Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, more commonly known as Katherine Mansfield may not be a familiar author to many readers today, but has made a great impact to the literature as one of the most talented writers. She is a modernist writer from New Zealand who was born on October 4, 1888. She has always had a passion for writing. In her younger years, she wrote for school newspapers, poems, and plays. In 1903, she continued her passion for writing and playing the cello by attending Queen’s College in London, which specializes in art and language. Five years later, she decided to permanently move to London, the place where she believed had more opportunities for her writing. Katherine Mansfield enlightens readers by using themes revolving around social issues. Most of her writing was greatly influenced by her personal experiences, such as traveling and her struggles. In 1909, she married George Bowden, but divorced in 1918 to finally marry John Middleton Murry. Mansfield was sick with gonorrhea during her whole marriage with Murry; she died in 1923 with tuberculosis.
The point of most of Mansfield’s writing is to establish that society is flawed. She points out problems that men do not see on the surface. For example, in a world where men dominate over women, women were looking for their place in society. In Mansfield’s stories, women are often in a position where they are victims of men, such as in “Bliss” and in “The Singing Lesson.” In “Bliss,” Bertha Young hosts a party among a small group of friends, but as the night was ending, she catches her husband cheating with one of her friends, Pearl Fulton. Bertha watches Harry walk Pearl out and “[puts] his hands on her shoulders and turned her violently to him. His lips said: “I adore you,” and Miss Fulton laid her moonbeam fingers on his cheeks and smiled her sleepy smile” (Mansfield “Bliss” 11). At the end of the story, Bertha acts submissively and does not confront her husband for cheating on her, “Bertha simply ran over to the long windows. ‘Oh, what is going to happen now?’ she cried. But the pear tree was as lovely as ever and as full of flower and as still” (Mansfield “Bliss” 12). Bertha looks at her tree to see if she has misunderstood what she witnessed. Likewise, in “The Singing Lesson,” Miss Meadows receives a letter from her fiancé saying that he does not want to marry her anymore; but later on he sends a telegraph saying to disregard his last note. The note from her husband says:
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“I feel more and more strongly that our marriage would be a mistake. Not that I do not love you. I love you as much as it is possible for me to love any woman, but, truth to tell, I have come to the conclusion that I am not a marrying man, and the idea of settling down fills me with nothing but—” and the word “disgust” was scratched out lightly and “regret” written over the top. (2)
Miss Meadows’ feelings were played with and causes her to act tormented, but feels delighted after receiving the telegraph. He called, “Pay no attention to letter, must have been mad” (Mansfield “Singing Lesson” 4). She is submissive to her fiancé because even though he decided to break of the engagement, she still ends up doing nothing about the situation. Bobby Seal adds to the explanation of Mansfield’s work:
The movement for women’s suffrage was demanding political equality, the spread of psychoanalytical theories increasingly gave a conceptual framework to female sexuality and writers such as Mansfield, Woolf and Richardson were asserting that they had a voice which needed to be heard. (Seal)
Seal analyzed Mansfield’s reasoning for the themes of her story, including the societal flaw of male dominance. Not only does Mansfield portray male dominance, but also the idea that women dominate over their children. For example, in “The Garden Party” and “The Singing Lesson,” children were often ordered around by their mother or teacher. In “The Garden Party,” the children were ordered to prepare the party without the help of their mother. Mrs. Sheridan directed, “‘My dear child, it’s no use asking me. I’m determined to leave everything to you children this year. Forget I am your mother. Treat me as an honoured guest’” (Mansfield “Garden Party” 1). The children are unaware of their mother’s manipulation of them; they manage the cooks and landscapers on their own. In “The Singing Lesson,” Miss Meadows is a singing teacher who forces her students to sing while she feels. In the beginning of the class, she is filled with distress because of her fiance’s note earlier that day saying that he does not want to marry her anymore. She compels her students to sing darkly, “‘We will begin with page fourteen. ‘A Lament…’ And without expression. Sing it, though, quite simply, beating time with the left hand… in chimed those young, mournful voices” (Mansfield “Singing Lesson” 2). Later, she receives a telegraph from her husband saying that he did not mean what he said before, which causes Miss Meadows to become happy again. As she comes back to class, she compels her students to sing again, except with glee, “‘Don’t look so doleful, girls. It ought to sound warm, joyful, eager. Congratulate. Once more. Quickly. All together. Now then!’” (Mansfield “Singing Lesson” 4-5). Miss Meadows influences her students to sing in accordance to her disposition.
