sYhioPsIs '1. TheG ardea Party Laura,the main characterin this story is as a young and nai.ve grd. she comesfuom an upper class{amily called the sherid.ans. The story startswhen the Sheridansplan to nrrangea gardenparty in their housc. Laura, the youlgest member of the {amily is involved in the preparation, when the workmen come, her mother gives her responsibilityto arranngethe marquee(a large tent set up {or an outdoor party), when the marqueehas been pnt np on the lawn, the flowersand the cream puf{s ordered and awaited, the hired band soon to arrive. words come to the kitchen door that fl poor young Carter from the little cottagebelow her househas been thrown by his horseand killed. This poor young man has left a wile and. five children. It is Laura. the "different one", the more sensitivemember of the family, who wonld call the party off since she thought naively that the party will djsturb the poor lamily who still mourn for the deadcarter. However,her idea is consideredas absurdand extravagantby her mother and sister. The party still goeson while shesoon forgets the incident. When the party is over,her mother has changed her mind and askedLaura to senda basket ot sandwichand pu{fufrom the party to the poor familv. Ia lace frocks and enormoushat, Laura takesthe basketand goesdowa to the poor famiJv.Although sheis doubtfnlwhether shecontinues to approachthe Carter'shouse, she finally come inside his house. obliged to go inside, she seesfor the first time the lact of deathia a poor {amily. She seesthe young man serenein death. Her heart full o{ pity but alsoembarrass {or her appearflnce.As shegoes back to her house,she starts to have I new perceptionabout life especirllythe life o{ poor peoplewho live below her house. 2,Her Fitst Ball This story centralizeson fl young and innocent girl who {or the first time goesto the ball a largeIormrl danceheld il the city. Leila, &e main characterof this story is descrfredas a shy and naive girl who lives in a dark and quietcotntry home. Shehas no {riend and shehas never seenthe festivily of dancingball until her city cousirsinvite her to go to a ball. Her first experienceof the ball hrs excited her $o much. Everythingshe sees looks new andbeautilul the dancingroom, the girls and theboys who attendthe dancingparty , all of them seemperfect in her naive eyes. she concludesthat her future happinesslay on the party. After dancingwith two boys,an old fat man approachesher and asksher to dancewlth him, Beingreluctant to re{use,she acceptshim, However,her encounterwith the old Iat man hasopened her eyesnbont the painful {actof the ball.While they dance,the man tellsher thnt the happiaessshe has in the party will not last long. Soon everything will fade away and Leilawill grow old and cannotenjoy the partv anymore. His remarkhas shocked Leila and she determines to stopdancing, Sheis disappointedwith the {act that the bail will not last long and she decides to retreat furher conntry home. Howevet, while she is waiting {or her con$ins,a young man comesand askshe to dance' She acceptshis oI{ering to kitl her time. Later, she is absorbedagaia to the wonderful world of theparty andforget what the old man hassaid to her, 3. lvliss Brill ln "Miss Brill', Katherine Mansfield presentsan elderly spinster who lives alonein n dark and narrow apartmentin Paris. Every Snnday she alwavs walks to the |ardin Publiques(the French name for public garilen)with her fur aroundher neckand sitsin one of the park'sbench to observeevery action oI the peoplearound her. She enjoysthe band who playsn gflySunday a{ternoon program, She is alertto everydetail in the scenethat she sees:the conductorwho wears a new coat, two old people who sit beside her disappointinglysilent, and little unfinished storieswho areenacted before her evesby the passerbv,The situationin the park thisalternoon, heightened by the musicpiayed bv the band,has brought lvliseBrill into her own illusion. She thonght that the park is a kind of stagein which the people in the park is involved to play their part. MiscBrill alsoimagines thnt sheis alsoan actresswho playsher role week a{ter week, However,her dream ends on the shrrp note of a young couple who sit beside her. They ridicnle her apperrance and rejecther existencein the park. Their remark has destroyedMiss Brill's momentaryillnsion of shnringthe dnma