Ballet Shoes

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Pauline, the eldest of the three Fossil sisters, comes to live with Nana and Sylvia when a ship that she and Gum are on strikes an iceberg. Afterward, “Gum’s boat [goes] to the rescue, but by the time it [gets] there everybody [has] drowned except a baby who [is] lying on a lifebelt, cooing happily” (6). Unable to find her family, Gum decides to adopt her.

Of the sisters, Pauline is the most beautiful: “By the time she was four she was really lovely. A mass of almost white curls, huge blue eyes, and the curiosity seen in the best babies” (13). Her blonde curls and big eyes serve her well in the world of acting, which is as much about looking right for a part as it is about talent.

Pauline struggles with cockiness and pridefulness at times. When she’s selected to play Alice in a production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the role goes to her head, and she starts making demands of everyone around her. However, she soon learns her lesson when her behavior leads to a one-performance probation for which her understudy, Winifred, is sent to play Alice instead.