the dead.

Mansfield’s description of the weather as “ideal,” the day as “windless [and] warm,” and “the sky without a cloud,” creates a fantastical, whimsical tone. The setting for the garden party is almost too idyllic. The ethereal imagery suggests from the very beginning that the story will have a mystical element.