"Life of Ma Parker" is a 1921 short story by

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

. It was first published in '' The Nation and Atheneum'' on 26 February 1921, and later reprinted in '' The Garden Party and Other Stories''.Katherine Mansfield, ''Selected Stories'', Oxford World's Classics, explanatory notes

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 London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

; 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

*the young literary gentleman *Ma Parker, his charwoman. She was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. *Mr Parker, a baker, Ma Parker's deceased husband. *Maudie, a daughter of Ma Parker's. *Alice, a daughter of Ma Parker's. *two other sons of Ma Parker's. *Jim, a son of Ma Parker's, who went to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the army. *Lennie, Ma Parker's deceased grandson. *Ethel, Ma Parker's daughter, and the mother of Lennie.

Major themes

*class-consciousness: the gentleman believes Ma Parker only cared about the funeral, and is not upset about the untimely death itself. The difficulty of her job and of her life is also emphasised many times.

Literary significance

The text is written in the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative.

Footnotes

External links

Full text''The Garden Party and Other Stories''
at the British Library Modernist short stories 1921 short stories Short stories by Katherine Mansfield Works originally published in The Nation and Atheneum {{1920s-story-stub