Indian Camp\" and \"The Garden

¶ … Indian Camp" and "The Garden Party"

Initiation, or what can also be called a 'rite of passage', is a common theme in Ernest Hemmingway's "Indian Camp" and in Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden Party." Both of these stories center around a child who crosses a natural contour to confront the dichotomy of life and death on the other side.

Nick is a young boy who accompanies his father and his uncle to an Indian Camp to help deliver a baby. After the baby is delivered through a painful C-section, it is discovered that the woman's husband has committed suicide, thus forcing Nick to face the complexities of both life and death in a single experience.

Laura is a girl in early adolescence who has trouble distinguishing between the classes as her parents and siblings do. While planning for her garden party she hears of the tragic death of a husband and father that resided in the poor district nearby. When she wants to cancel the party due to the shocking news, her mother and sister act as if she is being ridiculous. However once the party is over, she delivers a basket of leftovers to the grieving family and has an enlightening moment when she sees the deceased man resting peacefully on the bed.

Both of these stories use symbolism and imagery, including the customary use of light and darkness, to illuminate and shadow the experience of the initiation. However there is a major difference between the experiences of Nick in "Indian Camp" and Laura in "The Garden Party"; that is, the children's reactions to the events they face.

Mordecai Marcus, in his article, "What is an Initiation Story?" presents the supposition of Leslie Fiedler that "An initiation is a fall through knowledge to maturity" (222). However, I intend to show that this supposition applies only to Laura, and that in Nick's case, his initiation ends rather in a "fall through knowledge to immaturity" since in the end, he fails to recognize the importance of the night's events and naively assumes that he will never die.

The notably diverse outcomes of these two initiation stories are demonstrated through the use of symbolism and imagery, as well as through the concurrent themes of life vs. death; innocence vs. insight and activeness vs. passiveness. Each story culminates in an epiphany, which according to Marcus is conventional in an initiation story. However while Laura's epiphany is based on truth, Nick's is ultimately rooted in a false sense of security. Therefore while both stories contain the traditional elements of an initiation story, Indian Camp is actually an anti-initiation story because unlike Laura who matures from her experience, Nick retreats back into his womb-like comfort zone.

2.0 Use of Symbolism and Imagery

Symbolism and imagery are used quite liberally in both "Indian Camp" and "The Garden Party." Although they are employed in very similar ways in both stories, the representations of the initiation experience are set apart by the progression of Laura and the regression of Nick.

2.1 Symbols of Initiation

The most notable similarity between these two stories in terms of symbolism and imagery is that each protagonists crosses a physical line that also represents their traversal of an imaginary line. In "Indian Camp" Nick first crosses a lake on the way to the camp. When he crosses the lake he "lay back with his father's arm around him" (7) indicating a sense of safety, security, youth and innocence. After experiencing the traumatic events of the evening and getting back into the boat with his father, he does not physically rest in his arms, but he remains in the same child-like state he was in when they originally crossed. This time however, his innocence and immaturity is symbolized by the circle he observes in the water made by a bass. The circle represents Nick's journey back to where he started, remaining essentially unaffected by his confrontation with life and death just moments earlier. Another indication that Nick remains in an almost womb-like state is the fact that "It felt warm in the sharp chill of the morning" (12), meaning that even when faced with the coldness of death, he still feels incubated, which causes him to naively assume that he will never die.

Laura, instead of crossing a lake, crosses a road on the way to the Scotts' house at the bottom of the hill. Laura's own residence at the top of the hill is symbolic of the elitism of her family, and the road that she crosses when entering the poorer part of town represents her passage from naivete to maturity. This line has always separated the rich from the book both literally and figuratively. Laura has never really understood why she is not supposed to care about the people in this part of town as much as she cares about the people on her side of the tracks. When she talks with the construction workers, she ponders why she is not hanging out with people like them, who are interested in stopping and smelling the flowers (i.e. appreciating the simple things in life), as opposed to the material and image-obsessed friends she has now. Her passage into maturity is clearly on the verge of takeoff even before she hears the news about the workman who was killed in an accident. However this passage cannot occur if she stays on her side of the road because everyone she knows on that side is far more close minded and self-centered than she is, even at her young age.

Mordecai Marcus quotes Carl Benson as saying that lines such as the road Laura crosses represent "the passage from egocentric youth to human solidarity." This is a journey that even Laura's parents have yet to make, as they are far more concerned with their own contentment than with others. Moreover, they could never come to view themselves as sharing unity with the lower classes. They may pity them enough to offer them "scraps from their party" (56). However, Laura is already far more mature than her parents in her ability to see that they are all just people. Crossing that road merely solidifies what she already knew in her heart.

