7.2 /10 1 Votes
| 3.6/5 Goodreads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Similar Katherine Mansfield books, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Life of Ma Parker is a 1921 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in The Nation and Atheneum on 26 February 1921, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.
Contents
07 life of ma parker the garden party katherine mansfield
Plot summary
The gentleman opens his door to his charwoman, who tells him that her grandson has died. Through an analepsis, the grandson asks his grandmother for money, which she says she does not have. She then thinks back to her move to London; her husband's death; her grandson's death. After cleaning the gentleman's house, she wishes she had somewhere she could go and cry, but as it starts raining she realises she cannot even do that outside – and Ethel is at home, thus preventing her from doing it there too.
Characters
Major themes
Literary significance
The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.