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A Study on the Female Characters' Experience of Illusions And t( CH,4PTERIII The Femalc chmacters' Eryrktnce of rllusions and Disillusianment in "The Gsden P artt',,,Hs First Ball"r"Bliss" frnd'Miss Brill,, As the writer hrs meationed ir the previous chapter, d.isillusionmentre{ers to the stateor condition of someonewhose plersant bnt mistakenbelie{s are destroyed(Longman,2iT}. people may have pleasantbut mistaken beliefr about somethiag or someone,knowr as illusion. Becauseof illusion,people may rcgsrd their five asbeautiful and pleasant.Un{ortnnately, people who live in illnsion, can be disillusioned. from their pleasant but mistaken beliel to the disagreeablereality. KatherineMansfield, one of modern rwiters,has elevrted the experience of disillusionmentin her storiesthat the thesiswriter is going to analyze: "The 'T{er "Bliss" "Miss Garden Party", First Ball", and Brilf,. In these storiee Katherine Mans{ield portays the experience o{ ttre female charactersEE women who are delnded by their illueionarv world and. ,t mistakenbeliefs. Throngh a certainmoment in their live, their pleasant illusions are destroyed. To reveal the experienceof disillusionmentin thesestories, the writer will emphasizethe analysison the characterof the Iemalecharacters, the Iemale characters'incid.ents with other chartcters, and the settingof the storieswhich reveal the characters,experimce oI disillusionment. 3,L The lzlrocanceChnracterstic of the Fenale Charasterswhich Lead Them into Disillusionmmt The characterizationoI the {emalecharacters in thesefour stories determinestheir experieaceo{ disillusionment. To reveal the experience o{ disillusionmst, Katherine Mrn#ield presmts her {€mrle characters with siglificantcheracteristic. Although theIemale characters she chooses are variousin agesand. ntatus, they have rignificant characteristicwhirh causethem to undergo similar experience.Laura comesfrom big family "Her ia upper class{amily. Meanwhile,Leila in First Ball" is a timid and shy gid who lives in a lonely country home up to her age. The other characters,Bertha Yotng and Miss Brill are adult. However, they also come {rom diferent backgrouad. Bertha Young is a young housewile who lives in a rich lamily, meanwhile Miss Brill is an old. spinster who Iives alonein a dark and narrow apartment. However, as women, they "The are depictedas innocentand nalve. Laura in Garden party" and 27 "Her Leila in First Ball" are girls who start to move lrom their innocence to a more mature girls who learn new Iacts ol li[e. Meanwhile, Bertha "Bli$s" "Mise Young in and Miss Brill in Brill' are depictedas two adults who still possessthe characteristico{ being innocmt. Becauseof their innocence,they are also easily deluded by their own illusion or mietakm belief createdby the pleasantsituation. Therefore,they becomepeople who are rura'wareof the rcality. Lanra is deluded by the happinessshe getein the gardenparty and is uraware either of the conditon of the poor peoplewho live below her honseand o{ the clascdistinction behveen the rich and the poor. Similar to Laura, Leih {eels excessivehappinese becauseof the first ball sheattends and believesthat the ball promisesher eternalhappiness. The other two adult charactersare alsoeasily absorbed ia their illusionary world. BerthaYoung, the happy wife in "Bliss", thinks that life in her thirties i$ full of contentednessand satis{action. Meanwhile, Miss Brill, rn old spinsterin the last story, is deluded by the happinessin the park, in which she thinks that she is an "actress"who play her role everySnnday in the park with otherpeople. Regardlesso{ di{{g1entages and status,the main charactersin these Iour storieshave similarcharacteristic which is shown by their innocence. As the writer has mentionedin the previouschapter, an innocentperson refersto a personwho knows nothingo{ evil or wrong or {oolishlysimple. Moreover',according to Postman,an innocentperson is someoaewho is 28 protected and shieldedfrom certaia kind o{ in{ormation (postmaa,99). The female charactersin these stories,are elso d.epictedas innocent "The women, Laurn,the teenagegfulin Gardenparty", is depictedas an innocentgirl who hasher own idealsabout life. Sinceshe gror r$up in an upper class family who always experiencehappiness, she hrs no knowledge abont the conditioa o{ the poor people who live below her house. Moreover,the societywhere Laura lives imposesclass ,listinction betweenthe npper claeopeople and the lower classpeople. However, as an innocent girl Laura is not aware o{ this distinction and feels that all people have the sarne statns.Up to her age, Laura is protected.and. shielded lrom the reality outside her house. Therefore, she is also flnaware of the conditon of the poor p€oplewho live below her house. Sinceshe has never dealtwith thoeepeople, she does not know their real condition. The prove that shehae anything to do with peoplefuom lower classcan be seenwhen shehas to dealwith the workmen,people from the lower classwho arrangethe marqueefor the garden party in Laura's house' Lauta'sattitude toward the workmen shows that she is not usedto dealingwith a person