A key theme of this excellent short story is that of
class, and the way that Laura begins the story at least by trying to ignore class and
pretending that it does not impact her. An important part of the beginning of the story
is when she watches the workmen construct the marquee and Laura comments on how nice the
workmen are and how they compare much more favourably to "the silly boys" with whom she
dances from her own class. Note what she thinks:
It's all the fault, she decided, as the tall
fellow drew something on the back of an envelope. something that was to be looped up or
left to hang, of these absurd class distinctions. Well, for her part, she didn't feel
them. Not a bit, not an
atom...
She even goes as far
to imagine that she is a "work-girl" as she watches the men do their work. Of course,
this feeling of companionship with the working class brings Laura into her conflict when
she feels that the garden party must be cancelled because of the death of Mr. Scott, a
working class man living very close to the garden. When she goes to her sister Jose and
then to her mother, she is met with the inescapable reality of the way that class does
matter and that it cannot be dreamed away. Consider how her mother responds to
her:
"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."
Class is therefore a
force that initially Laura tries to resist, but in the end is forced to acknowledge and
respond to.
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