Today we’re going to cross the ocean. After studying la crème de la crème of British modernism, let’s focus now on two American modernist writers of the finest kind: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.
When studying Fitzgerald’s works, one of the most important things to do is to be aware of the historical background to his stories. Fitzgerald wrote in the 1920’s, the period of time between the two World Wars, the decade before the Great Depression, suggestively known as The Jazz Age. So, the first part of your task is to read about this period in American history, which you can do here and here. Following this link, you’ll find a nice and short Power Point presentation on the theme.
To read a little about the author’s life, you can consult this page here.
The object of your discussion today, the short story “Bernice bobs her hair”, was first published in 1920 on the Saturday Evening Post.
Your first job today is to discuss the short story in relation to its historical background; the second is to relate it to Frank O’Connor’s “submerged population groups”.
Note: Things are going smoothly on the Californian side of this course… 
After practically a whole lifetime on a plane, here I am! The weather is fine, the university is great, the library is huge, but my Internet is still not on – which means you only have a post today because some generous neighbor left his wireless connection open…
Update: Danyelle found a nice song by Irish band The Divine Comedy, named “Bernice bobs her hair” and based (of course! ) on the short story. I don’t know if there is any way to upload the mp3 file to the blog, and in fact I don’t know if I would be allowed to do that… But I am inserting the lyrics here, anyway. Enjoy!!!
Bernice Bobs her Hair
Bernice bobs her hair
In the barber’s in the square
All her new-found friends are
there to see it done
Bernice bobs her hair
She’s been driven to despair
‘Cos her cousin doesn’t care about anyone
Her hair was long
Her hair was dark
Her hair fell down her back
And now it lies upon the floor
Bernice runs out the door
Marjorie had told her what to
wear to the parties
Marjorie had told her what
to say to the boys
Now Marjorie was jealous of
her social advances
And presented her with this choice:
“Bernice, bob your hair
You’ve persistently declared
This intention
Do you dare to disagree?”
So Bernice bobs her hair
And is instantly ensnared
In a trap so well-prepared by Marjorie
Her hair was long
Her hair was dark
Her hair fell down her back
The mirror tells of her mistake
Her heart is fit to break
So when it’s dark
And her cousin sleeps
Into the room she creeps
Marjorie’s curls come down like rain
Bernice runs for her train
[...] Carla delivers once again. Bernice bobs her hair is well-crafted. [...]
First things first:
To those who – like myself – wondered “What the hell is bobbed hair????”: I’ve found it on wikipedia, at this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_cut
Concerning the artistic changes on the 1920s: Isn’t it interesting how the same happened here at Brazil around the same time? (Of course it was not a coincidence, for the whole world was going throuth the same changes everywhere) Except that, at least for me, the movement of change in the US was quite pessimistic, while here I would say it was quite a renovation, a chance of scenes that, despite being over-critisized, was more of a positive feeling, I guess…
My personal impressions on the SS: When I finished reading I just couldn’t help thinking “YOU GO, GIRL!” to Bernice! What a snake was Marjorie, she deserved what she got at the end! I can just imagine she waking up the next morning, discovering her hair was cut and screaming that very “drama-movie-like”: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” hauhauahauau
I really enjoyed the SS this time. It made me think of several matters concerning past and present relationships among women, among men and among women and men.
BBHH bring about several quotes that reveal the nature of the historical background, such as:
>> “The main function of the balcony was critical. It occasionally showed grudging admiration, but never approval, for it is well known among ladies over thirty-five that when the younger set dance in the summer-time it is with the very worst intentions in the world, and if they are not bombarded with stony eyes stray couples will dance weird barbaric interludes in the corners, and the more popular, more dangerous, girls will sometimes be kissed in the parked limousines of unsuspecting dowagers.”
>> “No matter how beautiful or brilliant a girl may be, the reputation of not being frequently cut in on makes her position at a dance unfortunate. Perhaps boys prefer her company to that of the butterflies with whom they dance a dozen times an evening, but youth in this jazz-nourished generation is temperamentally restless, and the idea of fox-trotting more than one full fox trot with the same girl is distasteful, not to say odious. When it comes to several dances and the intermissions between she can be quite sure that a young man, once relieved, will never tread on her wayward toes again.”
