Tanja Säily
Literary Essay, Veg120
Department of English
University of Helsinki
Spring 1999
In some respects, there is a surprising resemblance between Laura's mother in "The Garden-Party" by Katherine Mansfield and Paul's mother in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence. Both are vain and selfish; both demand too much of their children. In spite of this, there is something good in both.
In "The Garden-Party", Laura's mother's selfishness becomes evident when Laura tells her that a man has died: when the mother learns it did not happen in their garden, she is relieved of all concern.
"Mother, a man's been killed," began Laura.
"Not in the garden?" interrupted her mother.
"No, no!"
"Oh, what a fright you gave me!" Mrs. Sheridan sighed with relief, and took off the big hat and held it on her knees.
(Mansfield: 255)
Mrs. Sheridan accuses Laura of being absurd when she wants to cancel the party because of the accident, and tries to infect Laura with her own vanity by bribing the girl with her new hat so that she would forget the incident.
"Mother, isn't it really terribly heartless of us?" she asked.
"Darling!" Mrs. Sheridan got up and came over to her, carrying the hat. Before Laura could stop her she had popped it on. "My child!" said her mother, "the hat is yours. It's made for you. It's much too young for me. I have never seen you look such a picture. Look at yourself!" And she held up her hand-mirror.
(Mansfield: 255)
In "The Rocking-Horse Winner", the mother Hester (along with the father) selfishly wants to live in luxury, even though the family cannot afford it. Her vanity shows up in her tastes being very expensive and in her wanting to keep up the social position they have achieved, whatever the cost. The father even has to go to work.
Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money. The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up. The father went into town to some office. But though he had good prospects, these prospects never materialised.
(Lawrence: 967)
Laura's mother wants her daughters to be cheerful and not resist her in anything. When Laura insists that the party be cancelled because of the death, Mrs. Sheridan is at first amused: "To Laura's astonishment her mother behaved just like Jose; it was harder to bear because she seemed amused. She refused to take Laura seriously" (Mansfield: 255). However, as Laura persists, her mother grows impatient very quickly. She has to have things her way.
This time Mrs. Sheridan lost patience just as Jose had done.
"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."
(Mansfield: 255-256)
As noted by Dunbar (167-168), Mrs. Sheridan is trying to make Laura think as she does and share her values and lifestyle. She has already succeeded in 'brainwashing' her other daughters, especially Jose (see above).
Paul's mother, Hester, wants her son to grow up and behave normally: "Aren't you growing too big for a rocking-horse? You're not a very little boy any longer, you know" (Lawrence: 970). She fills the poor boy's head with her material idea of luck being related to money.
"Then what is luck, mother?"
"It's what causes you to have money. If you're lucky you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money."
(Lawrence: 968-969)
Laura's mother does not seem to have much of an effect on Laurie, her son; perhaps this is why Laura values his opinions more than those of the other family members: "If Laurie agreed with the others, then it was bound to be all right" (Mansfield: 256). With Laurie's help, Laura may be able to keep on resisting her mother's bad influence.
There is no one to protect poor Paul, who accepts without questioning his mother's dangerous idea of luck being equal to always getting more money, and eventually dies in pursuit of 'luck' for his mother (see Lawrence: 980). Even his uncle and the gardener, his gambling partners, just abuse him without thinking about the consequences.
However, the mother figures of these short stories are not completely rotten. Laura's mother spends a lot of time doing something with her children and bustling about. They do not have to feel lonely and there are no dull moments in the house.
Paul's mother feels uncomfortable with her children simply because she is not the mother type: "She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up some fault in herself" (Lawrence: 967).
In spite of this, I think that Hester genuinely cares for her children. She is just feeling insecure and does not have enough self-confidence. Her affection for Paul shows up in her being so anxious about his well-being. At the end of the story, she confirms this by staying close to him until he passes away (980).
It seems that both of these mothers may have been modelled on real persons. According to Dunbar, Laura's relationship with Mrs. Sheridan resembles Katherine Mansfield's relationship with her own mother. (Mansfield also had a brother called Leslie whom she loved very much.) "The Garden-Party" may be based on an actual party given by her family (167).
Davies points out that D. H. Lawrence was acquainted with an upper-class couple who had money problems and an autistic son, whose behaviour could have been much like Paul's. Although Lawrence liked the mother, Lady Cynthia Asquith, he apparently blamed her for the boy's autism; in his opinion, she was too sceptical, cynical and unbelieving to be a good mother (123).
No child should have such mother figures as the ones in these short stories. Nevertheless, if I had to choose between these two mothers, I think I would take Mrs. Sheridan. Even though she is vain, selfish and demanding, she is there for her children when they need her. Her advice may be faulty but common sense and wise friends can compensate for that, as in Laura's case. I do not blame Hester, though. Women who are not the motherly type should not be forced to have children; in today's world she would probably not have any - and she would be much happier.
Lawrence, D. H. "The Rocking-Horse Winner." In The Tales of D. H. Lawrence. London: Heinemann, 1934. 967-980.
Mansfield, Katherine. "The Garden-Party." In Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield. London: Constable, 1945. 245-261.
Davies, Rosemary Reeves. "Lawrence, Lady Cynthia Asquith, and 'The Rocking-Horse Winner'." Studies in Short Fiction 20:2-3 (1983): 121-126.
Dunbar, Pamela. Radical Mansfield: double discourse in Katherine Mansfield's short stories. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997.