This is really sad for her to experience at such an exciting place and time for her. It was only to be a reality check, but it hit her hard.

Clearly not the norm for a ball

There is so much unfamiliarity in this section. Leila is trying to read the room and understand what's going on while being nervous for her first ball.

Their calls remind me of how sirens lure sailors with their voices. Here, they aren't trying to kill sailors, but instead are a factor of killing Isabel's relationship through temptation.

Ugh this frustrates me. I don't know if it's because Isabel is self-centered or if she just doesn't have a sense of a social filter, but she automatically thinks the fruit is for herself (as William expected).

This gesture makes her sound ingenuine or sarcastic. It already seems like she has started to kill their love.

It's already pretty sad that William is essentially invisible to them, but to change the subject to something so random makes him nonexistent.

More flowers with Mansfield

Marion sounds condescending here, implying that their father is dumb for wasting his energy. This could be a nudge that their family dynamics aren't actually ideal at all.

Mr. Neave is on a completely different page compared to the rest of his family. I think that losing "his hold" refers to not having any control on his family or even how he interacts with them.

While his ego may have been naturally big to begin with, his surroundings really caused his downfall, almost like an unpreventable tragedy.

The narrator is very aware of people's appearances and I think there is a connection between attractiveness and wealth. The monocle and black ribbon are definitely a touch on monetary wealth which explains why everything based on appearance seems so refined and perfect (e.g. the blue dress).

I know this was supposed to make Mrs. Raddick sound extravagant, but calling her "a different creature" almost sounds a way to other her. I don't think I would like to be described in this way..

This is such a detailed way of describing light entering a room, which is normally a positive sign. Here, it feels as though their home should be dark—creating an eerie atmosphere and alluding to death—and the sunlight is ruining this eeriness. It's also fitting based on the fact that this long paragraph is really referring to dead people.

These couple sentences seem so fragmented with so many commas and semicolons. I think it adds to the tension of the situation

We continue to see the differences in character traits: Kate is much more assertive and seems more proactive, especially by being described with language like "bounced back".

These are such minute details that don't seem too pertinent to the story. The constant sipping from the glass and other small movements almost detract from the story's progression.

This sounds like a form of hypnotism or at least leading him into a trance.

This reminds me of the feeling of going on a field trip in elementary school: making plans to sit with friends on the school bus and making sure everything goes perfectly.

The dust and yellowing photograph help show the monotony of her life. Nothing is exciting or new, but she's come to terms with it and feels comfortable with these "familiar objects".

Frank is her symbol of freedom and something new. Before, her life was fairly mundane, and her main role was to maintain her family situation. She finally has this exciting thing in her life as Frank represents her development / ability to change for the better.

The anecdotes all read very organically. It makes it easy to visualize walking through busy streets, which might not be relatable to everyone, but at least it creates a casual environment.

I can sense the tension between the two! The word "intervene" really emphasizes that the tension and the fact that Mrs. Mooney is the type of person to meddle with other people, but specifically do something about her daughter's situation.

I thought this was funny because this definitely highlights his perspective. At this point, she's just serving him and he actually appreciates this "thoughtfulness" because he's getting anything he wants.

This is a large generalization. Regardless of whether she's correct or not, she seems really cold and harsh.

Mansfield uses a lot of this language like "flutter". We see this in the movement of the air or steam as well as how people's clothes move.

We can clearly see that they are on completely different wavelengths, and Constantia seems to be more innocent and pure at heart as she cares for such small beings like mice.

Another example of this conversational style as if we didn't believe that the puffs were attractive from the previous sentence.

This is a very detailed piece of imagery of air, which is something that is literally all around us. Somehow Mansfield makes such a common thing like air seem beautiful and dainty yet warm.

Laura feels more comfortable around the workmen, even though they seem to be somewhat foreign to her. As mentioned before, she wasn't surrounded my people like these workmen in her upbringing, which makes this sound like a forbidden love of some sorts.

This is such an elegant way of portraying a person under the influence of drugs. Even his sweat his described as if it is a treasure.

I love the metaphor of the labyrinth, which suits this complicated situation perfectly. I believe Mr. Murthwaite is the most reliable character we have encountered so far, and even the narration seems to support that.

It's interesting to see Mr. Murthwaite's perspective on the Indians. He seems to understand their culture and how it differs from what anyone else is famiiar with.

This reminds me how language has changed not only over time but depending on location. This could be be something to take note of for the final project.

Godfrey is trying too hard to be humble that it almost sounds sarcastic. He just goes on and on which makes me feel like he's hiding something.

This is another example of gender roles and how women were perceived by society. Women cannot be trusted in telling the truth because they only gossip.

Even while looking at the same evidence, everyone has different perspectives of what happened to Rosanna. They all seem to suspect that she died for different reasons or even different causes. Here we see the back and forth of what could have been possible.

The Diamond seems to be the cause for any bad luck in this household. It almost feels like the placebo effect or everyone is just blaming everything on the Diamond instead of taking responsibility.

The Sergeant is inally making Betterredge consider his prejudice of Rosanna. We see it's difficult to trust any of the characters because they are humans who can lie and do not want to betray their friends.

This is a new document that is now being used as evidence.

Is this is a sign of trust toward the servants or carelessness? Previously, it seemed as if they didn't want anyone else to be a part of the investigation because anyone could be a suspect. But now, it seems they need to ask for help from all parties.

I have noticed that a lot of character descriptions and other background information seems to be based on rumors or secondary sources. This continues to add to the uncertainty of the narration and emphasizes that we, as the reader, cannot trust anything.

He is giving the Diamond as a payment of his life, giving back to his family as a means of pity, redemption, and leaving behind a legacy.

Seems greedy and driven by money; he wants to do a little bit of everything, which represents of lifestyle which is clearly not frugal.

Betteredge might be acting petty about this, but it seems justifiable to me.

Betteredge seems to be aware of problems in marriage as he mentions how there are many "married people living together miserably" two paragraphs prior. However, he still pursue a marriage based on monetary value. Although considering wealth can be an important factor for many people, Betteredge seems foolish for looking to the economy rather than pure love.

This introduces the conflict against man by man based on values and actions. Even though they are all people, there is a dichotomy against those who do not represent human values.