>> [Bernice never thought that] “her family were the wealthiest in Eau Claire; that her mother entertained tremendously, gave little dinners for her daughter before all dances and bought her a car of her own to drive round in, never occurred to her as factors in her home-town social success.”
>> “please don’t quote `Little Women’! That’s out of style. [...] They were the models for our mothers. [...] our mothers were all very well in their way, but they know very little about their daughters’ problems.” (How come? I LOVE LITTLE WOMEN!!!! ¬¬’ )
We can see the contrast between the place reserved for women in society and how women cope with that, how they try, by the possible means, to change their position, and how the world has already changed for the Jazz Generation in relation to their parent’s world. The twisted and distorted morality, actually the façade of morality was falling apart. The 2 first quotes I mentiones show that society still frowns at “new” e “freer” behaviors, but it is just not enough to prevent things from changing…
I still have more thing to comment but my time is running short, so I’ll be back here to finish comment soon. Hasta la vista…Carla, hope you’re enjoying the Californian Sun!
This SS is all about women’s position in society.
When Fitzgerald writes, “youth in this jazz-nourished generation…”, he is referring to the popular flapper’s look and lifestyle in the 20’s. Flappers used to go to jazz clubs where they could dance in a provoking way, smoke cigarettes and date. In the American period of prohibition, the most admirable behavior was to be rebellious.
During this time period, women were “supposed” to challenge their place in society with defiant actions: having short hair and flattened breasts, for example. And the most shocking thing was that flappers (a young woman, esp. one who, during the 1920s, behaved and dressed in a boldly unconventional manner; a young bird just learning to fly) removed the corset (espartilho) from female fad. It would certainly result into a new women style!!! Differently from the Victorian society when women had little waists accentuated because of the use of a corset. I can imagine a woman looking just like a boy!!! And that was the idea, of course: equal rights. Through Marjorie’s speech, it is possible to see how teenagers see Bernice: “She has a bum time. Men don’t like her.” So, the girl is not successful at parties and not popular among boys.
Also, Marjorie sees Bernice as a risk for the new women’s movement: “You little nut! Girls like you are responsible for all the tiresome colorless marriages; all those ghastly inefficiencies that pass as feminine qualities. What a blow it must be when a man with imagination marries the beautiful bundle of clothes that he’s been building ideals round, and finds that she’s just a weak, whining, cowardly mass of affectations!”
However, Warren considered Bernice beautiful even before her transformation: “He remembered that he had thought her (Bernice) pretty when she first came to town, before he had realized that she was dull. Too bad she was dull–dull girls unbearable–certainly pretty though.” But being beautiful was not a key point for a modern girl because she was “The womanly woman!” who didn’t fit this modern society.
After a bunch of criticisms Bernice decides to have her hair cut and I think there is something biblical involved in it. In Christianity, being unveiled (a hair cut, in this case) is shameful and daring; so a new woman is born, totally different from the Victorian model woman. [I have to develop this; it is not so clear… Or I’m just “viajando na maionese…”] I don’t know…
Yet I see on Marjorie’s speech an strong dependence to men’s approval… At the same time, she’s all about having an attitude an all about needing to charm and please men. Nevertheless her challenging behavior, her strong personallity reflects an new idea of freedom for women as they neer had before, the seed of a feminist idea.
Danny, I don’t thing you’re “travelling on the mayonnaise”… I can also see this rebirth of Bernice. I think that the seed of “feminism” (though twisted for the dependence to man) sowed bu Marjorie found fruitful ground on Bernice. On being obliged to undertake such a daring action she discovered an inner strengh, and so she found her true self apart of “Marjorie’s teachings”. She could put her new and old pieces together and become someone else, to whom the place and people she knew were no longer enough – the new Bernice must found another place to have her new life, were she can carry on with her new hair and mind without the old judgments she was submmited to… Well… maybe we’re are travelling on the mayonnaise together!
