"Marriage à la Mode" 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 Sphere ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' on 31 December 1921, and later reprinted in '' The Garden Party and Other Stories''.

Title

The title is a play on the phrase ''mariage à la mode'' in French, which means 'fashionable marriage'.

Plot summary

William would usually buy his children sweets because he knows his wife won't let him buy them 'big donkeys and engines', as that would be unseemly. This time he buys fruit instead. As it is, they have moved from a small house in London to a bigger one in the countryside. It appears Isabel has changed, thanks to the influence of an older, richer friend, and she now considers William dull and bourgeois. They have a spat about it one evening. Isabel then picks up William at the train station, and her affected,

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

friends are there. Bobby Kane joins them on the way, and Isabel pays for the sweets he bought. They all go bathing except for William and they come back late, loud, and saying bad things about William. Then at dinner they overeat, and tuck in. The next day, William returns to London for work. On the train, he writes a letter to his wife. While they are out in the garden, Isabel receives the letter and reads it out loud to her friends, who find it hilarious. She then runs to her bedroom and feels ashamed of having read it to them. She comes to the conclusion that she will write to her husband later but for the time being she will go back to her friends.

Characters

* William, the husband * Isabel, the wife * Paddy, one of their children * Johnny, one of their children * Bill Hunt, a new friend of Isabel * Dennis Green, a new friend of Isabel * Moira Morrison, a new friend of Isabel * Bobby Kane, a new friend of Isabel

Major themes

* Marriage * Bourgeois

References to other works

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is alluded to when Isabel is called 'Titania'.Katherine Mansfield, ''Selected Stories'', Oxford World's Classics, explanatory notes * Considered to be

's homage to Anton Chekhov's "The Grasshopper". Both short stories share a very similar cast of characters and plot, however Chekhov's story has the husband die before the wife can become aware of her negative behavior.

References to actual history

Vaslav Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...

is referred to by one of Isabel's friends.

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 Sphere (newspaper) {{1920s-story-stub