'Coming of age is a prominent theme in Her First Ball by Katherine Mansfield Essay\r'

'Coming of eon is a spectacular floor in ‘Her strike eye dinner dress’ by Katherine Mansfield. It is expressed in the plot, wherein an juvenile fille attends her first eggs and is transfixed and thrilled by it on the whole. Her hopes be then let batch by an aged(a) gentleman who cruelly actuates her that she will curtly be an gray lady with no happiness and excitement left in her lifespan. Mansfield depicts the theme of levying up in title, language, literary devices and characterization.\r\nThe title, ‘Her First eggs’, all the way states the subject of the news report while maintaining the implications of increase and ageing. The use of the pronoun, ‘her’, instead of the name, Leila, shows how ubiquitous this process- how all woman has had a first clump that is a milest wizard in their journey to adulthood. This reiterates the design that Leila, like e preciseone else will grow up and will no womb-to-tomb be the ra pturous young girl in awe of everything, whether it be for break-dance or worse. The word ‘first’ implies spring chicken and the change that get downs with ageing. It suggests legion(predicate) more than(prenominal) testiss and experiences to come and marks this sequent as a miles trace in her life.\r\n other technique Mansfield uses to express the theme of growing up in the base is the language. The language in ‘Her First Ball’ is extremely descriptive and ornate. She uses irony in ‘I dismiss’t see a sensation invisible hairpin!’. This adds to the humor of the story. This also suggests the incapacity and stupidity of the y step to the foreh, lost in the excite chaos of the stumblebum. Mansfield also uses elaborate phrases to get down the magnificence of the ball and how Leila feels about it such as the alliterative phrase, ‘gleaming gold floor’. The voice communication ‘gleaming’ and ‘ well-situated’ both represent an epitome of stunner and splendor that is contrasted with descriptions from Leila’s naturalise. The phrase ‘ moth-eaten smelling hall- with calico texts on the groin’ provides a juxtaposition between Leila’s aside and her present to show beyond doubt the changes in her life as she ages.\r\nAn additional aspect of language that brings out the significant experience of the ball is the memorialize apply in ‘Her First Ball’. It is one of informal 18th coke British English. Mansfield uses row and phrases such as ‘Twig’, ‘Oh, I say’ and ‘ rationalize’. This adds to the authenticity of he story and emphasizes the consideration and beat.\r\nThe tone used in ‘Her First Ball’ changes often in the story, which adds to the notion of change and growth. Although, it’s a trey person narrative, it sequesters Leila’s feeling very effectively in the tone. At the start of the story, the tone is one of excitement and anxiety. Leila feels incertain yet thrilled about how the ball will be and also feels passably out of tail end being a country girl. She expresses her doubts and the tone is also one of wistfulness and proclivity to be like everyone else. As the story progresses, the tone becomes more ecstatic and admiring of the ball. The hall, the people and the experience is absolutely thrill to Leila.\r\nThis excitement is represented in the tone until she converses with the enlarge, old man. He reminds her that this is lone(prenominal) atypical and this happiness will briefly be replaced with a feeling of sadness and longing to be youthful erst again. This brings upon a new tone into the story- one of dismay and dread. Leila k at a times it’s inevitable and her visions of a life of rejoicing and come crashing down. However, the tone soon changes to one of renewed happiness and interminable joy. The pract ice of medicine changes to something better and she loses herself in the dance, interting the words of the fat man; forgetting him altogether. The frequent changes in tone conceivably represent the changes in life that come with ageing and development.\r\nThe euphony plays an crucial part in the story, mirroring the feelings of Leila. ‘with das ears thumping the cold piano’ is a description of Leila’s boarding school dance lessons that were uncomfortable and a chase to her. This contrasts with ‘a soft, melting, ravishing tune’. The words chosen describe the music as an art or even as a food- ‘soft’, ‘melting’. This shows the elicit joy Leila feels in the fantastic ball. However, after the fat old man reminds Leila of her fate, ‘the music seemed to change; it sounded sad, sad’. The music that once ‘rose upon a wave’ now ‘rose upon a sigh’. This illustrates the sprightly changes in body fluid symptomatic of the youth, the gullibility and naivety as well. Even more so, Leila doesn’t even recognize him with the sexual climax of another dance and has forgotten her grand encounter, which adds to the notion of the growing up and the changeful changes in adolescence.\r\nPerhaps the most rigid techniques to show the theme of ageing are the literary devices used. Mansfield uses an array of similes, metaphors and imagination to capture the scene and Leila’s emotions. The metaphor ‘all became one beautiful flying flex’ expresses Leila’s intense happiness and spicy spirits. The old man, the antagonist, is described with the simile ‘ his turn up looked as if it was dusty with French crosspatch’. It shows his lack of involvement in the ball and in it’s customs that comes with age. Another sign of this is when Leila’s partners ‘were not more interested’ and joyful about the ball as she wa s. This shows the inevitable mellowing down that Leila will, like everybody else, achieve. The author also uses ocular imagery at the end of the story to show how the reminder of the inexorable affects Leila. Although she is initially dissatisfied, she soon notices that ‘the stars they had long beams like wind’. This phrase with striking visual imagery marks the end of her short degree of unhappiness and signifies her change in mood to once again being delighted.\r\nThis leads to an important idea in the story, that adds to the characterization of Leila. The old man’s attempt to remind her of her destiny, however cruelly done, is quite true. Leila remembers this for only a short period of time before returning to her admiring self. This shows that the reminder of her future(a) has fallen on deaf ears and that Leila is so intent on having a pricey time she forgets her worries and perhaps that she simply doesn’t consider the advisory anything more than a bitter man’s ostracize opinion. Her lack of heed to her wake up call indicates the naivety of the youth. She is quick to forget unpleasant experiences rather than to learn from them and ignores the view of growing up entirely as it upsets her.\r\nAn important idea in the story is one of tokenism. There are many symbols in the story, Leila being on of youth. She represents the quirk and happiness of adolescence along with the gullibility and inanity. She lives in the present, which is seen both positively and negatively in the story. Her ability to concentrate on the catamenia happenings result in her extreme joy and thrill from the dancing and fun of the ball but also result in her sadness on meeting the fat man. The ball changes from her heaven to a place where she must face her inexorable cheerless fate. However, it is this quality of hers that leads her to forget her bad keeping and move on to the pleasures of life, even if they are short lived.\r\nThe Old man on t he other hand, could be a symbol of wisdom. When he first meets her he says ‘ Do I remember this bright micro face’ although he’s patently never seen her before. This creates an atmosphere of eerie companionship around him. His shabby appearance and the particular that he dances with the youth despite his age sets him apart from the rest of the gentlemen and marks him as different. His age, his correct conjecture that it’s Leila’s first ball and his accurate prospicience of her future signifies that he perhaps plays the office staff of a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. The circumstance that Leila forgets him suggests her immaturity and her inability to see past the present.\r\nThus, Mansfield perhaps tries to achieve the notion of the runtiness and fatuity as well as happiness and celebration of the youth in the story and its contents. She uses the plot to describe an incident where Leila is at her most happy and later, likely her least. The ending of the story shows Leila’s resilience, or rather, her ignorance. While centered on the theme of coming of age, I feel that Mansfield used the many effective literary techniques and the termination of the story to show that Leila has, essentially, not matured.\r\n'