I will just add some more comments about the historical background of this story. The period of time in which the story takes place is called “The Jazz Age” as it has already been said. In this period, society corrupts the minds of youth into acting, thinking and dressing in certain ways in order to achieve success in life. People, particularly the young adults, were greatly impacted by societal motives. The Jazz Age was a time when people stopped following the rules and become independent from the image which society imposed to them. People, females in general, began dressing more scandalously and revealing more of themselves to others. Style became a very prominent issue.
So, we can see, in this short story, a good portrayal of the ways in which young minds were fouled with images of what was popular and what was the right way to act.
Ju, Nat and Carla!!!
I’ve found a song about this short story.
I’m gonna post the lyric, but I have it in mp3 as well. If you’re interested, e-mail me and I send it to you. In fact, I’d like to upload the song to the blog, but I don’t know how to do it…
Divine Comedy Lyrics
Bernice Bobs her Hair
Bernice bobs her hair
In the barber’s in the square
All her new-found friends are
there to see it done
Bernice bobs her hair
She’s been driven to despair
‘Cos her cousin doesn’t care about anyone
Her hair was long
Her hair was dark
Her hair fell down her back
And now it lies upon the floor
Bernice runs out the door
Marjorie had told her what to
wear to the parties
Marjorie had told her what
to say to the boys
Now Marjorie was jealous of
her social advances
And presented her with this choice:
“Bernice, bob your hair
You’ve persistently declared
This intention
Do you dare to disagree?”
So Bernice bobs her hair
And is instantly ensnared
In a trap so well-prepared by Marjorie
Her hair was long
Her hair was dark
Her hair fell down her back
The mirror tells of her mistake
Her heart is fit to break
So when it’s dark
And her cousin sleeps
Into the room she creeps
Marjorie’s curls come down like rain
Bernice runs for her train
Bernice Bobs Her Hair shows an important lesson in terms of superficial popularity, and “the cruel pressures which demand that individuals conform to the standards of a social set”. Through the story we could notice the changing of Bernice’s behavior. She changes from a quiet and passive person (considered by Marjorie and by her friends, boring and dull because she doesn’t dress fashionably nor knows how to make a nice conversation) who wanted to achieve popularity (and she finds it but losts it) to became an independent and strong girl. In think the hair is a way to demonstrate that something was changing. The question of the hair represents the differences between the old ( with solid social rules, the “submerged population groups”) and new societies.
I totally agree with Dany when she says that this SS is about women
position. It was important to Marjorie being accepted and pleasing men.
Bernice was, as the other mates already said, considering a boring
person.
As this short story was written in Jazz generation, appearance was very
important.
There is, in my oppinion, an intertextuality between Fitzgerald’s SS and
the Myth of “cabeleira de Berenice”. We can see it, first in the
similitud of the names. It also can be expressed
for the theme of the short story. Like in the myth, in the SS, Bernice
bobs her hair. While in the myth Berenice does it to pay a
promise to Afrodite that brought her husband Ptolomeu III alive and
healthy of the war with the Assirios, in Fitzgerald’s ss Bernice bobs
her hair because her cousin asked her to do it, saying she would be more
actrative.
Oh my god!!! This was the best story until now!!!!!!
Ok, I noticed many things in relation to the time, and also in relation our times. This seems to be the rise of the woman-object. the woman who turns herself into the sexual object of men, by grooming herself to their tastes, and no longer to the tastes to “propriety”. This is the selfish woman, the financially independent, yet male dependent modern woman. the woman who uses her sexual power to “get away with” “bad behavior”, and not ther use of her mind, and real femininity. The definite rise of American superficiality, Paris Hilton, and the likes.
Bernice shows the definite clash between the traditional house-kept. well bred girl and the cosmopolitan life enjoying woman. She succombs to the pressures of fitting-in, of being popular, of being male-defined, male-judged. She experiments the pleasures of the party life, only to also experiment betrayal, which leads to her total rebellion. I don believe Bernice will return to her old ways, no, I think she will become entirely herself, not succumbing to societal prerssures, listening to herself, and becoming more confident.
