"out at the doors..."See in text(The Garden Party)
Notice that the house is described as “alive with soft, quick steps and running voices” and that the “little faint winds [are] playing chase.” Mansfield uses personification to give the story a mystical, supernatural tone. Further, Mansfield’s imagery of the change in the air is both literal and figurative, foreshadowing a future turn of events in the narrative.
" literally hundreds, had come out in a single night..."See in text(The Garden Party)
The sudden appearance of these roses suggests that even nature responds to the needs of this party. In personifying these roses as understanding their fashionable and widely known nature, the narrator suggests that the roses are more part of the world in which this party takes place than they are of an indifferent natural world.
"you could not help feeling they understood that roses are the only flowers that impress people at garden-parties..."See in text(The Garden Party)
Notice that the presence of these roses suggests that there is a supernatural quality to this garden. The roses are not only personified to understand their own beauty, but also seem to appear overnight as if called by a god. Again, the presence of the flowers suggest that there is more to this story than what lies on the surface.
