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Katherine Mansfield's Her First Ball
Writing From A Woman’s World
Everything is so magical, exactly the way it is in fairyland. Leila, Katherine Mansfield’s main character in the short story, “Her First Ball”, is absolutely breath-taken at every sight and sound at the ball. Everything around her is so strikingly new and enthralling. It is Leila’s first ball, and her first exposition to society.
Mansfield describes the young girl’s emotions and excitement in a way that incarcerates her readers in the quaint fantasy world of Leila, and within the damsel’s spinning cyclone of different feelings and emotions.
Mansfield illustrates a rich, colorful fairy-tale-like picture as the setting of Leila’s world. We can obviously sense how Leila’s perception of the ball is that of a dreamlike event. The author shows her readers at the beginning of the story how Leila felt more like Cinderella incarnated in her body; for, her thrill is felt when she is in the cab passing by “waltzing” lampposts. Apparently, Leila’s heart is beating fast here, and we can almost hear its pulse, especially when “she tried not to smile too much; she tried not to care”(p.40).
The author’s creation of a dream world is revealed in the way Leila views everything with wide eyes and astonishment. Simple common details, such as “Meg’s tuberoses, Jose’s long loop of amber, Laura’s little dark head…”(p.40) are even seen by her as most charming and extraordinary. Unmistakably, Mansfield is constructing “fairy land” as the setting of the story through the eyes of Leila.
In order to sketch the ball through Leila’s eyes, Katherine Mansfield writes the story from a feminine point of view. The writer of the story seems to understand Leila’s awe, and even seems to have lived similar experiences. If a man were to write in Mansfield’s style, it would most likely be difficult for him to achieve the same results as the female writer. He needs to think, live, and see things as a woman. There is this delicacy and innocence that scents the story, which is a very feminine incense. When this “feminine aroma” is inhaled, we can directly feel that the story is written by a female, and from a female’s point of view. The very structure of the setting (the fairy-tale-like touch) is a part of a young girl’s perspective on life.
Part of the feminine color in this story is the way it focuses on female...
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...say that the story “Her First Ball” contains a political issue. There are a few suggestions of politics of division, such as experience versus inexperience. This is manifested by Leila’s(inexperienced) encounter with the middle-aged fat man(experienced). Leila is innocent, and just beginning to open up to the world, whereas the man has already been through enough. Another issue shown from this example is the issue of old generation versus new generation. The life of the old generation is dulled by time and experience, while the new generation is still fresh and full of life and vitality. The politics of gender are also revealed throughout the story. A woman’s future is determined by the man she will be chosen to marry, and that is shown by the way the girls’ eyes head towards the young men, and how the ladies are later on “led” by them to the dance floor. This example may also contribute to the author’s criticism of patriarchy. Indeed, Mansfield’s story contains within it many hidden criticisms of issues held during her lifetime, not to mention that the criticism is also written from a woman’s point of view, throughout the setting of a dreamlike world(in the eyes of a young lady).
Some of the residential school students were so scarred from the way they were treated in the schools, that they even started putting the same abuse that they had received in the schools, onto their own children. The abuse has left the students with mental trauma and many of the students were unable to erase the memories of abuse from their minds. Many the survivors of the Canadian Residential Schools have been inflicting their children and spouses with physical abuse similar to the abuse that they had received previously in the Residential Schools. In an article talking about the victimization of aboriginals they stated, “Males who had experienced abuse as children were found to be at a significantly high risk to repeat the cycle of violence with future spouses” (Scrim as cited in McGillivray and Comaskey 1996). This sad cycle shows that even though the last Residential School closed in the late 1990’s, the experiences that students had during their time is still negatively affecting their lives today. Many of the former students of the Canadian Residential Schools have turned to substance abuse in hopes to try and cope with their struggling mental health. It is shocking to see that a school this harsh could have such long lasting impacts on its students. In an article related to helping people understand the trauma
Every Sunday, Miss Brill looked forward to a wonderful day in the park. There, she would secretly dive into the lives of the surrounding human beings, taking in each of their words and actions and creating a fantasy world all of her own that she was sure she belonged in, but she was mistaken. Her fantasy world does crumble, and Miss Brill, the protagonist in the short story, “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, soon finds herself in reality. Miss Brill can be clearly seen as a flat, yet dynamic character, as can be portrayed through her thought transformation.
Through the use of symbolism, and characterization that involves an instance of imagery, the author advocates this notion through the newlywed’s decision of neglecting her personal feminine taste to make her husband’s preferences her own, and embracing her title of submissive partner by kissing the hand. Also, the choice of words to describe each partner differs tremendously, as the author seems to give more importance to the man by making him appear handsome, and particularly strong. On the contrary, the young woman appears to be weak and minor, which supports this idea of submissive women in a couple through the perception of the woman being way behind her husband. This story demonstrates a great symbolic significance when it comes to the hand, which can lead to other important ideas surrounding the message the author is trying to
Introduction: The concept of the change and longevity of the fairy tale (or myth) is well illustrated in the story “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Silko. Not only is the story a modern explanation of a traditional Native American myth, but the style that Silko uses to tell it evokes and adapts the oral communication style that those old myths were passed down with. The story is also very self-consciously aware of its place as a modern revision of a myth, and makes many internal references to this aspect of itself. “Yellow Woman” becomes, in effect, the modern version of a Native American myth or legend, and therefore is a perfect example of the way in which old tales are made new.
