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Diction In The Garden Party

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A massive void separates the upper and lower classes of society to the point that one cannot truly understand the lives of the other. Examples of this void are abundant in Katherine Mansfield’s The Garden Party. This void is, at times in the story, seemingly traversable by Laura, but is confirmed in the end to be truly an impossible gap. The reason such a difference exists between the rich and poor is observed in the actions of all the characters in the story. This nature of society is suggested by the story to not be natural, but instead learned through others in society. The Garden-Party is an illustration of this idea purposed by an Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau that man is born innately moral and society is the true architect of evil. Remnants of this idea can be found in the way Laura reacts to the world around her, the diction used throughout the text, and the relationship Laura shares with her family. The diction in The …show more content…

She seems to believe she is different from the rest of the people in her family, but without even knowing, she is completely judging every person by their outward appearance and personality. The only workman she treats differently is the one she describes as the “tallest of them” with a smile that was “so easy, so friendly that Laura recovered” (566). Another workman who is not as tall or handsome Laura labels as “a fat chap” and another as “pale” with a “haggard look” (566). This sort of behavior is different from her other family members. However, as the story progresses she begins to describe people who are ‘below her’ less optimistically and more pessimistically. Since this declination is vivid in the story, logically it is safe to assume in Laura’s life before The Garden-Party she had an even brighter outlook on society and has slowly come to where she is by the

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