essay on Katherine Mansfield short story

essay on Katherine Mansfield short story

“Mansfield sheds a vivid light onto ordinary lives” In what way and how effectively do you think Mansfield achieves this? Refer to two stories.

In the stories Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding and Her First Ball by Katherine Mansfield, an example of ordinary lives is shown. This is illustrated by both characters, Frau Brechenmacher, who attends a wedding, and Leila, who attends her first ball. As both stories are instances of people’s lives, we see how ordinary lives are and led.

In both stories, there are many very detailed descriptions about the ordinary lives and to build up an image of each character’s normal life. In Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding, there is a two-paged long description of the preparation before the couple attend a wedding. Although it is mainly about how they prepare to go to the wedding, how an ordinary family operates is still shown. For example, Rosa, who is the eldest child in the family, has to ‘look after the children and not stay up later than half-past eight ’ while her parents are away. As a wife, the Frau has to ‘run over his [her husband] best shirt with a hot iron, polish his boots, and put a stitch or two into his black satin necktie.’ With these detailed descriptions, an image of a wife getting everything ready for her husband to go to a wedding and leaving their children behind is clearly presented. Differently, in Her First Ball, detailed description is used as a contrast to Leila’s ordinary life and emphasizes it. For example, Leila notices very small things such as ‘Meg’s tuberoses,’ ’Jose’s long loop of amber,’ and ‘Laura’s little dark head, pushing above her white fur like a flower through snow.’ From these, it is shown that Leila might not have seen these before as she lives in country which her ‘nearest neighbour is fifteen miles away.’ When she arrives at the ball, her excitement is revealed through interior monologue that she thinks ‘How heavenly, how simply...