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Contact between different classes can encourage understanding and compassion.
Because Laura interacts with the workmen, she sees a side of them that her family does not. She feels embarrassed when affecting her mother’s haughty tone with them, feeling more comfortable when speaking naturally. She experiences their friendliness and lack of pretense. She feels wonder when she witnesses one workman pinching lavender and then smelling its fragrance on his fingers. She wishes they could be friends, well aware that their class differences prevent it.
Laura especially gains compassion and understanding for the poor when she journeys to the Scott house. She feels embarrassed by her showy clothes. She wants to get away, yet she is drawn into the Scotts’ home, to their kitchen, and finally to the bedroom where Mr. Scott’s body lies. She sees where they live, and she witnesses their grief. Although Mrs. Scott wonders why Laura is there, Em’s sister treats her gently, telling her “[d]on’t be afraid, my lass” when showing Laura the body.
Seeing Mr. Scott’s body stirs unexpected feelings in Laura. She admires his peacefulness. She asks, “[w]hat did garden-parties and baskets and lace frocks matter to him?” She understands that in death he is now far away from all the things that represent her class concerns. She sees that he is “wonderful [and] beautiful.” By acknowledging his peace in death, she also acknowledges his struggles in life. Later, Laurie, who has not interacted with the Scotts, asks if the experience was terrible. Laura calls it “simply marvelous.”
The wealthy are often indifferent to poverty.
The wealthy Sheridans and the poor Scotts seem to live worlds apart, yet they live close enough together that Laura worries that the sound of their garden party will reach their grieving neighbors. The narrator describes the poor neighbors’ “little cottages” as “far too near” the Sheridan’s home. In fact, the Sheridans consider the cottages to be unsightly and believe that the poor have no right to be in that neighborhood at all. The Sheridan children are forbidden to go into that part of the neighborhood “because of the revolting language and of what they might catch.”
Laura and Laurie break that taboo because they believe in seeing and experiencing everything. What they find is “disgusting and sordid.” Jose holds open contempt for the poor, imagining that Mr. Scott was a “drunken workman,” suggesting that his death was his own fault. Mrs. Sheridan cares about the accident only when she thinks it has happened in her own garden. She says that the poor “don’t expect sacrifices from us.” She attempts to distract Laura from the tragedy by giving her the hat, symbolically demonstrating how the rich use ostentatious displays of wealth to keep from seeing the suffering of the poor.
When Laura visits the Scott home, she gets a first-hand look at her poor neighbors and their living conditions. She is embarrassed by her showy clothing. She wants to get away. The grieving widow is so used to the wealthy ignoring the poor that she doesn’t even understand why Laura was there. When Laura is face-to-face with Mr. Scott, the only thing she says to him is an apology, “Forgive my hat,” the symbol of her ostentatious wealth.
The meaning of life is subjective.
Laura’s experiences over the course of the story lead her to have a different perspective on life than other members of her family do. Her family lives a very superficial life, concerned mostly with the image of contentment that their wealth gives them. The showy roses in their garden symbolize their focus on appearances. They show more concern about how their wealthy friends would view the cancelation of their party than they do for how their poor, grieving neighbors would view its continuation. Laura feels pity for Mr. Scott’s widow and children. Jose and their mother feel contempt that their grief might taint their party.
At the Scotts’ home, Laura sees the peacefulness of Mr. Scott’s body and understands that death is a release from the burdens of life. Laura finds herself unable to find the words to express what she has learned about life from her experience. The narrator states that “what life was she couldn’t explain,” yet she feels that Laurie understands her meaning. Laurie’s simple response “Isn’t it, darling?” suggests that he does not truly understand her. He has not shared her experience of visiting the Scott home, seeing the family’s grief, and having the epiphany beside Mr. Scott’s body. She cannot share with him her experience or what it has taught her. Laurie retains the superficial worldview of his family while Laura gains a deeper understanding and appreciation for life.