In realtion to the times, it was the explosion of post-war defragmentation of the self, individual that is selfish, dissillusioned with blatant, societal roles, and just wants to explode with life. The war showed how frail life is, and everyne just wants to take a chunk out of life. Flashy art, flashy msuic, flashy girls, flashy guys, flashy párties, the works.
Bernice’s radical haircut shows how far one will go to show that they are “in on it” that they are ready to hitch a ride on the high times. But she also shows the emptiness one can feel when they dive in without knowing themselves, without having a sense of judgement. She learns to have one when she cuts of MArjorie’s hair.
thats it
oh yeah, about the submerged population groups…
i believe that if we consider bernice as an outcast, she represents a submerged group. She is that lonely voice that can hardly fit in, and desperately wants to in order to be noticed in society. She represetns the ignored, the shunned and shameful that learns the tricks of being noticed, falls into those traps, but after the whole ordeal, learns with it and overcomes herself and the dominant way of thinking. She is the revolution.
Erica, you said it all.
I don’t care about the Jazz/depression age or why Bernice is the sheep among the wolves. The thing is:
I’m in love with Bernice, I’d love her even if she was bald…
“Womanly woman”, pfff…Shut the f*** up Marjorie (The “Sluty slut”).
Ok, I’m sorry, I’m done, It’s all I’m gonna say…for now! ;P
Just two little curiosities I found on my research on this text:
- The story was based on a detailed memo Fitzgerald wrote to his younger sister, Annabel, advising her how to achieve popularity with boys: “Cultivate deliberate physical grace.” (See the complete letter in Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald, pp 15-18.) Fitzgerald had some difficulty bringing “Bernice” to salable form; he cut some three thousand words and rewrote to “inject a snappy climax.”(1) If someone finds the complete letter online, it’d be interesting to see it.
- The SS was made into a movie for TV in 1976. (2)
***
Fitzgerald is part of the Lost Generation, which is a group of – very – important American writers who lived in Europe after the First World War and rebelled against several aspects of established thoughts, ideas, gender and social roles and aesthetics. The gender role aspect is the most striking one in this SS. What was a woman supposed to do in that strange new environment? Things were not like they once were and Bernice was never described as being a physically unattractive girl – on the contrary -, she just wouldn’t adjust herself to the new demands of the society regarding conversation topics, clothes and behavior. Bernice represents the old ways, in which women only had to be pretty and not really smart or funny. So much was expected from her and she just wasn’t able to fulfill these expectations, leaving everybody frustrated including herself. This echoes Frank O’Connor’s “submerged groups” because the story is about her, the focus is on the girl who can’t fit, the outcast. That is because it wasn’t interesting to portray the perfect ones anymore; it was just the opposite, actually. The interesting was seeing them fail. And it is still this way. When Bernice has her revenge the reader feels her triumph and is happy for her. Throwing the braids on Warren’s porch was the final touch. Would he be so in love with the almost-bald-version of Marjorie? Probably not. Bernice knew it. The readers knew it. Seeing the underdogs win is cathartic.
***
Marjorie seemed so modern and proud of it. She had the steps carved on her brain: how to behave, what to say, which games to play, the clothes, the right party, the right people, the right everything. Bernice was not right; she was too conservative and blushed ungracefully when a boy said her mouth was kissable. But having a mental book on “how to be modern to be accepted” seems like a distortion of women’s new aspirations because they are still seeking for men’s approval. And there is absolutely nothing modern about that. It’s the same old repression with different clothes. In this sense, there is a harsh criticism on how wrongly some women understood their new role. In 1920 – same year Fitzgerald published this SS – women got their right to vote! Doesn’t this obsession with social gatherings sound a little… Victorian?
Bernice had the excuse of living in a small town and it’s known that small towns are more conservative and don’t always embrace new ideas so quickly. But the same can’t be said about Marjorie. She just chose to be alienated, shallow and mean.
