Her_First_Ball_Analysis

In this essay, I will explore the language devices used by Katherine Mansfield to present Leila in a specific way. In the first paragraph, Leila is seeing 'waltzing lamp-posts and houses and fences and trees'. The use of the verb 'waltzing' reminds us that Leila is going to a ball, and the repeated use of the word 'and' as opposed to commas convey a sense of excitement, like a small child does when talking about Christmas. She is very emotional in the cab going to the ball. Mansfield says that seeing Leila's cousin throw away wisps of tissue paper gave her a 'pang'. This is quite a dramatic word, which implies that anything could set her off. We see again that she is emotional when she refers to herself being an only child and that 'she couldn't have helped crying', which I feel shows her loneliness, and how isolated she has felt up until now when she is finally going to her first ball. Leila's isolation may be a cause of her apparent naïvety. When she is in the ladies room, she says that 'because they were all laughing, it seemed to Leila that they were all lovely'. The use of the word 'seemed' conveys a sense that the character Mansfield has created sees things as they are and does not delve deeper into a possible different meaning behind their laughing; it could have been nervous laughs and everyone could have been just as worried as her, but Leila sees their laughs as girls simply having fun. In the ladies room, we see how insecure Leila is when her fingers 'shook' as she gets a programme. It is normal for her to be nervous, but the use of the word 'shook' shows that she is extremely nervous as that gives a very powerful image for the reader. There is a very interesting juxtaposition of adverbs. The girls apparently look at Leila 'sweetly, vaguely'. The use of the adverb 'sweetly' implies that they know Leila very well, but in contrast the adverb 'vaguely' is a look that strangers may give each other. This implies that the girls may not be as lovely as Leila thinks they are, which shows her naivety even more. Mansfield describes the men that take Leila's cousins to dance in very little detail, and in a list form. This implies that Leila is very uninterested in the men, maybe because she is overwhelmed by the whole experience, or maybe that she is only interested in people that want to dance with her. It seems to the reader that the only boy who Leila is interested in is the 'little freckled fellow whose tie was crooked'. There is an extremely long sentence in this short story that takes up the length of a paragraph, which is full of detail. The long sentence shows a stream of consciousness which mimics Leila's actions. The alliteration of 'marvellous music' gives me a dreamy feeling about the ball, and the sibilance of 'showed the stars' also reiterates this feeling. When Leila says 'she would die at least, or faint' if someone didn't come to dance with her shows her immaturity and that because she's only danced at school, she's always had a partner. Mansfield describes Leila as 'blissfully' watching which implies that she is in her element and very content. Throughout the passage Leila is shown as quite immature, and her mood swing where she says 'oh how quickly things changed!' shows that she is a very dramatic person; this is reinforced when she describes the little girl inside her as 'sobbing' when things go wrong. In conclusion, this is a very interesting piece that shows Leila through a range of emotions.