The time period in which a piece is written is critical to its understanding. Knowing the culture and quality of life can give intel as to why the characters’ act in certain ways. “The Garden Party” was written in 1921 at the beginning of the roaring 20’s. Laura and her family lived an extravagant life style. They were unaware and unconcerned that other people around them were not as fortunate. The 1920’s shaped this reading because of the newly placed rights of women, the wealth of the economy, and the writing style of the time-period. 

The roaring 20’s was a prosperous time for Americans. World War 1 had just ended and America became the wealthiest country. There was a strong sense of a new era coming about and it was evident in the lives of the people. In 1920, Harding was elected as president of the United States and he promised that he would return America to normalcy. Women also gained the right to vote in 1920, and that left the women of the U.S on an undeniable high. For the first time, they were able to claim a higher social standing that could be compared to that of a man. Not only was the political and economic parts of the country changing, but the everyday lives and culture was changing as well. The majority of people living in the United States in the 1920’s were young with the median age being just 25. They were mostly white and a member of a household. They were adopting new ideas, traditions, and discovering new technology and fashion trends. Having wealth and a new exciting and changing economy, they thought they lived in a time-period that everyone would be proud to live in. There was tremendous change in the Roaring 20’s and along with that came a new writing style called literary modernism which is shown through “The Garden Party.”

In “The Garden Party” Laura and her family were portrayed as being entitled. Most of the characters mentioned in the story were female. Laura and her mother spent the first part of the story ordering around the men who were setting up the party. One of the men vocalized to Laura that he did not like the place for the marquee and Laura thinks to herself, “Laura's upbringing made her wonder for a moment whether it was quite respectful of a workman to talk to her of bangs slap in the eye. But she did quite follow him.” This shows how Laura felt superior to the workers. It makes sense that Mansfield would characterize these women into a position of power. Women were just given the right to vote and feeling on top of the world, herself included. Women were feeling powerful and like they had a voice in the country. Laura’s mother spent the majority of the short story talking about all the extravagant party ideas and ordering around her workers. She did not take into consideration that she could be boasting or bragging because she was simply taking advantage of her newfound identity as a woman who is entitled. Laura on the other hand felt bashful about the situation because she did not want to feel like she was flaunting her wealth. This could be because she had not been through the same situations as her mother and did not realize how big of a deal it was to be able to have the right to vote. This aspect of “The Garden Party” portrayed the 1920’s very well because a lot of people got tied up in their wealth and luxuries that they did not always take the time to look around and be thankful that they gained this right. 

The economy in The Roaring 20’s was at an all-time high. The war had just made America the wealthiest country. Technological advancements seem to be coming by the minute. Many people looked at the decade as a great time to be rich. Income taxes for the wealthy were dropped from 73% to just 25%. A lot of families in that time-period were also benefiting from the stock market and revenue was abundant. These reasons could be why Mansfield wrote about a wealthy family. She says, Hundreds, yes, literally hundreds, had come out in a single night; the green bushes bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels. “ It was a big change for that time and it makes sense that writers would want to write about the good. In “The Garden Party” Laura did not feel the family should still have this glamorous party because their less fortunate neighbor had passed away. After much hesitation, she admired herself in her beautiful hat and then changed her mind. “There, quite by chance, the first thing she saw was this charming girl in the mirror, in her black hat trimmed with gold daisies, and a long black velvet ribbon. Never had she imagined she could look like that. Is mother right? she thought. And now she hoped her mother was right. Am I being extravagant? Perhaps it was extravagant. Just for a moment she had another glimpse of that poor woman and those little children, and the body being carried into the house. But it all seemed blurred, unreal, like a picture in the newspaper. I'll remember it again after the party's over, she decided. And somehow that seemed quite the best plan” This shows how people in that time-period were so focused on their wealth and riches, that they could look over the poverty and less fortunate people. It is not that the people who were not doing as well were not noticed, people just chose to overlook them. Laura eventually went and sent her condolences to that family but her mother never came around. Her mother said, "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.” This shows that the family knew of the people living their lives in poverty, but she simply did not care about them. This part of the story shows how the people and the economy were doing so well, but the people who were doing well were focused on themselves and their lifestyles. They were not trying to help the people in need, because for once in their lives, they were living at the tops of the totem poles and were doing everything they could so that they did not have to go back to the bottom, even if that meant being unsympathetic to the poverty in their backyards. 

The 20’s was a transitional time period for America. It took place right after World War 1 and before The Great Depression. Along with that transition came more writing from a modernism stand point. After the war, modernism became more dark than what it was used to. This is displayed throughout “The Garden Party.” Mansfield was able to portray all of the happiness of the Roaring 20’s with the underlying message that there were still people struggling in the world. In the story, Laura and her family lived a very wealthy life style, but there were people all around her living in cottages. Laura’s mother did not seem to have any remorse for the family after the man died, because she was too busy trying to throw her party. Laura on the other hand had an epiphany in the story. She was able to break away from her wealthy life style for just a moment and realize what was happening around her. From a wealthy person’s viewpoint in the 1920’s, everything was perfect, but if they could look around and see the struggles that other people faced, their views would be different. The dark modernism of the 20’s helped shape “The Garden Party” and add real life epiphanies to a fictional story.

   There were many changes taking place in the 1920’s and a lot of them seemed to play in to the writing of the time period. The Women’s Suffrage Movement gave women a feeling that they were not used to, a feeling of power. The main women of “The Garden Party” show this by ordering around their workers and throwing an extravagant garden party. The economy was at a high and people were not afraid to show it. Laura and her mother went beyond expectations in their party and did so because they had the wealth for it. The writing style became a bit darker and we can see this in the story when Laura could realize what it was like to be a less fortunate person living in the Roaring 20’s. Time periods shape the way writing is done without the writer even knowing it sometimes. Writers want to write about what they know, and the time period in which they write in is what they know.     
