In "Her First Ball" a girl named Leila, who has never attended a ball because she lives in the country, attends her first ball with her cousins. Leila is so excited about the event that everything seems magical and lovely to her (even though she feels self-conscious), and her cousin Meg asks the attendees to be nice to Leila and to dance with her. Leila happily dances with several partners, who ask if she attended former balls. She is then partnered with a fat older man who senses that it is her first dance. He tells her that soon she will be sitting on the stage watching her daughter dance. Leila suddenly feels crestfallen as if this is, in her words, "the beginning of her last ball" rather than her first ball. After the dance is over, however, she is paired with a younger partner, and the glory of the moment comes back to her. As she dances, she forgets all about what the old man has told her, and she does not even recognize him when she bumps into him. Her youth and energy make her impervious to the feeling of what it is like to be old, and she is able to continue to live in the moment of her first ball.
No comments:
Post a Comment