The short stories, Her First Ball” by Katherine Mansfield and “The Infant Prodigy” by Thomas Mann, share different scenarios in which children have similar experiences. “Her First Ball” describes the unique experience of a young girl going to her first ball, while “The Infant Prodigy” depicts a young boy whose amazing piano talents are exploited by his mother and the impresario. Each story explores the coming of age of children before they are necessarily ready. While both “The Infant Prodigy” and “Her First Ball” share the common theme of loss of childhood innocence, “The Infant Prodigy” explores its theme through many points of view and character descriptions, while “Her First Ball” makes use of one point of view and vast imagery of the setting to advance the theme. In “Her First Ball,” Mansfield uses the experience of a young eighteen-year-old girl going to her first dance to explore the theme of a child losing their innocence.
The story opens with a girl named Leila riding in a cab with her cousins on the way to the ball. Leila’s innocence is first seen when the reader is informed that she is from the country and has never been to a ball. It continues to show when she arrives at the ball and is stunned by the number of people and all the decorations. Leila becomes quite anxious as the music starts to play for her first dance, and her innocence is further revealed when she is asked to dance. She is described as “floating away like a flower that is tossed into a pool” (Mansfield 19). Her innocence is revealed by her fragile nature. However, when she is guided onto the dance floor, her innocence is shattered by an older man who brings her innocence into reality. He tells her to enjoy the moment because it won’t be long before she is just a parent sitting on stage gazing down at her daughter in jealousy, wishing to be young again. Leila becomes overwhelmed with worry that the man might be right; she feels that her first ball might be the beginning of her last.
At this point, Leila has lost the childish innocence that she felt when she first arrived at the dance because she realizes that she is growing up and reaching the end of her childhood. She begins to feel very homesick for her country home, where she could regain her innocence. Throughout her experiences of the night, the theme of the loss of childhood innocence is shown. Like Her First Ball,” Mann’s short story, “The Infant Prodigy,” also displays the strong theme of the loss of childhood innocence through the experience of a very young boy named Bibi and his incredible piano talent. Bibi’s innocence is first revealed in the fact that he is just nine years old. It is also displayed by the joy he shows while playing the piano. Bibi’s joy in playing is described as “that prickling delight, that secret shudder of bliss, which ran through him every time he sat at an open piano” (Mann 59). This shows that Bibi gets great pleasure out of just playing the piano.
However, due to the great amount of traveling he does for concerts, he has lost his innocence and has been forced to grow up faster than the average nine-year-old child. His loss of innocence is furthermore shown in his negative thoughts toward his crowd while performing. His thoughts are, “Now I will play the fantasy; it is a lot better than Le Hibou, of course, especially the C-sharp passage. But you idiots dote on the Hibou, though it is the first and the silliest thing I wrote” (Mann 61). Through his thoughts, it is clear that he does not particularly enjoy performing for people; he would rather just play strictly for the enjoyment of playing and not profit. As Bibi is forced to play more concerts, the theme of loss of childhood innocence plays a stronger role in his life. While both stories explore the theme of loss of innocence, each author exploits similar literary techniques but in different methods to express the theme. First, Mansfield uses a vast amount of imagery to describe the setting of the ball. For example, while in a cab on the way to the ball, she claims that she is excited and starts listing little clothing items that are being worn by her cousins. The scene is described as “every single thing was so new and exciting…Meg’s tuberoses, Jose’s long loop of amber, Laura’s little dark head, pushing above her white fur like a flower through snow” (Mansfield 16).
This scene displays Leila’s innocence because she is so excited that she becomes thrilled by minuscule details. The reader can also notice how eager Leila is about the ball in the way she describes inanimate objects. On the way to the ball, she describes a lamppost as waltzing (Mansfield 16). Additionally, she states that a gas lamp flame could not wait for the ball to begin as it was already dancing (Mansfield 17). Declarations such as these demonstrate how joyous a young girl can be while attending her first dance. The author also uses imagery to express the feelings that Leila experiences when she loses her innocence. The author states, But deep inside her a little girl threw her pinafore over her head and sobbed” (Mansfield 20). By using such language, the author shows how devastated Leila is that she has lost her innocence. Mansfield primarily uses imagery that describes the setting to further express the theme. Mann, on the other hand, uses imagery in a different style by using it predominantly to focus on the characters’ appearances and personalities. For instance, Mann promotes Bibi’s innocence by frequently describing his attire and size.
The author describes Bibi’s appearance as dressed in entirely white silk… The little white jacket was fancifully cut, with a sash underneath it, and even his shoes were made of white silk” (Mann 58). By stating that Bibi is dressed in all white silk, this demonstrates innocence because it is a reference to Jesus Christ. When he was first born, he was wrapped in white silk. Furthermore, the author uses imagery to describe audience members’ appearances, which enhances the reader’s knowledge of Bibi’s innocence. For example, Bibi’s mother is described as “an extremely obese woman with a powdered double chin and a feather on her head” (Mann 60). By describing Bibi’s mother as “extremely obese,” it is clear that Bibi’s mother is exploiting her son strictly for her own financial gain. In the early 1900s, only the wealthy would have been obese because poorer people would not have had the money to spend on large amounts of food to gorge themselves. This point shows that Bibi has lost his innocence because, if it weren’t for his mother, he would not be forced to travel and perform at so many concerts.
Through the imagery provided in the characters’ descriptions, Mann develops the theme of the loss of childhood innocence. Furthermore, both authors employ the use of point of view to express the innocence of their respective protagonists. Mann makes use of multiple points of view of audience members to describe Bibi’s loss of innocence. For instance, Mann delves into the thoughts of a piano teacher and critic who try to criticize the nine-year-old prodigy. The piano teacher thinks, But not very original—I will say that afterward, it sounds well. And his hand position is entirely amateur. One must be able to lay a coin on the back of the hand—I would use a ruler on him” (Mann 62). The critic thinks, “He has in himself all the artist’s exaltation and his utter worthlessness, his charlatanry and his sacred fire, his burning contempt and his sacred raptures” (Mann 62). The opinions of the piano teacher and the critic show that Bibi is not viewed just as a child playing the piano but strictly as an artist.
This further demonstrates that Bibi does not have the leisure of retaining childhood innocence because he is not viewed as a child. While Mann uses many points of view, Mansfield only probes the point of view of the main character, Leila. The author uses Leila’s point of view to describe the setting. By doing this, it allows the reader to understand the innocence that is inside of her. As she experiences her first ball, she takes in every slight detail of the moment. Without the point of view of Leila, the central theme would be weak because the reader would not find the innocence in how she describes the settings. Even though each author uses a different approach for point of view, in each story, it brings out the theme.
The loss of childhood innocence is a theme that many readers can relate to in their own lives. Both stories paint a clear picture of a child who has grown up faster than they may have wished. Mansfield and Mann each employ similar literary techniques, such as point of view and imagery, to express this theme in their respective short stories. However, they utilize these techniques in different ways. While reading both Her First Ball” and “The Infant Prodigy,” a reader cannot help but spark a memory of their own lives when they once had childhood innocence.
Works Cited
Mann, Thomas. “The Infant Prodigy.” Translated by Great Modern European Short Stories. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 1967. 58-64. Print.
Mansfield, Katherine. “Her First Ball.” Translated by Great Modern European Short Stories. New York: The Random House Publishing Group, 1967. 16-21. Print.