The hat also symbolizes the progress of Laura's initiation. When her mother originally gives her the hat she is too distracted by the news of the death to focus on it. However after she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and is told repeatedly by others how beautiful she looks in the hat, she decides to put the death out of her mind and just enjoy the party. This symbolizes the fact that she is still not fully mature and is able to retreat back into ignorant bliss at will, much like Nick does when he all but ignores the pain and tragedy going on around him. However when she goes to visit the Scotts, she is suddenly extremely aware of her hat, and all that it represents in regard to her lavish lifestyle as compared to the lifestyles of those that are staring at her. Her apology for the hat to the dead Mr. Scott signifies that she has matured enough to know what really matters in life, and in death; it is not how many beautiful things you have that matter, but rather how many people beautiful hearts with which you surround yourself.

2.2 The Imagery of Light and Darkness

The use of light and darkness is a common form of imagery in literature, but it can be used in several different ways. In some instances, light represents knowledge while darkness represents ignorance. At other times, light is representative of good, while darkness signifies evil. Light has also been known represent hope, with darkness signifying despair. Each of the stories discussed here use light and darkness in either some or all of these manners.

For example, in "The Garden Party" the world of the Sheridans is bright, shining, and heavenly, indicating that theirs is a life filled with hope, joy and goodness. The world of the Scotts, on the other hand, is dark and gloomy, signifying an atmosphere of despair. From the Sheridans' point-of-view (with the exception of Laurie), the poor villagers are also immoral and ignorant, which is why they assume that the deceased man was drunk when he had his accident despite there being no reports of this. Laura is the only one enlightened enough to realize the absurdity of such assumptions.

Light is also used as a symbol of goodness and innocence at the beginning of "The Garden Party" when the narrator is describing what a perfect day it is, and how "Only the blue was veiled with a haze of light gold, as it is sometimes in early summer" (46). As the party begins, the imagery of the arrival of the guests is also basking in light: "Wherever you looked there were couples strolling, bending to the flowers, greeting, moving on over the lawn. They were like bright birds that had alighted in the Sheridans' garden for this one afternoon" (53). The scene is full of hope and joy, and the use of light helps to illuminate this mood.

Once Laura crosses the road, the scene is described quite differently. At first it is "smoky and dark," however Laura does manage to see in some of the cottages flickers of light in the shadows. These flickers of light represent flickers of hope, but they are far less luminous than those which were presented during the garden party.

"The Indian Camp" also makes use of light and dark imagery as a means of signifying elements of the initiation process. Nick and his father start off their journey in the dark of night, which signifies the lack of knowledge that surrounds Nick, and his blindness to the events that are about to take place in the shanty in the Indian camp. Like Laura's experience in the village, Nick too is able to see specks of light within the darkness, coming from the lanterns, but they are neither steady nor extensive. This is representative of the intermittent and limiting aspects of Nick's initiation -- he does gain specks of insight and maturity but they are quickly snuffed out by his desire to stay in the comfort of the dark -- in the ignorance of bliss.

When Nick and his father walk back to the boat it is "just beginning to be daylight" it is not yet made clear if Nick's initiation was successful; whether he understood the events of the night and if he learned anything valuable from it. Then in the boat, the sun comes up over the hills and together with the idyllic picture of the lake that is painted in the end. This shows Nick's withdrawal into his childhood immaturity, he does not want to deal with the pain and suffering of life and death and the events he experienced, thus for him everything remains light and innocent despite his dark experiences at the camp.

3.0 Comparison of Themes

Three prevalent themes appear in both The Garden Party and in Indian Camp. These are: life vs. death; innocence vs. insight and activeness vs. passiveness.

3.1 Life vs. Death

Understanding the cycle of life and death is an important lesson in the coming of age of children and a vital part of their initiation. Thus it is not surprising that both stories explore these themes at length. In "The Garden Party" Laura sees what it looks like to be dead, which ultimately changes her perception of life. When she sees how utterly peaceful Mr. Scott looks as has been "given up to his dreams" (57) she crosses the threshold of her initiation. It is at this point that she truly matures and comes to understand the meaning of the life cycle. Laura has to accept the simultaneity of it all, death and life happen side by side and there is beauty in death, too.

In "Indian Camp," Nick also experiences the simultaneous nature of life and death, as a child is brought into the world at almost the same moment when another life is taken from it. However, unlike Laura, Nick is not willing to look at what is happening and is therefore unable to cross that threshold of knowledge the way that Laura did. The following exchange indicates Nick's desire to remain innocent and avoid maturity.

"See, it's a boy, Nick," he said. "How do you like being an interne?"

Nick said, 'All right." He was looking away so as not to see what his father was doing.

"There. That gets it," said his father and put something into the basin.

Nick didn't look at it (9).

It is as if Nick somewhere deep inside himself understands that if he accepts his initiation and seeks to make sense of the cycle of life and death, this would mean the destruction of his harmless and untouched world, and thus he represses it.