In the short text Her First Ball written by Katherine Mansfield one conflict that arose was when the fat man tried to put down Leila by telling her that she will lose her youth one day and all of the things she enjoys now will be hopeless when she is old. Leila had a hard time overcoming this conflict as she took the fat man’s words quite harshly. Leila was caught in a dilemma between listening to the fat man or ignoring him. However Leila was able to overcome this conflict by moving on and forgetting what the old man had told her. Leila had done this because she realised that even though what the fat man had said might be true; in the sense that she will grow up one day. But Leila realised that since that day isn’t tomorrow, she knew that it is important that she lives the life to fullest while she is still young. The conflict was important to the text as it showed how Leila reacts to and overcomes the conflict, the conflict also showed that at times it is important to not take everyones opinion to heart, and the conflict showed that it is important to move on from a bad situation.

The conflict that Leila faced was that the fat man had said to Leila that her youth wouldn’t last forever. In the text the fat man had told Leila that one day she will have lost her youth, and become an old lady who is unhappy and no longer desired by other men. The fat man says some harsh words that makes Leila upset as she realised he was right in a way, that she will grow old eventually. The fat man had changed Leila’s perspective of the ball from an exciting new experience to a miserable one. Leila reacted to the conflict quite seriously as her mind turned into a whirlwind of thoughts that this first experience might soon be her last. “Was this experience ball only the beginning of her last ball after all?”. But soon after this, Leila was able to overcome this conflict by moving on and forgetting about the old man and what he had told her. “when her next partner bumped into the fat man and he said, ‘Pardon’, she smile at him more radiantly than ever. She didn’t even recognize him again.”. The way that Leila had overcome the challenge of conflict showed me that when someone tells you something you mustn’t take it to heart, as it might just be said to bring you down. The text teaches me that conflict mustn’t linger on to torment you, and that you must overcome it and move on with your life. The idea of Leila overcoming the challenge of conflict can relate to our own lives, because sometimes people can say spiteful things to you that may seem to be harsh reality, but we must overcome this because those people are only trying to bring you down.

The conflict that Leila experiences; which is the fat man telling Leila that she wouldn’t be young forever shows that it is important to not listen to everyones opinion. In the text Leila experiences her first ball; a rite of passage into adulthood. However Leila faces a conflict between her and the fat man. He tells her that in the what seems to be the near future she will become old and miserable. “And these pretty arms will have turned into short fat ones...’ The fat man seemed to shudder”. After the fat man had said this to Leila, Leila takes the fat mans harsh words to heart. Leila started to face a dilemma; whether to listen to the fat mans words or just ignore him. After some deep thinking, Leila overcome the conflict by realising that the fat man’s words isn’t something she should take to heart. “her next partner bumped into the fat man and he said, ‘Pardon’, she smile at him more radiantly than ever. She didn’t even recognize him again.”. The way Leila chose to ignore the fat mans words helped me understand that it is important to not take everyones opinion to heart. This idea can relate to our own lives, because sometimes other people may say hurtful things to you and if you take their opinion to heart their words will always linger on in your mind to bring you down. This is why not taking everyone’s opinion to heart is a important idea we can all learn from because it is a way of overcoming conflict(s) that we might face later on in life.

The conflict that Leila faced, showed that it is important to move on from bad situations. In the text the conflict that Leila faced was that the fat man had told her she would grow old and miserable, this conflict resulted in a bad situation. Which lead to a change in mood at how Leila was feeling at the ball. Leila felt that the music seemed to change to a sad sound. From that point Leila felt that everything was changing so quickly, that her happiness from the start had been lost. “the music seemed to change; it sounded sad... Oh how quickly things had changed! Why didn’t happiness last forever”. However after a series of doubts and upsets Leila suddenly moved on from that bad situation. She was able to pick herself up and turn back into the Leila she was at the stat of the ball; excited and joyous. Leila had done this by dancing with another man as of “one turn, her feet glided, glided. The lights, the azaleas, the dresses, the pink faces, the velvet chairs, all became one beautiful flying wheel”. The way Leila was able to move on from a bad situation, showed me that it is important to move on from bad situations because if you don’t it could end up ruining what could be a great one. The idea of moving on from bad situations can relate to our own lives, because we too may face situations when it seem like things can get worser, but we always have to move on and look at the positive side of things and make the most of the moment, because we might regret it one day.

The conflict that arose when the fat man tried to put down Leila by telling her that she will lose her youth one day was an important conflict in the text because it shows how Leila reacts to and overcomes the conflict. The conflict also showed ideas which are; that at times it is important to not take everyones opinion to heart, and that it is important to move on from a bad situation. These ideas shown in from the conflict allows the reader to relate to the story in a wider context.