of life. 4. Bhss Bertha Young, the central character in this story, experience moment o{ happinessin her thirties, Shefeels happy becanseshe thinks that shehas everythiag that everywoman waats to have. Shehas a good husbandwho lovesher, an adorablebaby, and many {riendso{ writers , painters,and. poets. lvloreover,she is alsoa rich woman who doesnot have to worry abont money, As a whole, she feels that her life is contented.As a contentedwije, sheiavites her Iriendsto dinner in her honse,Not only doesshe invite her old {riends,but alsoher new friends shemet at the club,Miss Fulton. She thinks that the dinner will be the peak of her happiness, However, the dinner doee not only bring happrnessto her, bnt alsobrings disappointment becanseshe realizes that her happinessof contentedlife is only an illusion, Shehas to accept the fact thather husbandis not faithlul to her and her new friend is not a good {riend either. Accidentally, in foont of her eyes, she sees her husbandmake a date with Miss Ftlton, her new friend. This moment changeher feelingftom greathappiness to a greatdisappointrnent. BIOGR,{PHY OF THE,{UTrIOR Katherine lvlanslield, the pen name of K*thleen Mans{ield Beanchamp,was born in wellington,I{ew Zealand,october 14,1888. Her father,Harold Beauchamp,wa$ an outstandingmerchant in l{sllington, As a country gul, Miss Mansfield spenther childhoodin the small isiand o{ New Zealand.She grew up in a Iamily group o{ two older sistersand a younger brother with a grandmother and unmarried aunts among the adult membero.She had her first educationin her country where shefirst went to the Girl's High School and continned to a prival.c school for young lad,ies. Then, she broadened her kaowledge by studying at Queen'sCollege, Harley Street, London. Lateron shewfls so attractedby the cosmopolitan1l[e of London and the lifelinessof art that sheunwiJlingly retnrned to her own country in 1906.In 1907,she decided to go to London and establishhersell as a writer. Howevet,her new life in Londonwas not asbeautilnl as she had dreamedbefore. Her marriageto a musicianGeorge Bowden only lasted for a dav. At that time, shealso etarted to build her careerby involving in the literary circlein London. When shebegan contribnting storiesto the Ner" Age and Rhytm, she $'as engagedwith the editor of the Rhytim, |ohn Middleton lvlurry,whom shemarried in 1918. LiJeas a modernwriter wasnot nseasy as she drenmed. Although her secondmarriage was a succes{u1one, KatherineMansfield and her husband had always {iaanciallv strapped. Therefore, they always bn{feted between grand literary ambition and iky to duy snrvival Moreover, a{ter 1918,Mansfield is increasingly suf{fered from night terrots,insomnia, difficult walking and pains ia the chestand it recnlted from the doctor'sdiagnosis that she had tuberculosis.Despite all of the suf{ering and d.isagreeablereality that she had experiencedduriag her living in London, shewrote somedistingrrishable stories in her period o{ sicknesssnch as Bliss and Other Stories,which was published il 1920. Her stories,which eetablishedher Iiterary repntationwas followed by the othervolumes known asThe GardenParty rnd other Stories(1922) and The Dove'sNest (1923).At that time,she was known as a masterof the short story, who best known for delicately perceptive tales in which characterswas revealedthrongh the perfomanceof a decicivemoments. Moreover,her storiesexcel by their simplicity, their faithfulnessto real life, their deepunderstanding of thehuman character. KatherineMansfield Ionght tuberculosisfor severalyears, Iiving in the more temperateclimates of italy and Francewhile continuing her writing. At the end of her life, believing that her greaterand mental qpiritual purification wss required, she went to Gurdieff's Institute Ior the HarmonlousDevelopment ct llan r-nFontaineblenu. it was there ihat she iinailv succtmbed to her disease. During her short iiletime, Katherine lvlansiield has often written somecynicai storiesthat she wroie ds a cry againstcorrnption ol modern English society,as seen cn Bliss and her other storieswith London and the continent as the backgrorud. F{owever,in the midway o{ her career, she had also begun composing peacefnl memories of a blissful New Zealand childhood, as seenon The Garden Party and other storieswhich require New Zenland as the background..