Her first ball

1. I used the short story “Her First Ball” by Mansfield to discuss how plot, characterization, setting, and point of view create meaning in a short story. The plot unfolds as the main character, Leila is at her first ball and her first exposition to society. The exposition explains the background information and how nervous Leila is by using imagery, “A great quivering jet of gas lighted the ladies’ room. It couldn’t wait; it was dancing already”(page 193). The dialogue in the exposition also hints that Leila is from the country and not familiar with the city, “Our nearest neighbor was fifteen miles” (page 191). The rising action of the story starts when Leila arrives at the ball. Everything to her is so magical, almost like a fairyland. The simplest things have her astonished. One example is “Dark girls, fair girls were patting their hair, tying ribbons, tucking handkerchiefs down the fronts of their bodices, smoothing marble-white gloves. And because th...