Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Picture a fragile glass merry-go-round, a menagerie, if you will, of adolescent social classes and structure. The animals revolve, always mindlessly following the one in front, each measuring his own height compared to his neighbors. If you fall short or fall behind, never fear, just throw a jagged rock and shatter Mr. Popularity in front, take his place, and the merry-go-round revolves still. There is no world outside, nothing matters more than this brittle status-seeking ambition and the taboos, requirements, and rewards that come with it. Every action is fair game, whatever it takes to achieve your supremacy is allowed and accepted. Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair", from his collection The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, revolves significantly around this "semicruel world of adolescence" (26), where, as the character Marjorie eloquently states, "these days it's every girl for herself" (30). Fitzgerald opens the story at a dance, the setting itself creating an immediate and vivid picture of the rotating social classes. Teenagers whirl in, whirl about, and some, "A few disappointed stags caught in midfloor as they had been about to cut in subsided listlessly back to the walls" (26), whirl directly out of the popular
She played the social game and she conquered, evident by the volume of suitors now knocking on the door, not for Marjorie, but for her "dopeless" cousin. When she comes out I'll hit her on the head and knock her in again. Bernice, Marjorie's "sorta dopeless" (27) cousin enters the scene. She has been prepped and molded, and spouts off rehearsed conversation with ease. When do you want to go?' " (30), obviously expressing no sympathy for the dramatic emotional scene before her. " (28), complimenting her "kissable mouth". He thought he would aid her social standing, or at least his boredom, through a little good-hearted charity. The "test", interestingly enough, "was that when she was away from him she forgot him and had affairs with other boys. Marjorie first displays this in her fickle attitude towards men. She vows to give Bernice the talk, teach her the walk, and watch her socially soar above the whirlwind.
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Acceptance Essays