***
In the end, both of the girls weren’t fulfilling this new exciting view of women that was rising. Marjorie was too shallow and distorted the recent conquests women were exposed to and Bernice wanted to be a reflection of her mother and that wasn’t the idea either. Fitzgerald is portraying this confusion that is natural at a certain extend when meaningful changes are occurring in a society. Bernice has the empathy because she is seen as a victim of her cousin’s sick mind games but in the social point of view, she leaves room for criticism since she can’t impose herself and eventually cave in to Marjorie’s beliefs and strategies. Women are still confused about their role, being too extreme on one end of the moral values, just like Fitzgerald’s girls. In this sense, “Bernice” can be easily brought to the 21st century.
(1) source
(2) IMDB page
(3) source
What a great story! Hilarious ending!
I think it’s funny how Fitzgerald begins with this elaborate narrating style full of vivid descriptions and then he starts focusing on the characters and when he gets into the characters’ point of view he has a real straight-to-the-point style, almost as if he wasn’t able to ‘keep it up’.
I was really impressed with his perception of women and their relations among themselves. It certainly is timeless, the issues raised are certainly faced by women today!
Of course here he is contrasting the traditional values from the Victorian period with the ones presented by the Jazz Age. But what we have represented by Marjorie is a perversion of the values of that age. She is not a care-free modern woman at all, but a victim of the new form of propaganda masterminded by Edward Bernays, who used his uncle Sigmund Freud’s ideas in order to create the concept of advertising we know today – PR (Public Relations). He associated Freudian symbols to consumer products in order to sell, for example feminism was on the rise, so he made a campaign to sell cigarettes by associating the idea of feminism to cigarettes, as they represented a male penis. I think I sound crazy but I’m trying to make a point here, bear with me! Well, what I’m saying is until today people think we are buying an idea through a product but actually we are being manipulated by propaganda….so Marjorie, by adopting a new fashion (eyebrows, clothes) and emulating the fashionable attitudes of the times, thinks she is buying the idea of the new modern woman, but she is actually just conforming to the status quo, because everything she does is to please men. In a way she is worse than the Victorian, ‘sissy’ women she ridicules because she denies femininity and praises all things masculine. She betrays a fellow woman in an attitude that is as old as dirt, female envy and lack of sisterhood. This goes on until today, there is a great book Erica and I read called Female Chauvinist Pigs that really shows this in our society today.
Bernice, on the other hand, is the true modern woman. She is able to recognize her mistakes, observe what goes on around her with a critical point of view. She truly transcends the moment she loses her hair, and all ties with her old views. It’s ironic that the haircut – an action that was at first supposed to be modern but made humiliating by Marjorie turns into what it was supposed to be in the first place, a bold act that strengthens Bernice, as she had nothing more to lose.
Of course the text shows some foreshadowing but I swear I thought “Ooooh if I was her I’d cut that bitch’s hair off!” but I never thought she would do it! I think Fitzgerald did it because it was published in a magazine and he wanted to please the readers. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was excellent, but it’s not the most ‘literary’ ending…
I mean, it’s so silly! Whatever loved it though, I only wish she’d cut the hair closer to the head, and make a Xitãozinho e Xororó hairdo hahahahhha
Like Bill, I also love Bernice. She is intelligent, modern,different from the other girls and has her own beauty. I really belive in it.
Bárbara, it ’s really a great story. In the end I liked so much when before she goes out, she went to Marjorie’s room and cut off her cousin’s two pigtails, taking them with her on her run to the station and throwing them on Warren’s front porch. It was so funny!!!!
“She pushedopen the door to Marjorie’s room… She acted swiftly. Bending over she found one of the braids of Marjorie’s hair, followed it up with her hand to the point neares t the head, and then holding it a little slack…she reached down with the shears and severed it. with the pigtail in her hand she held her breath.”
Answering now the question, in the Fitzgerald’s novels and stories we notice an romance, a love between the characters or a extravagant glamourous in representing his characters. In Bernice bobs her hair, he reduces this approach. The cenary which surrond the main character’s life is quite simple. “However, this simplicity contains deceptive symbolism that replicates American culture in the twenties. Fitzgerald’s unparalleled representation of Jazz Age as a time of post war’s confusion as well as negative consequence of industrialism is brilliantly pictured in this story.” The age of this SS reflects social trends and individual desires. And one of the themes in modernistic works is “Alienation from Society and Loneliness”. The other which somenone commented is “Inability to feel or express Love”
After reading all the comments I find it difficult to add any relevant observation. As I don’t want to be repetitive, I’m gonna summarise my opinion about the SS.
