"Her First Ball" is a 1921 short story by

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

. It was first published in ''

The Sphere ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' 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 Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

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

kathreina ''muiz khan''

External links

''The Garden Party and Other Stories''
at the British Library Modernist short stories 1921 short stories Short stories by Katherine Mansfield Works originally published in The Sphere (newspaper) {{1920s-story-stub