comingIrom the lower class: 'Good morning,' she said,copying her mother'svoice. But that soundedso {earfully affectedthat she was ashamed,and 29 stammeredlike a little girl,'Oh-er-haveyou come- ie it about themarquee?' (66). In dealing with the workmen, Laura tries to im.mitateher mother's attitude toward peoplefrom lower clasesociety. However, sinceshe is not used.to rloingit, she{eels awkward in adoptingher mother'sattitude. Moreover, she is also not used to hearing the language which the workmen use to speakto her, When a workman rnggestthe place that "a will give bang slap in the eye", she is wondering whether it is quite respectful{or a workman to talk to her using mch a word (67). For the workman, the words are common. However, {or su.cha nalve girl hke Liura, his words$eem rnd.e and cannot be understood. As an innocentSirL Laura is deludedfrom seeingthe real condition of the poor people who Hve trelow her honse. In this story, Larrfl's unawarenessof the reahty is also caused.by the happinees she is experimcing while preparing {or the garden party. The garderrparty givesLaura momentaty happiness which causesher to be unawareof the condition o{ the poor people, At the end of the story,when Laura is going to the uttle cottagewhere the family of the dead cader dwell, she is still under the inlluenceof the happinessshe gets from the grrden party: JU Here shewas going down the hill to somewherewhere s man lay dead,and shecould. not realizeit. Why couldn't she?She stoppeda mirute. And it seemedto her that kisses,tinkling qpoons,laughter, the smell of cmsherl gracswerE somehow ilside her, Shehad no room lor rnything dse. How strangel Shelooked up at the pale sky and all she thought was."yes.it was the most successfulparty. Lnnra'shappinees because of the gard.enpafiy consesher to be absorbed by her own illusion. Her illus"ion,in turns, c&use6her to be unaware o{ the reality . Her heart is {illed with the happinessshe experierces fuom the grrden prrty. TherEIore,she starts to forget abouther plan o{ visiting the d.eadcarter's Iamily in the [ttle cottagewhere the poor people live. Her innocenceand her happinessbecause of the garden party have deludedher to seethe real conditionof poor people. Similar to Laura,Leila in "Her FirstBalf' alsohas a natnre o{ being an innocentgirl In addition,het existmceas a lonely gid who lives in a quiet and isolatedcountry home, has causedher to be a naive girl who knows nothing o{ the outerworld. Her nppearflnceas an innocentgirl can be seenin her attitudewhen she goesto the ball Ior the {irst time in her life. Up to her age,Leila lives in a quiet and lonely country home. Therefore,her experiencein the ball with her city cousinshas opened JI Leila's nflrrow world. However, sinceshe hrs never gone to the ball belore,her attitudelooks diJ{erentIrom her city cousins. she shows excessive happineseon her way to the ball. she tries not to smile too much and she tries not to care, but every single thing is so new ald. exciting to her (192). unconsciously,Leila startsto be deluded with the outward glamorousahnoqphere of the ball. since sheis an innocentgirl, she knows nothing o{ evil or wrong. sinceshe is de1ud.ed.by the beauty o{ the ball, shethinks that all the peoprein theball arelovely: Dark grrls, {air girls, were patting their hair, tying ribbons agai:r,tucking handkerchie{down the {ronts o{ their bodices, smoothingmarble - white glorrgs.And becrusethey were a1l laughing,it seemedto Leila that they were all lovely (1g4). Leila doesnot realizethat the peopleshe meets in the ball are actuallynot lovely as she thinks. However, the atmosphereo{ the balt has caused.her to seeeverything as beautiful and pleasant. As an innocentgirl who is deludedby her happiness,Leila has changedfrom a shy little girl to be a girln'ho {ee1sa rnsh of joy (195). she looks to the dancingballroom with a full ad.orationof $omeonewho has ilever come to that placebefore and she thinks that all she seesrnd "simply experiencesas heavenly" (195). Moreover,she believesthrt '11 throughthe ball, she thotght that her ltfe hns chnngednnd shewill get eternalhappiness: It seemedto her thrt shehrd neverknown what the night was like be{me. Up till now it had been dark, silent, beautifully very o{tm-oh,yes-butmournful somehow. Solemn. And now it would never be like that again - il had opened dazzling bright (199) ThronghLeila's thought, the writer perceivesthat Leilabelieves her futnre "dazzlhgbright" willbe after shecomes to the brll. She startsto forget her quiet and lonely wodd of country home and to be dduded by the short or momentaryhappiness o{ the ball. However, a$a nalve girl Leila thinks that the ball would give her eternalhappiness . She even 1aysher Iuture happinesson the ball which shedelights As a matter of {act, the nature o{ being inaocentis not only possessed.by children or teenagegirls like Laura and Leila who start to move from their innocence to experienceor {rom unf,warenessto awnrenessof the reality of their outnideworld, The adulte, BerthaYoung and Miss BnlL are aloo depicted as innocent women who are easily deluded by their own illusionary world.
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