“Bernice Bobs Her Hair”, like other works by Fitzgerald, is a very good portrait of the 20s. After the War, there appears a new lifestyle, The Jazz Age, oposite to the Victorian Age. What was left by war was a hurry to enjoy life (that is short), which was expressed through a rebel behaviour; and a feeling of emptiness, expressed through futility. So we have such a chaotic world ruled by a futile and corrupt society (so well shown in “The Great Gatsby”), as Juliana said: “the façade of morality was falling apart”.
The role of women in this transition is very important. As we have seen in Victorian Age’s literature, the insatisfaction of women towards this “facade”, in which they were merely properties of men, was a very recurrent theme. So, at the Jazz Age, the time had come to start a moviment to make a revolution. It was the beggining of the feminist movement.
But at first, this feminism has appeared only in a superficial way, as a rebel behaviour. “This seems to be the rise of the woman-object”, as Erica Alves has already said. Those were the first steps to women’s independence.
ow concearning Frank O’Connor’s submerged population groups. These groups are very comon in Sss, and this one is not an exception. Bernice is the old-fashioned girl of “indian blood”. She doesn’t fit the new world, she is still full of Victorian vellues. As Dany Santos said: “Marjorie sees Bernice as a risk for the new women’s movement.” She is a “sour grape”.
“Girls like you are responsible for all the tiresome colorless marriages; all those ghastly inefficiencies that pass as feminine qualities. What a blow it must be when a man with imagination marries the beautiful bundle of clothes that he’s been building ideals round, and finds that she’s just a weak, whining, cowardly mass of affectations!”
This is a great passage that beautifully shows the oposition of the Jazz Age to the Victorian Age and it also shows that although women wanted to be interesting, to be more than a piece of forniture, they still were too much worried about their role in pleasing men and thus, they still were nothing more than objects.
When Bernice bobs her hair, it is a symbol of the birth of the new woman, the dearing woman, the one who is not going to watch life pass before her eyes. Bernice was able to broke the Victorian chains and become a modern woman but I think the end shows us more than that, I think she was able to see even further, because she chalanged the great model of modern girl, Marjorie, and dared to be rebeller than all the others, maybe she was already beginning to understand the wrong purposes behind the movement.
Well, now I’m the one who thinks that there is nothing really relevant left to say… I think you Hypnos could really summarize everything…I really liked your words: “when Bernice bobs her hair, it is a symbol of the birth of the new woman’… I could only add that it also represents the birth of a new generation…of the real modernism itself…the movement of letting behind the old prejudices and way of living to think and question even the new. What caught my attention was really HOW Bernice got rid of her old self…She was almost obligated to… She was, indeed, the representation of the submerged group and she was challenged to change.
Marjorie was not actually the modern girl as all her effort on being aware of the world’s changes functioned only as a strategy of getting attention especially from boys… Knowledge for Marjorie was a trick to fulfill her vanity- she didn’t really know what a bobbed hair was or she wouldn’t really do that herself… But Bernice, very naïve, would follow all the steps her cousin would teach and soon get already very articulate with her own new ability of communicating…She just wanted to belong…but she would never belong, would she? She is actually part of the submerged population that would not stop in time…the population that will always appear in any society- the group who would represent the different inside the status-quo…a group that would, sometimes, lead to try to accomplish a change.
She was not really sure about bobbing her hair but she stayed there…exposed herself to the change (she experimented!). She couldn’t stop. Even feeling threatened and scared, she didn’t stop, she went on with modernism, and then, not naïve anymore, but ready to think and question. She came from the representation of the old and jumped to the representation of the truly ‘new’modern thought.