Class distinction is shown in some of Mansfield’s work to show the inequality between classes. Often, people in the 1900s were segregated due to social class. In “Miss Brill,” Miss Brill inferred as once being a wealthy woman. She wears her fur coat but does not realize its shabbiness until she puts it in a box at the end of the story. She encounters a young couple with a new fur coat which symbolizes their wealth. The comparison of wealth between the characters is shown from the quality of their fur coats. According to Lit Charts, Miss Brill is no longer a woman who lives with wealth. Even as she wears a fur coat, which reminds her of her youth, “no longer can she believe the illusions of inclusiveness and grandeur that always accompanied her on the way back and forth from the park every Sunday” (Goodman). In the end, she realizes her difference in social class to the children. Social class does not only affect the lives of adults, but it also affects the lives of children. In “The Doll’s House,” the Burnell children, who are a part of the upper class, receive a doll house. They are restricted from speaking to the Kelvey children because of their parent’s social status; as an effect, they are not allowed to invite them to see the doll house. The Kelveys are forced to go to a school with people of a high standards, but because of their low social class, they are mistreated. For example,
Many of the children, including the Burnells, were not allowed even to speak to them. They walked past the Kelveys with their heads in the air, and as they set the fashion in all matters of behavior, the Kelveys were shunned by everybody… they were the daughters of a washerwoman and a jailbird. (347-348)
The Kelveys are outcasts in the school they go to and are mocked because of their low social class. Later on, one of the Burnells defies their social differences and allows the Kelveys see the doll house. In “The Garden Party,” an upper class family hosts a garden party, but one of the children, Laura, hears about a death of their neighbor, a lower class family, and insists to cancel the party. Laura cries for her family to understand her feelings about the death, but her mother responds:
“But, dear child, use your common sense. It’s only by accident we’ve heard of it. If someone had died there normally–and I can’t understand how they keep alive in those poky little holes-we should still be having our party, shouldn’t we?” … “You are being very absurd,” Laura, she said coldly. “People like that don’t expect sacrifices from us. And it’s not very sympathetic to spoil everybody’s enjoyment as you’re doing now.” (8)
Mrs. Sheridan believes it is irrational for wanting to cancel the party to consider their neighbors during their mourning. Even though the party was not canceled, she still sends condolences to the family after the party and realizes the horrors of poverty.
Isolation is a common problem when society discourages certain activities or people. Mansfield often showed physical isolation through the thought or actions of characters who are oppressed. In “Miss Brill,” Miss Brill is physically isolated because of her fur coat; a man mocked and rejected her for her coat that she loves. She comes to the conclusion that people are judged by their appearances, “She sat there for a long time. The box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying” (Mansfield “Miss Brill” 4). She feels burdened because of being alienated from society and leads herself to give up something that brings her joy. In “The Garden Party,” Mrs. Sheridan restricts her children from going to their neighbor’s house, which isolates them from the view of the world beyond the upper class. As the children are deprived of their knowledge pertaining to the world outside of the higher class they live in, “When the Sheridans were little they were forbidden to set foot there because of the revolting language and of what they might catch. But since they were grown up, Laura and Laurie on their prowls sometimes walked through” (Mansfield “Garden Party” 7). Mrs. Sheridan is guilty of concealing reality or anything beyond what seems to be their perfect life. Even after the children were forbidden, they could not help but break the rules to explore their neighbor’s small house. Mental isolation is most often shown between a dominating character and another character, which affects the character to feel lack of social interaction. In “Miss Brill,” Miss Brill feels isolated from society. A sign from the beginning of the story that she is alienated is that she talks to her fur coat. She questions, “‘What has been happening to me?’” (Mansfield “Miss Brill” 1). She is considered crazy for talking to her coat. In “The Garden Party,” Laura is mentally isolated from her family when they are against her thoughts of canceling the garden party. She feels that it is rude to feel happy during a time of mourning for her neighbors. Her family is appalled by her absurd idea. Laura thought to herself, “[she] had to say ‘yes’ to that, but she felt it was all wrong. She sat down on her mother’s sofa and pinched the cushion frill” (Mansfield “Garden Party” 8). She is left thinking to herself that she is wrong for abiding to what they said.
