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Katherine Mansfield
Katherine Mansfield
Katherine
Mansfield
The author of The Garden
party and other Stories
She was born in New Zealand (1888-
1923) in a wealthy family. Her father,
Harold Beauchamp was a self
promoted financier who was elected as
the governor of the bank of New
Zealand. Her mother was an upper-
class woman who was born and
brought up with strict Victorians
values. She obviously wanted to
enforce those values on her children.
She did not care about the strict code decreed for women
and was often misunderstood by her peers and mostly by
her family.
Later life
Leslie’sdeath worked as a uniting force
for Mansfield. For all these years, we did
not see her missing New Zealand or her
family. But now, she is continuously
drawn closer to her memories of her
childhood. The Garden Party was a
reaction to both Leslie’s death and
World War I (1914-1918).
Biographical elements.
Literary Traditions
A Cup of Tea
Katherine Mansfield
The story is set in England
Beginning of the 20th century
People from different social
classes did not socialize with
one another.
It was considered improper for
upper class women to work
outside of the home.
Ideal---Standards
A Cup of Tea
Mansfield short story focuses
more on the emotions and
psychological make-up of her
characters.
◦ Emotional states, subtle
shifts of mood, and
epiphanies
Flatter
Snob
Patronize
Vanity
A Cup of Tea
“In Mansfield’s stories, characters
are often splits or doubles of a
single personality; mirror images
abound, reflecting a multiplicity of
queens, dream, and pervasive
fears.” Her writing, “… attempts to
reveal her attempts to liberate
herself from these conflicts and
especially from the prevailing role
and image of woman.”
◦ Marie Jean Lederman, Twentieth
Century Literary Criticism Vol. 2
A Cup of Tea
“Rosemary Fell, the
smart, affluent, but
insincere young woman
of A Cup of Tea damns
herself… through avidity
for an exciting
experience which feeds
on another’s misery.”
◦ Saralyn R. Daly,
Katherine Mansfield (79)
A Cup of Tea
“Rosemary is artificial, idle,
insensitive. The contrast
between the five pounds she
reduces to three as a gift to the
penniless girl and the useless but
pretty twenty-eight guinea box
she asks of her husband reveals
her selfish materialism. But the
final detail of her exposure
dwells on her insecure vanity,
the real reason for dismissing
the young woman whom her
husband called ‘astonishingly
pretty…absolutely lovely.’”
◦ 80
A Cup of Tea
Thank You!