In this story, I think Mansfield is saying that only the child saw how her family got so caught up in their own party, that they overlooked the suffering of someone who was right on their doorstep. We so quickly fall into the extravagance of our own lives, that we overlook the struggles of others. And when we do finally venture into the middle of someone else's world and issues, we realize that all the pomp and ritual we were putting into our own lives is worthless compared to the simplicity of life's joys and sorrows.
Mansfield employs great description of the extravagance of the garden party, the reactions of Laura's family to her concern, and Laura's change of heart throughout the story to make her point very clearly. Seeing how much work the family put into this party, and how they reacted to Laura when she was concerned, really made me see what I saw in this work.
My response got to the outlying point of this essay, but it more just scratched the surface of the actual story, rather than going deep into the subtext of it. I think this is partly because of my level of mental exhaustion at the moment.
The comparison of Laura to Persiphone adds a huge level of comprehension and appreciation to the story for me. First off, it blows my mind how the story fits so well together. And the way it connects to the mythology really makes me appreciate intertextuality even more. It shows me that issues and coming of age scenarios span the gap of time. Something from Ancient times and something from modern day can bridge the gap so easily. Mansfield's story takes on new meaning as a coming of age archetype of life, death, and maturity.
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