Bernice Bobs Her Hair

An initial response to Fitzgerald story can likely leave today’s audience stunned and confused. However, upon further research of the time period it can be seen as an accurate depiction of people of the 1920s. This was about a rich girl named Bernice who visited her cousin. She soon found out that everyone there saw her as dull and the men didn’t want to dance with her. After threatening to leave she decides to stay and make herself better with her cousin Marjorie’s help. From this point, Marjorie told her what to do to make herself more attractive and she did it. All was working well, until Warren, a boy that Marjorie was with but never really embraced, began to fall for Bernice. Out of jealousy, Marjorie urges Bernice to take up on her constant plan to bob her hair. This was a haircut that was known for rebellious women of the age and was unattractive on Bernice. Warren loses interest and goes back to Marjorie, and Bernice is given much less attention. That night she packs her stuff and as she is leaving Bernice cuts her cousin’s pigtails and throws them on Warren’s porch, bobbing her hair as well.
Fitzgerald told this story using striking detail to capture the audience’s attention. Strong adjective use was apparent throughout the story. From the very beginning Fitzgerald establishes the attitude characters had, and the attitudes they had towards each other. He did this with a narration style that wasn’t first person. We were told of no one’s exact thoughts, instead we had to make inferences. I feel this would keep the reader more interested. It could be seen from an early time that Bernice would be the dynamic character, the one who made a change throughout the story. This was a situation that would not have been uncommon happening today. Of course there would be different speech, but the events that took place are not out of place. The reader can easily relate to the story in this way, and now it has a sort of pathos. For women reading the story, they would likely know how it is being in a situation that Bernice was in. They could possibly know the relationship between Bernice and Marjorie from first-hand experience.
The story had symbolism in it. I feel that hair symbolized the pride of a woman, and how much she cared about herself. Bernice’s constant threat to “bob her hair” brought guys closer because they really wanted to see if she would. Her hair was very long and obviously a source of pride for her. And by cutting it she had lost all attractiveness that had been seen by men before. This showed that men didn’t like her for her attitude change alone, they genuinely thought that she looked good. She had been fooled by Marjorie into cutting her hair to try to prove herself. This could show ethos, for women it is a matter of respect for oneself. Since she didn’t take care of herself, men figured that she really had little self confidence. Readers knew this ahead of time because she was pressured by Marjorie throughout. Once again, pride was symbolized in hair when Bernice cut her cousin’s hair as she was leaving. She threw her cousin’s “pride” on Warren’s doorstep. It is very easy to guess how Warren would feel towards Marjorie from then on.
Fitzgerald’s story was well written, with much details and a greatly established setting. He used pathos and ethos very effectively, combining it with the details to entertain readers. Though this story was written in the 1920s, it can be read the same way today. In reality, there are still situations like these. That points to the timelessness of Fitzgerald’s story.