In the following essay, Magalaner contrasts Mansfield's use of "domestic tragedy" with "broad social satire" in "Marriage á la Mode."

"Marriage à la Mode" is in the tradition of "Bliss," both stories in which a domestic tragedy is played out against a background of broad social satire. In both instances, the flamboyant, articulate, utterly silly pseudo-bohemian set is the target of Mansfield's scorn though in the former story they play a greater role in the personal catastrophe than in the latter. Both Bertha Young and her husband, though they enjoy the company of people like Eddie Warren and the Norman Knights, maintain a distance from the circle—observers rather than participants. And the character who brings down their flimsy marital structure, Pearl Fulton, is instantly recognizable as another outsider. In "Marriage," it is precisely that the husband cannot be seduced into the bohemian circle while his...