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  • Essay / The theme of marriage in “Bliss” by Katherine Mansfield

    The movement throughout “Bliss” is phrased in a way that most readers will miss. Thomas Dilworth writes a literary essay on the garden and the Darwinism present in the characters and scenes of Mansfield's "Bliss." Dilworth relates how Bertha looks through the windows and sees the garden and the pear tree in the middle with the cat sliding on her belly is a representation of the Garden of Eden, from the Judeo-Christian religion (149). In "Bliss", Bertha sees two animals, a gray cat and a black cat. Dilworth explains that "[t]he cat is associated with Miss Fulton at the end of the story, when she follows Warren 'like the black cat that follows the gray cat.' cat '. She may be the serpent in this paradise garden, causing Bertha's fall from happiness” (149). Mansfield illustrates the Garden differently than some readers see it. In “Bliss,” Mansfield writes: “[t]he living room windows opened onto a balcony overlooking the garden. At the back, against the wall, there is a tall, slender pear tree in full, rich flowering; he was perfect, as if becalmed against the jade green sky” (89). This scene is when Bertha comes home and she's so excited about everything; that when she sees the garden that has existed since she was in the house, she feels an irresistible feeling of ecstasy. During this part