Of course the change was struggling, and that was the punishment chosen to her revenge – She cut Marjorie’s hair and got rid of the Marjorie’s ‘selfish thing’…I wonder that the future of Marjorie then would be to deal with her ‘bobbed and modern hair’ that she didn’t choose, the different style and still badly-seen at the time…She would suffer the same prejudices…but would she really embrace modernity?
What I could feel reading the text is that Fitzgerald really questioned the role of modernism in that generation. The world was changing… and there were two sides: of the modern philosophies of questioning the old and the new by experimenting ( that was the main word in Modernism)… and of the alienated glamour and prestige of progress.
I really liked this story… and I must say that the Jazz age really captivates me… Both sides, I mean: the bright side and the futile glamorous too – can’t deny it!
I must confess that I was quite confused with some of the descriptions of Marjorie and Bernice. The words “masculine” and “feminine” are used many times throughout the short story (which is not short at all), and they seem to vary a lot. Was that intentional?
I see Marjorie as a masculine female. She is not shy. She likes talking to males, not because she is attracted to them, but because she thinks girls are stupid.
Does she exclude herself from this idea of girls being stupid? Or she simply doesn’t see herself as a girl?
Now, about Bernice:
“she found Marjorie rather cold; felt somehow the same difficulty in talking to her that she had in talking to men.”
Does it mean that Marjorie’s behavior was similar to a male’s? Or does it mean that Bernice was too feminine compared to Marjorie?
Finally, Bernice is described, in the beginning of the text, as pretty. And also…:
“Marjorie never giggled, was never frightened, seldom embarrassed, and in fact had very few of the qualities which Bernice considered appropriately and blessedly feminine.”
We can notice that Bernice had a solid concept of what is feminine and what is masculine. Why, then, didn’t she get men’s attention (in the first part of the short story)? Why did Marjorie, who is not a typical feminine character, “teach” Bernice, the feminine one, how to deal with men and get them to look at her?
You see now how confused I am? hehe
But besides all that, I can say that this short story was certainly the one I liked most until now. Feminine or not, Bernice had an evolution. The old Bernice has been swept away. And so has part of her hair.
First of all, I agree with Bárbara and Hypnos in their words, especially when Hypnos said that “is difficult to add any relevant observation” and “don’t be repetitive”. Like him, I also made a comparison between the short story and “The great Gatsby”. They are similar in the way they show what is important in youth of the Jazz Age.
Marjorie has a superficial popularity and thinks she is a “liberated” woman, but in fact she a frivolous girl. She decides to turn her cousin Bernice, a girl that doesn’t fit in society because she represents the traditional values, into a society girl, teaching her how to be more attractive to young men.
As Erica said, we can consider Bernice as an outcast and a representation of the submerged population groups. But when he bobs her hair she is changing not only her appearance or style, but also her way of seeing life. And the new Bernice and her new attitudes represent the evaluation in the society of that time.
I really enjoyed reading “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”. The story’s pretty much a typical good girl goes bad kind of thing but there is a strong message of identity behind it. I still can’t figure out if I am happy or mad that Bernice ended up cutting off her cousin’s braids.
REVENGE is not the way to go. I’m not sure that the reader was happy with Bernice’s attitude like Ana Carolina has said. Before this story I always thought that identity was a fixed thing but now that I think about it many people change their identity when inclined to “fit in” or make people like them.
Like Rachel, I agree with Dany when she says that this SS is about women position. Inside this complex relationship I include the family.I believe that Fitzgerald’s exposes this idea of 1920s family as a myth. He writes about frustration, anger, disrespect and lack of direction or identity for young American.
I think that most of the students have already said the important points about the story.
After reading this SS I of course remembered “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald too.
In the “Greaty Gatsby”, Daisy Gastby was worried about her appearence and people at that time wanted to have parties and dress themselves perfectly well. They also wanted to do things that were prohibited as drink alcohol.
Another important subject portrayed in “The Great Gatsby” was the automobile that was a symbol in the 1920’s. In BBB there is a passage relating to it:
“She had not talked about the weather or Eau Claire or automobiles or her school, but had confined her conversation to me, you, and us.”
