Her First Ball

by

Katherine Mansfield

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The Dance Floor Symbol Analysis

The Dance Floor Symbol Icon

Most of “Her First Ball” takes place on the dance floor, which comes to reflect Leila’s attitude towards her future. Leila, who has never attended a ball before, becomes immediately entranced by the “gleaming, golden floor” in the dance hall. Her descriptions of the floor reflect her excitement over her own future; she feels that she’s “at the beginning of everything” and that this dazzling ball inaugurates a gleaming new chapter of her life.

However, Leila’s excitement over the dance floor soon begins to seem naïve. Her first two dance partners also comment on the floor, the first saying that it’s “quite a good floor” and the second that it’s “not bad,” but it’s clear that they’re not actually impressed with the dance floor—they’re merely following a boring conversational script, making small talk because they have nothing else to say. So while Leila finds the floor delightful and “beautifully slippery,” these young men find it unremarkable because they’ve danced on such floors many times before. Their attitude towards the floor reflects how quickly adolescent excitement grows stale, the implication being that Leila will soon be just as unexcited about the floor—and, implicitly, about the future that these balls represent for her.

Finally, during Leila’s dance with the old man, the floor comes to represent how Leila will one day dread her future. The old man tells Leila that when she’s an old woman, she’ll be unhappy at balls and will “say how unpleasant these polished floors are to walk on, how dangerous they are.” The implication here is that older women have nothing to look forward to—their best years are behind them. They have no reason to enjoy a slippery, gleaming floor, as it doesn’t represent the possibilities of the future, but rather reminds them, bitterly, of happier, more innocent days past. These three separate views of the floor—Leila’s, her partners’, and the old women’s—demonstrate the eventual progression of Leila’s future. Because Leila is inexperienced, she currently views the floor as one thrilling element of a thrilling ball. After a few balls, she’ll grow familiar with the floor, and her hope for the future will grow similarly stale and dull. As an old woman, the floor will seem actively unpleasant, the same way her life will be unpleasant (at least according to the old man).

The Dance Floor Quotes in Her First Ball

The Her First Ball quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Dance Floor. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Youth, Novelty, and Aging Theme Icon
).
Her First Ball Quotes

She quite forgot to be shy; she forgot how in the middle of dressing she had sat down on the bed with one shoe off and one shoe on and begged her mother to ring up her cousins and say she couldn't go after all. And the rush of longing she had had to be sitting on the veranda of their forsaken up-country home, listening to the baby owls crying ‘More pork’ in the moonlight, was changed to a rush of joy so sweet that it was hard to bear alone. She clutched her fan, and, gazing at the gleaming, golden floor, the azaleas, the lanterns, the stage at one end with its red carpet and gilt chairs and the band in a corner, she thought breathlessly, ‘How heavenly; how simply heavenly!

Related Characters: Leila (speaker), The Old Man
Related Symbols: Baby Owls, The Dance Floor
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:

[…] instead of replying the fat man wrote something, glanced at her again. ‘Do I remember this bright little face?’ he said softly. ‘Is it known to me of yore?’ At that moment the band began playing; the fat man disappeared. He was tossed away on a great wave of music that came flying over the gleaming floor, breaking the groups up into couples, scattering them, sending them spinning…

Related Characters: The Old Man (speaker), Leila
Related Symbols: The Dance Floor
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:

‘Quite a good floor, isn’t it?’ drawled a faint voice close to her ear.

‘I think it’s most beautifully slippery,’ said Leila.

‘Pardon!’ The faint voice sounded surprised, Leila said it again. And there was a tiny pause before the voice echoed, ‘Oh, quite!’ and she was swung round again.

He steered so beautifully. That was the great difference between dancing with girls and men, Leila decided. Girls banged into each other, and stamped on each other’s feet; the girl who was gentleman always clutched you so.

Related Characters: Leila
Related Symbols: The Dance Floor
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:

‘Floor’s not bad,’ said the new voice. Did one always begin with the floor? And then, ‘Were you at the Neaves’ on Tuesday?’ And again Leila explained. Perhaps it was a little strange that her partners were not more interested. For it was thrilling. Her first ball! She was only at the beginning of everything. It seemed to her that she had never known what the night was like before. Up till now it had been dark, silent, beautiful very often—oh yes—but mournful somehow. Solemn. And now it would never be like that again—it had opened dazzling bright.

Related Characters: Leila
Related Symbols: The Dance Floor
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:

…‘you can’t hope to last anything like as long as that. No-o,’ said the fat man, ‘long before that you'll be sitting up there on the stage, looking on, in your nice black velvet. And these pretty arms will have turned into little short fat ones, and you’ll beat time with such a different kind of fan—a black ebony one.’ The fat man seemed to shudder. ‘And you’ll smile away like the poor old dears up there, and point to your daughter, and tell the elderly lady next to you how some dreadful man tried to kiss her at the club ball. And your heart will ache, ache’—the fat man squeezed her closer still, as if he really was sorry for that poor heart—‘because no one wants to kiss you now. And you’ll say how unpleasant these polished floors are to walk on, how dangerous they, are.”

Related Characters: The Old Man (speaker), Leila
Related Symbols: The Dance Floor
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
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Her First Ball PDF

The Dance Floor Symbol Timeline in Her First Ball

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Dance Floor appears in Her First Ball. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Her First Ball
Illusion, Delusion, and Reality Theme Icon
...now she feels overcome by joy, drinking in the flowers, lights, and the “gleaming, golden floor.” (full context)
Youth, Novelty, and Aging Theme Icon
Illusion, Delusion, and Reality Theme Icon
...he remarks that he may know Leila “of yore” before disappearing into the crowded dance floor. (full context)
Gender and Society Theme Icon
Illusion, Delusion, and Reality Theme Icon
Leila’s dance partner does arrive, and he immediately compliments the floor. She responds that it’s “beautifully slippery,” which surprises him. He politely agrees, but he seems... (full context)
Youth, Novelty, and Aging Theme Icon
Illusion, Delusion, and Reality Theme Icon
Leila begins to dance with a new partner, who also asks her about the floor and about whether she was at another ball. Leila again explains that this is her... (full context)
Youth, Novelty, and Aging Theme Icon
Gender and Society Theme Icon
Illusion, Delusion, and Reality Theme Icon
...no longer want to kiss her anymore and she’ll complain about how dangerous the slippery floors are.  (full context)