In the short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the writer utilizes a plethora of features from the 1920s to bring life into the characters. Being an author during the time period, Fitzgerald employs his resources by taking his life experiences and integrating it into his work. “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is a short story that takes place in the summer of 1920’s. Unfortunately, with her cousin Bernice around for a month, Marjorie knows she will not enjoy herself. Bernice is not caught up with the odern fashion and fads; yet that is until Bernice goes to Marjorie and asks for help and demonstrates her willingness to do anything to fit in. Fashion, fads, and cars are aspects that Fitzgerald consolidates into his literature …show more content…
When Bernice is on the verge of being more popular than Marjorie, Marjorie manipulates Bernice’s bluff of bobbing her hair. Marjorie declares, "Give up and get down! You tried to buck me and I called your bluff. You see you haven't got a prayer" (Fitzgerald 10). While under peer pressure, Bernice agrees to bob her hair. During the process of getting her hair bobbed, all of Marjorie and Bernice’s friends were flabbergasted and not used to the change of her hair. Throughout this time frame, having long hair was part of the fashion trend. When Bernice cut her hair, people did not know how to react to this. That is why Warren utters, "Yes, you've--done it" (Fitzgerald 11). It is a form of separating from their time and entering a new one. Fitzgerald really elaborates on how Warren and the group are unable to see past the haircut. In this time frame a woman's hair really concentrates on how hair symbolizes power because it attracts a man. Long, magnificent, pampered hair is a key part on a woman's feminine beauty. During the Jazz Age women are getting more attention and getting the right to vote. By cutting her hair off, it represents separation form that the Victorian era and blooming into a new one. Since the Roaring Twenties are about living in the
Bernice uses this information as a weapon against Marjorie hoping to evoke sympathy and pity from her cousin. This same poise and control is not shown by Bernice whose "lower lip was trembling violently". Bernice does not know how to act and this shows by how obviously hurt and affected she was by her cousin's words.
What do Betty from "Pleasantville," June from "Leave it to Beaver," and Donna Reed from "The Donna Reed Show" all have in common? They all represent the image of the perfect housewife in the 1950s. They represent women who gladly cooked, cleaned, dressed in pearls and wore high heals while waiting for their all-knowing husbands to come home. They represent women who can only find fulfillment in male domination and nurturing maternal love. Tillie Olsen, as a single mother with four children (204), provides readers with another view of women. Through the representation of the narrator in I Stand Here Ironing, Olsen contradicts the image of the 50s ideal woman, a happy housewife and a perfect mother.
She had spent her whole life prior to her move with her long, dark hair braided, like so many other Native American woman, so it was a significant moment when she chose to cut it. With her hair “too short to braid and… trained to curl at the edges in a saucy flip,” one could infer that she had hoped taking this step toward conformity would make her seem like she belonged in her new environment (Power 37). However, cutting her hair did not mean she would be able to completely let go of her old life. She kept the long braid intact and in her possession as a reminder of her true self, even though she no longer looked the
In the generation leading up to the emergence of the flapper, the popular style for women was that of the “Gibson Girl”. Based on the depictions of women by...
Bernice, from the short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”, is no different from the average teenager in almost any society around the world. Bernice is pressured and is trying to fit into a society that she feels uncomfortable in. When she does conform and change and begins to feel semi-comfortable, the tables turn and people are challenging her sincerity. No matter if she sticks to what she knows or conforms to those around her, someone is still unhappy with her. Bernice is not a social girl. She never really had any friends. The people she considered her friends back home were only around her because she had money. When she goes to stay with her cousin, Marjorie, Bernice is unpopular and it makes her seem insecure. “Bernice felt a vague pain that she was not at present engaged in being...
...der an intense image of the pretence that he believed the upper-class felt during the 1920s. In literature, the rose is usually a symbol of beauty and love, however Fitzgerald makes the comment that in reality, the 1920s are not entirely the wonderful era they are portrayed to be. While the issue of materialism is still very relevant in a modern-day context, the force behind it is quite different. Materialism is less a result of society’s search for love and happiness in an unethical culture, rather, high wages and relatively inexpensive commodities mean that modern, upper-class society obliges to the world of consumerism simply because it can.
Fitzgerald comments on the changing role and attitudes of women of the 1920s in America. He shows this through the characters Daisy and Jordan. Daisy and Jordan both drink, smoke and drive, and associate freely with men. Daisy's flirtatiousness is an example of this, along with her drunken state in the first chapter when she says 'I'm p-paralysed with happiness'. Daisy also shows the attitude Fitzgerald felt was common in this society, when talking about her daughter.
The 1920’s was a time of great change to both the country lived in as well as the goals and ambitions that were sought after by the average person. During this time, priorities shifted from family and religion to success and spontaneous living. The American dream, itself, changed into a self centered and ongoing personal goal that was the leading priority in most people’s lives. This new age of carelessness and naivety encompasses much of what this earlier period is remembered for. In addition, this revolution transformed many of the great writers and authors of the time as well as their various works. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly symbolizes many emergent trends of the 1920’s. More importantly the character of Jay Gatsby is depicted as a man amongst his American dream and the trials he faces in the pursuit of its complete achievement. His drive for acquiring the girl of his dreams, Daisy Buchanan, through gaining status and wealth shows many aspects of the authors view on the American dream. Through this, one can hope to disassemble the complex picture that is Fitzgerald’s view of this through the novel. Fitzgerald believes, through his experiences during the 1920’s, that only fractions of the American Dream are attainable, and he demonstrates this through three distinct images in The Great Gastby.