Superficially, Madeline is only an angelic figure, but what is overlooked in a purely angelic reading of Madeline is the split image of one character with two distinct aspects, one virginal and pure, the other seductive and powerful. Madeline is not only a heavenly, ...
The story opens by embracing the reader with a relaxed setting, giving the anticipation for an optimistic story. “…with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green (p.445).”
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a double-stranded DNA virus in the Hepadnaviridae family. The infectious particle is 42nm in diameter, with a genome 3200 nucleotides long. It has an outer envelope and an icosahedral nucleocapsid, which contains viral DNA polymerase and has a diameter of 27nm. The envelope contains the HBV surface antigen (HBsAg); this is the molecule to which anti-HBV antibodies are directed. The non-infectious hepatitis B particles are composed of HBsAg only and come in the form of filaments and spheres. Their only likely purpose is binding up antibodies so the infectious particles can remain free. In humans HBV infects hepatocytes where it replicates within the nucleus, but can also be found in smooth muscle, bone marrow, kidneys, thyroid glands and other sites.
The needs of Aboriginal youth are not being met in mainstream systems. Undoubtedly, with the high dropout rate of “7 out of 10 first nation youth drop out of school” (Donovan, 128), the school system is failing them. Across Canada only “23 percent of the Aboriginal population has their high school diploma” (Donovan, 129). Aboriginal people make up the youngest and fastest growing segment of our population, and yet many still have significantly less education than the general population.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a severe and common virus that has infected ‘more than two billion people alive today at some point in their life.’1 It is a hepadanavirus that interferes with the liver functions as it replicates in the hepatocytes (liver cells) and induces a immune response that is responsible for the inflammation of liver.2 Viruses are not motile, which means that HBV is also sessile and does not form spores. The spherical virion, is called a Dane Particle3 that is 42nm in diameter binds to the surface of hepatocyte.1 The virion itself contains an inner protein core, 27nm thick filled with circular partially double stranded DNA, DNA polymerase and reverse transcriptase.1 It is an enveloped virus, so it also holds an outer lipoprotein envelope4 that is 7nm thick and is comprised of many embedded surface proteins such as surface antigen for viral binding and entry.1 HBV has an average incubation period of three months, which means that it does not start showing symptoms for the first three months that the person is infected and that person can unknowingly infect others.2 ...
The ways the characters portrayed what is supposedly masculine and feminine was when the author wrote about the type of clothes the grandma is wearing. She is wearing
Often used as a coping mechanism to deal with PTSD, alcohol abuse throughout modern Aboriginal culture proves to be a major cause for concern. According to a report by Health Canada (2003), 79 percent of individuals in First Nations communities suffered from alcohol abuse, and 59 percent from drug abuse. Additionally, a study conducted by the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation (2002) found deaths due to alcohol consumption among Aboriginal population to be 43.7 per 100,000, twice the rate of the general population (23.6 per 100,000). Staggering figures when compared to the overall population of Canada, the statistics indicated portray the extensive damage caused by residential schools. The phenomena of historical trauma and Residential School Syndrome are large contributors to the social and cultural epidemic of alcohol abuse in Native communities. With a strong correlation to PTSD, alcohol is also used also to cope with issues beyond that of mental illness, including economic and social hardships, which are not directly related to residential schools. Yet, even when not related to mental illness, alcohol abuse is still the result of interaction with European culture. Prior to the arrival of European colonists in North Ameri...
Elizabeth uses the stereotypes of her gender and knowledge of both literature and when to manipulate her gender to explain why she needs
It must also be noted there are no women in the story with prominent roles. The hero's wife is long dead and his daughter has been married and gone for many years. Any women in the story are merely in the background, unnamed and colorless-totally insignificant. Mann has purposely left them out because they are life givers, the symbol of fertility and birth. (The only one scene where women have an active role is in the degrading and violently promiscuous dream.)
In Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party,” the fourth reasons that show the rich Sheridans think they are better than the poor Scotts. However, the Sheridans thought the Scotts wanted their hand-me-downs. Since the Scotts were poor and the Sheridans were rich, they thought they were giving them goods of value. “There on the table were all those sandwiches, cakes, puffs, all un-eaten, all going to be wasted. Mrs. Sheridan had one of her brilliant ideas. I know, she said. “Let’s make up a basket. Let’s send that poor creature some of this perfectly good food. At any rate, it will be the greatest treat for the children. Again, how curious, she seemed to be different from them all. To take scraps from their party. Would the poor woman really
Abrams 1604 - 1606. Peterson, Linda H. "What Is Feminist Criticism?" Wuthering Heights. Ed. Linda H. Peterson, Ph.D. Boston: Bedford Books, 1992.