Her First Ball- Katherine Mansfield free essay sample

A young girl, about 18 years of age called Leila is the protagonist of the story. The story expresses the Excitement and Anxiety of Leila, who is extremely self conscious at the prospect of attending her first formal ball. The prose is written in Third person Omniscient, where the narrator is not a character in the story nor Leila, but tells the story strictly through her eyes only and we read the thoughts going on in her mind as she experiences her First Ball, and all the hurdles and problems that come with it. The exposition of Leila illustrated that there was novelty in everything that surrounded the event. We are not told what Leila is feeling in the story, but shown through the dialogues of those around her, and what they are saying about her. Also, the author has used actions to depict further the character of Leila. The main themes of the story is that of Excitement, Anxiety and Facing the Reality and are very well portrayed throughout. We will write a custom essay sample on Her First Ball- Katherine Mansfield or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The setting of the story is that of the early 20th century, in the UK, probably a huge city like London. The Prose is set in the night time, and the socio-economic setting is that of the elite, upper class according to me, as it was them, and only them who were permitted to attend balls in that time period, and this is pointed out in the prose by the costumes of the characters, their mannerisms, and their actions. The storys introduction is the whole scene in the beginning where the protagonist is in the cab with three other characters. It expresses the Main Characters excitement towards the ball, and the fact that she is trying hard to contain herself and not to show it, as it would have been considered inappropriate for a girl in those times to do so. The Rising action is when the old man asks Leila to book him a dance. The Climax is reached when the Old man is dancing with Leila and narrates lifes greatest miseries for a women, paints a very dark picture and associates Leila with it. He shatters her happiness and tramples all over it, and Leila fails to admit whatever he says, not because he was wrong, but because she wanted to stay in her delusional world for the moment and live in the present, rather than worry about the future. The falling action is the Dance with the other gentleman, towards the end. The resolution of the prose is when Leila ignores and refuses to recognise the old man with the slightest of ease. The Diction used is Easy to comprehend, even though extensive. It fits in with the setting. Also, there is a lot of imagery and other literary devices used throughout the story. For Example: waltzing lamp-posts personification. This has been used to express Leilas excitement about the ball, and is an extended metaphor used in order to show what Leila was imagining. 2) Little Satin Shoes chased each other like birds simile and visual imagery. This device is used to show the hustle-bustle of the place where the ball was to be held, and depicts the beauty of the moment. In addition to this, the writer also has a very unique way of writing, which differentiates her work from any other authors. She likes to list actions out, in order to show the excitement and hurry in which they are done. For Eg: Leila put two fingers on Lauras pink pushed into a little room marked Ladies There are basically 2 main characters in the story, the protagonist Leila as mentioned above, who is portrayed as an innocent girl from the countryside, and The old man, who plays the role of a wise, experienced single man, who is either careless of his appearance or is of a bad socio economic background, and is a pessimist, judging by the way he paints a dark picture about leila and her future. There are also a few flat characters such as Meg, Laurie, Laura and Jose. Anxiety and Excitement have been very clearly shown in the story by the use of various actions by the characters, many dialogues and the use of literary devices as mentioned above.