Her First Ball by Katherine Mansfield: Summary and Analysis:
Her First Ball
-Katherine Mansfield
Characters:
a)
Leila: 18-year-old simple girl, only child, grew
up in the country.
b)
The
Fat man: A partner who
dances with Leila. An old and fat man, attending balls for 30 years, single and
bitter, spots the 'fresh meat'.
c)
· Setting: The story is set in an early 20th-century ballroom,
possibly in Wellington, New Zealand.
Summary:
A young girl named Leila is about to attend her first
ball with her cousins Meg, Laurie, Laura, and Jose Sheridan. Leila comes from
the New Zealand countryside, and her wealthier cousins are surprised that she
has never been to a ball before. The Sheridans chat casually about their
outfits and the dances ahead, while Leila feels almost overwhelmed with
excitement.
When they arrive at the drill hall, Laura helps Leila
to the ladies’ room. Women are busy preparing, and while Leila is focused on
the noise and excitement, the women appear stressed as they compete for mirror
space and worry about their appearance. After the dance programs are handed
out, Meg takes Leila to the drill hall. Leila is amazed by how beautiful the
room is, and Meg tells the other girls to help Leila find dance partners.
However, the girls are more interested in a nearby group of men, who eventually
come over to fill out their dance cards.
After getting a few partners, Leila meets an old man
who fills out her card even though there’s little space on his. He initially
thinks he recognizes Leila from another ball, which is impossible since this is
her first one.
Leila waits for her first partner to come to her and
reflects on her dance lessons at boarding school. Those lessons were often
uncomfortable; the girls had to dance with each other, frequently stepping on
toes or bumping into one another. However, her experience with her first
partner is much better than those lessons; she notices that he "steered so
beautifully." As they dance, he comments on the floor, and Leila replies
that it’s "beautifully slippery." This surprises him, and he asks if
she attended another ball last week. Leila excitedly shares that this is her
first ball, but he doesn’t seem interested.
Leila’s second partner also mentions the floor and a
previous ball, which she recognizes as a pattern. Despite this, she remains
excited about the night until the old man comes to claim his dance. She is
taken aback by how old and shabby he looks; he’s missing a button on his glove,
and his coat is dusty. He quickly states that it must be Leila’s first dance,
which he can guess because he has attended balls for thirty years. As they
dance, he seems to grow sad, telling Leila that she will never be able to attend
balls for as long as he has. After all, she’s a woman and will soon be too old
to dance. He points out the older women sitting on stage and says Leila will
soon be one of them, gossiping about awful men trying to kiss their daughters
while secretly heartbroken that men no longer want to kiss them.
Leila feels troubled by her conversation with the old
man, especially since she hadn’t thought about her age before. Now, she worries
that "this first ball is only the beginning of her last ball." She
feels angry at the old man, believing he "spoiled everything." They
stop dancing, and Leila decides to lean against the wall instead of going back
to the floor. The old man tells her not to take him seriously, and Leila scoffs
but remains sulky, wishing she could go home. Soon, another partner approaches,
and they start dancing. Suddenly, the ball feels beautiful again. Leila’s
partner bumps into the old man, but she doesn’t recognize him and just smiles.
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