This story that goes from innocence to maturity can be
divided into four parts:
1. Before
the ball. Is the cab her first partner of the ball?
Remembering her
first experience, a young girl, named Leila, is about to attend her first ball
escorted by their cousins Laura, Meg, Jose and Laurie. She is sitting into the
cab, and she is so excited that she is looking everything as if it is waltzing because
she feels like she is in the real ball thinking and imagining that her first
real partner is the cab.
Leila is talking
to their cousins because they are surprised that she is so nervous. She attends
the ball with a feeling of great expectation because she is a country girl who
has never been to a public ball. Their cousins, who know that Leila is naive
and innocent, and they come from the city, and they already have some ball experiences,
take care of her and protect her.
2. Before
entering to the saloon
Leila and their
cousins, the Sheridans, arrive at the drill hall. Laura is helping Leila to
push to the noisy ladies’ room, where women are busy getting ready and making
the last minutes adjustments.
From the door, Leila’s
emotion and excitement is increasing with the beauty of the room with golden
floors, red carpets, lights and the elegant atmosphere. How Leila’s perception of
the ball is that of a dreamlike event! She begins to listen to the music, and the
dance programs are passed out. And everything is ready.
3. During the ball
The men stand at the opposite side of the ballroom,
and they appear in front of the ladies waiting for the dance to begin. The music starts, and the men walk over to pick
their respective partners.
The ball is on! When Meg cries “Ready Leila?”,
Leila begins to dance. The feeling of joy during her first and second
partner is clear. Leila enjoys very much dancing spontaneously, because she had
learned to dance with girls at the boarding school, but with a male partner is
fantastic!
But with the third
partner, the fat man, the story changes, the climax starts. This is the part where
the tension is the highest because this older man paints a bitter picture of Leila’s
future. He is an experienced man who believes he recognizes Leila from another
ball, but this is impossible. He begins to dance with an inexperienced Leila.
This man manages to ruin her night with just one dance. At that moment, Leila
doesn’t want to dance anymore because this old and fat man discourages her.
3. The end.
The last dance.
Now we are reaching
the outcome. The fourth and last partner, a young man, bows before her and she
decides to dance with him. Now she begins to feel again the fantastic emotions
she has felt before. With every turn and every glide, she forgets the bad
sentences the old man has said to her before. Suddenly the ball seems beautiful
again.
Some
remarks.
I don’t know if
the antagonist, “the fat man,” was trying to ruin the Leila’s night, or
he wants simply to warn her.
I imagine this
story is set in the early 1900s, in New Zealand.
From the folk stories
as The Cinderella or The Red Shoes to some modern films as Billie
Elliot I think this theme is a topic in literature, dance or movies.
Don’t you think we
always remember our first ball?
QUESTIONS
-Do you remember your first ball? Or the first time
you did something that only older people did?
-What keepsakes do you have?
-Do you think dancing has to be a social skill for
everybody? I mean: do you think children have to learn it at school? Can
everyone dance, or must everyone have the knack? Do you think black people have
the art of dancing in their blood?
-Do you think they are things that they ever won’t be
“feminist”, like dancing or weddings?
-Have you ever acted as a chaperone?
-What is the best way to not disappoint your
desires?
-According to your opinion, why is the old man so
cruel with the girl?
-With young people (or with people in general) is
better to be optimist or to be pessimist?
-Do you think the main feature of young people is the
ability to recover soon from blows? Do you have any examples?
VOCABULARY
bolster, bowled, keepsake, drill hall, dash, wraps, cotton,
tassels, strung, gilt, under my wing, freckled, yore, calico, clutched, French
chalk, Twinkletoes