Literary devices are commonly used in Katherine Mansfield’s work to enhance her points about social issues that she could not bluntly write. Symbolism, originated in the late 19th century, has greatly influenced Mansfield’s works. Mansfield uses symbolism to hide her true ideas. In this time period, people were punished for having sensitive topics in literature. In New Zealand, a person was arrested for a controversial book about sexual activity between two men. According to Observer, the book Into the River was banned due to: “‘strong offensive language, strong sexual descriptions (and) covers serious things like pedophilia and sexual abuse’” (Holiday). Although this article has only come out last year, it shows how sensitive countries can be about certain topics. If a book such as this is banned during a time when some topics are heard of, the 1900s would have been a time of even more sensitivity. Mansfield uses symbolism to create depth in her works. According to Bobby Seal, “Mansfield used symbolism to give the reader insights into the psychological state of her characters; she used evocative images rather than analytical description. Her short stories are full of these symbols: the pear tree and the cat in Bliss, the fox-fur wrap in Miss Brill” (Seal). In “The Garden Party,” Mansfield uses lillies as a symbol for death. Mrs. Sheridan loves lillies and finds that the garden party is a great occasion to use lillies. Lillies are often used to symbolize death, which is later used in the story to foreshadow the death of their neighbor. Another example of symbolism is the hat that Laura wears which symbolizes the wealth of their family; hats are extravagant accessories. The road symbolizes Laura’s growth and maturity as she goes to the neighbor’s house where she has an epiphany. In “Bliss,” the pear tree symbolizes Bertha because both lack sexual awareness and are stuck where they are. The story explains that the tree lacks buds and petals, which is what explains the sexual awareness. The tree is also rooted where it is, similarly, Bertha is “rooted” in her relationship with her husband when she catches him kissing another woman. In “Miss Brill,” her fur coat is a symbolism of herself; when she was younger, the coat was new and signifies her ability to be in relationships. As she is rejected, she decides to put her coat away which symbolizes her lost hope. A girl compares Miss Brill to a fried whiting because of their “dead” appearance. She comments, “‘It’s her fu-ur which is so funny,’ giggled the girl. ‘It’s exactly like a fried whiting’” (Mansfield “Miss Brill” 4). Miss Brill feels hurt after hearing the rude remark, which later leads to her putting the coat away in a box.
Mansfield reasons for the length of her sentences to create rhythm and patterns. Mansfield talks about “Miss Brill” commenting, “I chose not only the length of every sentence, but even the sound of every sentence. I chose the rise and fall of every paragraph to fit her” (Mansfield). According to Stephanie Forward from British Library, Gerri Kimber, a critic explains that Mansfield’s stories “grow from pieces of music, pictures, poems, and architectural details. Cinema techniques are transposed back into writing, theatrical monologues and dialogues are re-mediatised as prose” (Kimber). Mansfield is known to be an articulate writer with precise words. She conveys her message clearly which impacts her writing tremendously.
In conclusion, Katherine Mansfield’s writing has made a great impact on literature today due to her beautiful writing. Her diction and use of literary devices are plotted in obvious places to convey a message. The themes of her writing are also influential to society today, considering the fact that she wanted to make a difference. Her themes were always about the flaws in society. Next time, pick up one of Katherine Mansfield’s short stories
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