1In Katherine Mansfield’s Her First Ball, Leila, the main character is an eighteen-year-old girl from the rural country who has recently moved into the city with extended family members. To Leila, everything was “so new and exciting” (4th paragraph) and she immediately begins her path from innocence to experience. I can empathize with her, but I don’t feel sympathy for her. She didn’t have a tragic experience, she a learning experience. Leila’s metamorphosis during the course of the story proves that she is a heroine who overcame the conflict in her journey.2 The structure of the plot begins with a description of the 6setting, which is interesting because the setting is not that significant to story because if it were in another time and place it would be just as effective.7 The way she describes the car was as though she was describing the road to enlightenment, and the image she gave of sitting in her own corner of the cab is significant foreshadowing: “she sat back in her own little corner of it, and the bolster on which her hand rested felt like the sleeve of an unknown young man’s dress suit; and away they bowled, past waltzing lamppost and houses and fences and trees.” (1st paragraph) Leila has so many expectations and anticipations that leads to the climax, and is filled with5 symbolism and color that describes a vivid vision of a need for freedom and experience: “the road was bright on either side with moving fan-like lights, and on the pavement gay couples seemed to float through the air; little satin shoes chased each other like birds.” (6th paragraph) 10 The plot definitely falls under the innocence to experience theme. In the beginning of the story Leila notices everything from the smoothness of the floor to the way the light “dances off the wall”, by the middle of the story she reaches her climax and by the end, the glamour, fantasy, and quinte...
