Her First Ball - Misplaced Pages

1921 short story by Katherine Mansfield

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"Her First Ball" is a 1921 short story by Katherine Mansfield. It was first published in The Sphere on 28 November 1921, and later reprinted in The Garden Party and Other Stories.

Plot summary

A young girl called Leila has come to the city to stay with her cousins. They are going to a ball. Leila is very excited: this is her first ball. Once there, she is both excited and terrified. After dancing with several young boys her own age, she dances with a wrinkly balding man who has been coming to balls for a while. This spoils her mood until she dances with a good looking young gentleman where her worries disappear.

Characters

Leila, a cousin of the Sheridan Girls in The Garden Party. She is 18 years old.
Lucas
Tomas
Meg
Miss Eccles, Leila's dance teacher at boarding school.
Jose
The "Fat Man"
the first partner
the second partner
the third partner
the fourth partner
the cab driver (just her imagination before the ball)
teacher of History

Literary significance

The text is written in the modernist mode, without a set structure, and with many shifts in the narrative. The main themes of the story are very dramatically portrayed through Leila's reactions and her emotions.

Footnotes

Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics, explanatory notes

v t e Short stories by Katherine Mansfield
"Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding" "The Woman at the Store" "How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped" "Millie" "Something Childish But Very Natural" "The Little Governess" "Revelations" "The Escape" "An Indiscreet Journey" "The Wind Blows" "Prelude" "Mr Reginald Peacock's Day" "Feuille d'Album" "A Dill Pickle" "Je ne parle pas français" "Sun and Moon" "Bliss" "Psychology" "Pictures" "The Man Without a Temperament" "The Stranger" "Miss Brill" "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" "Life of Ma Parker" "The Young Girl" "Mr and Mrs Dove" "Her First Ball" "The Singing Lesson" "Bank Holiday" "An Ideal Family" "The Lady's Maid" "Marriage à la Mode" "At The Bay" "The Voyage" "A Married Man's Story" "The Garden Party" "The Doll's House" "The Fly" "A Cup of Tea" "The Canary" "The Sister of the Baroness"

Short stories by Katherine Mansfield

muiz khan

External links

The Garden Party and Other Stories at the British Library

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