What’s Fitzgerald’s implicit views of modern women in this novel? Daisy and Jordan dress the part of flappers, yet Daisy also plays the role of the Louisville rich girl debutante. A good question to ask is perhaps just how much Daisy realizes this is a “role,” and whether her recognition of that would in any sense make her a modern woman character.
Those who saw deeper meaning behind the glamorous bob cut and flapper skirts, recognized, as Colleen Moore put it, that women of the time period had a “determination to free themselves of the Victorian shackles of the pre-World War I era and find out for themselves what life was all about.” One public figure to draw attention to the flapper movement was F. Scott Fitzgerald. In his book, Gatsby Girls, a compilation of eight short stories from his column in the Saturday Evening Post, he highlights the themes of dispute surrounding the flapper era. He, like many other men during the time period, celebrated their culture, as he admitted proudly that all of his stories drew inspiration from his wife. Some of the most memorable sayings from his book include: “It's all life is. Just going 'round kissing people.” And: “I'll drink your champagne. I'll drink every drop of it, I don't care if it kills me.” In his book, Fitzgerald highlighted the most enticing aspects of the flapper lifestyle and most likely sought to turn its skeptics into supporters. Joshua Zeitz supported flapper culture as well, and summed up many of its positive features in Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern: “The New Woman of the 1920s boldly asserted her right to dance, drink, smoke, and date—to work her own property, to live free of the
When one thinks of flappers, the first thing that comes to mind is the image of a woman dressed much like Julie Andrews in Thoroughly Modern Millie, bobbed hair, fringed low-waisted dress, flat-chested and highly made up face. This, though a stereotype is close to the truth. In the 20’s after the first world war women’s roles in society began to change, primarily because they started becoming more independent – both in their dress and action. They started to defy what was considered to be appropriate feminine behavior and along with those actions came new fashions. The sleek, boyish look became popular and women began to wear lower waistlines, higher hemlines, sleeveless dresses that showed off their arms, long strands of pearls and rolled down pantyhose to show their knees. Women who had larger breasts even went so far as to bind them down to fit into the flat-chested ideal of beauty. The “in” look now was boyish, much in contrast to the feminine big skirted, shirtwaisted dresses of their mothers’ age. Women began to gain the independence and social liberties that men had always possessed, they wanted to physically display their newly gained freedoms. Short hair, first as a bob, later as a slicked down “shingle” that curled above the ears emphasized the new androgynous look women were trying to obtain. These “modern” women asserted their independence by going out dancing, moving to the city alone, drinking even during prohibition, flirting and having love affairs.
It is commonly believed that all those who are wealthy adhere to a similar set of values, characteristics and have similar lifestyles. Fitzgerald provides the reader a clear view through the eyes of Nick Caraway of the differences and similarities that can be found between wealthy people in the roaring Twenties. Two characters that are very important to the story are Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. Fitzgerald created two purposefully different characters- one that is easily despised, the other that although not perfect, is likeable- and united them in their love for money, the power that comes with it , and their haunt for the ultimate prize – Daisy. In this essay, we will compare Tom and Gatsby in several areas, including personality, loyalty, and life style so we can come to the conclusion whether or not they are perfect foils of each other or not. Tom and Gatsby bare little similarities and their differences are evident.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, having lived through the era of the “New Women” in the 1920’s, uses two female protagonists in both his novel Great Gatsby (e.g. Daisy Buchanan) and his short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (e.g. Marjorie Harvey). As such, he personifies his desired theme to define the female presence shaped by shifts in society during the 1920’s. He uses an apathetic and cynical tone that paints each character in a negative light. In other words, American women were known as having unequal rights as compared to men; they were often entrapped in oppressive marriages and seen as the inferior sex. Women are portrayed as inferior to men through Fitzgerald’s writings of both the Great Gatsby and “Bernice Bobs Her Hair.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Bernice Bobs Her Hair Works Cited Missing In F.Scott Fizgererald's 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair' there are significant character changes noted throughout this short story. In this essay I will examine the development and representation of Bernice who is a central character. We can observe that her cousin Marjorie changes Bernice's personality from a quiet, passive person to someone full of confidence in society.
The feature “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is collected in Fitzgerald’s book Flapper and Philosophy that published in 1920. Flapper, “a ‘new breed’ of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior.”(Wikipedia, par. 1) For readers from different cultural background, their understandings of the story are considerably different. For example, a woman brought up in a conservative culture, she probably believes marriages are “tiresome colorless,” and wishes to be a “beautiful bundle of [cloth]” that has no own mind. (Fitzgerald, 7) In turn, her interpretation of reading is truly subjective and could be misreading. Flappers are symbols of liberation, feminism and the powers of women. By doing what exactly Marjorie says, (praising males, announcing the plan of bobbing her hair, making bold, humorous and fresh remakes), Bernice becomes well liked. In a modern western woman’s eye, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” illustrated a transformation of a traditional, boring country girl to a modern, flipper, pleasure-seeking woman who liberate herself from the suppression of their male counterparts. “Twenty minutes later….Her hair was not curly, and now it lay in lank lifeless blocks on the both sides of her suddenly