Attitudes To Dance In Red Dress By Alice Munro

"Red Dress" by Alice Munro

The short story "Red Dress" by Alice Munro is about a young girl's first high school dance. Her home and school environment determined her attitude towards the dance.This girl's home life was bad. She was constantly put down mentally by her mother, even in front of her friend Lonnie, to the point that the narrator envied Lonnie on account that her mother died and she lived alone with her father. "'I doubt if she appreciates it.' She enraged me, talking like this to Lonnie, as if Lonnie were grown up and I were still a child." Her mother was obscene in the house; the description that is given would make one sick. It is said that she did not take care of herself in the house, and exposed her lumpy veins to the in-house public. This probably made the narrator think that she is also ugly because she came from this disgusting creature. This makes her attitude towards the dance understandable. W

She would never be sure of herself when she is called up to the blackboard. Her "hands became slippery with sweat when they were required to work the blackboard compass." She would also envision the worst case scenario, that she had her period prior to being called to the front of the class, even when impossible. This shows that her self-esteem is really low, and she could not deal with the dance.The dance was an experience in