“Language is a tool for offering particular representations of people, groups and/or ideas” Discuss this in reference to 2 or more short stories
Language is a powerful tool that can be used to offer readers representations of people, groups and or ideas in society. These representations created by Authors give readers the opportunity to explore new ideas and portrayals of class, age groups and gender. Katherine Mansfield's short stories offer us representations of these things through the use of language tools and techniques. In Her First Ball she portrays the innocence and naivety of youth and personifies her protagonist Leila to embody this idea. She juxtaposes this innocence against the opposite an experienced adult, to represent the older age group as unenchanted with society. The unbalance in the class system between the upper and lower class is explored in The Garden Party. The representation of classes explores the variation of human life and the peace and equality that comes with death. These powerful language tools portray a variety of different representations of the many aspects of society.
In the short story Her first ball Katherine Mansfield portrays the innocence and resilience of youth. Leila - the protagonist is symbolised as the embodiment of youthful innocence and naivety. She is enthralled and enchanted by the experience of her first ball describing it it an fairytale like manner. “A great quivering jet of gas lighted the ladies' room. It couldn't wait; it was dancing already.” The personification of the lamp highlights to the reader, Leila’s excited and exhilarated feeling towards the new experience. Even after the Fat man spoils her image of the fairytale like quality of the ball Leila picks her self up regardless of the old mans warning and tries to end her night on a high. "And when her next partner bumped her into the fat man and he said, 'Pardon', she smiled at him more radiantly than ever. She didn't recognise him again" Leila...