Her First Ball
By: Katherine Mansfield
"Her First Ball" is about a girl named Leila who enjoys dancing but has never been to a ball before. She is a spontaneous young lady who is looking forward to her first ball and allows nothing to get in the way of her excitement. Even though Leila feels self conscious, overwhelmed and slightly embarrassed about the fact that she's never been to a ball before she doesn't allow any of the pressure to get to her until she meets a fat man. The Fat Man manages to ruin her night with just one dance but in just a matter of seconds Leila is up again dancing as though she hasn't a care in the world.
I didn't enjoy this short story because I personally didn't find it very interesting. I think that people who enjoy ball dancing may like this story but it's a bit too old fashioned for me. I normally enjoy books where I can relate to a character in a certain way or when I can feel what they are going through but the element of sadness in this story (the climax) is so frivolous, in my opinion, and the resolution comes before the sadness has any effect which doesn't allow me to connect with Leila. After reading this short story I would never want to go to a ball because firstly, I can't dance and secondly, I would not enjoy dancing with various random individuals.
The two main characters in the story were Leila; the spontaneous, excited girl and The Fat Man; who was old and gloomy. In my literature circle group discussion we all agreed that we thought The Fat Man was mean, the antagonist in the story, who purposely tried to ruin Leila's night but later we came to the conclusion that he wasn't trying to ruin her night but was simply warning her. This made me think about different people's perspectives and how perception is so important when analyzing stories. When we didn't look carefully at the way the story was written we all believed that The Fat Man was the bad guy but once we studied the passage more carefully, we realized that what he said to Leila could have just as easily been interpreted as something else. He merely told her the truth, that she should enjoy dancing while she could because nothing lasts forever.
Another reason why I disliked the story was because of the ending. In the end Leila started dancing again and she forgot all about her problems and how she had been upset earlier. I took that to mean that when you love something enough it takes your mind off everything else. It helps you to focus on having a good time and all your other problems mean nothing at least over a short period of time. It was ironic however, that by dancing, which made her happy, she was listening to the man's advice of enjoying herself while she could, even if she was oblivious to doing so.
Your reflection shows personal engagement and a clear sense of opinion with reference to the text.
ReplyDeleteBegin to think about the wider implications; what is the overall theme of the story - what do we learn about the world from reading it?
As a literature student myself, I would like to point out that in a good analysis, personal opinion should be secondary. You should focus on what the story is trying to explain.
ReplyDeleteAccording to me, the fat man is more of a realist and the other male dancers were just people who want to make the most of the night. The fat man thought about a long term situation while the others just enjoyed what they were currently doing. Therefore, there actually isn't an antagonist in the story.
Otherwise your analysis was good.