Materialism was a current theme in that time so people were worried about buying things like beautiful houses, cars and this materialism provided them to have glamour (also taking in account their way of dressing themselves).
I agree with Erica that Bernice represents a submerged group.
All right, you mentioned the most important aspects, as the contrast between tradition x modernity, Bernice’s haircut as a way of being transformed… But there is something else I would like to ask you: how does Bernice’s Indian heritage fit into the short story, especially the end?
Scalping, scalping!!
That’s sort of what I mean… Let’s develop the idea!
* SCALPING is the practice of removing the scalp of a defeated enemy as a trophy, as by some North American Indians and others during the colonial and frontier periods in the U.S.
***
Marjorie really treated Bernice’s Indian heritage with discrimination, as we can notice in the following passage:
Marjorie: “I think it’s THAT CRAZY INDIAN BLOOD in Bernice,” continued Marjorie. “Maybe she’s a reversion to type. Indian women all just sat round and never said anything.”
There was an intention of speaking out against race prejudice. And just as the Indians, Bernice was supposed to submit to “civilization.” She was supposed to abandon the old ways, naturally charming, and get ready to “vanish” before the development of “civilization.”
I think it was “revenge” when Bernice cut Marjorie’s braids…
Bernice: “Huh!” she giggled WILDLY. “SCALP the selfish thing!”
What a great punishment – every reader might think this way!!!
When the author puts Bernice in a position of a poor girl and at the end this “pitiable” girl acts like a “savage” by SCALPING her cousin (her victim), it’s clear that he wants to illustrate a North American Indian not only as a wild animal, but as a victim of the “war” who needed to act somehow. Also, it served to show that Bernice, as the Indians, was not a “creature” expected to continue to exist in this New World.
Yeah! Marjorie was totally selfish and didn’t think of her cousin at all… I loved the end of the story!
This interpretation turns the short story logical and possible to see that the prejudice occurs all over the SS creating stereotypes in our minds.
*Indian heritage:
Just like Dany Santos said, I think Bernice represents the colonized Indian. In this sense, her reaction on Marjorie is full of meanings. It represents a revenge that never happened, the revenge of the American Indian against the colonizer, which is represented here by Marjorie. As you guys have already said also, the scalping thing is what makes us sure of that.
*Historical background:
The 1920’s was a time when the world turned itself to the future. Only after the First World War that people in fact realised they were not living in the 19th century anymore. So the contrast between old and modern was more than in evidence, and Bernice represents this conflict. Se begins old-fashioned, imprisoned in the 19th century, and ends a modern powerful girl of the 1920’s.
*Submerged groups:
I would draw a relation between Brazilian Modernism and this SS. Just like Mario and Oswald de Andrade turned themselves to Brazilian most submerged group: – historically speaking – the Indian, I think Fitzgerald wanted to give his contribution to the American Indian as well. Another possible way of relating this story with the concept of submerged groups is seeing Bernice as the “gauche” person who doesn’t fit the pattern, what makes her a submerged person also.
*Personal Impressions:
The funniest SS so far… and one of the best, for sure!
Concerning the writing technique, I think we can notice a huge difference between the beginning and the ending. When I started reading I thought it would be a boring SS with difficult and formal writing, but then it turns into a typical American teen-age story, just like those with the popular cheer leaders and the bad and poseur football players wearing their nice jackets. Bernice reminded me of Rousseau’s theory of the “natural man”. Marjorie was the clever cousin from the city, and Bernice would be the naïve cousin from the country, who would not have been corrupted by “the city” yet. In the end, however, she proves to be far from the typical naïve cousin and reacts unexpectedly and with malice. Bernice rocks!
Thats it. Sorry im late and stuff..
Cheers.
Well, after so many good comments above I also feel some difficulty to add anything relevant in this discussion, but here I go in my attempt.
After reading this SS I realize that it is not hard to understand why it is still a classic and even subject of study in universities like ours. Even though the story portrays the American society after a World War, the first one in the XXI century we can still identify with it.
At that time the gender roles started to change and women became more independent and it was a time of unprecedented material progress. While soldiers fought the war, women were at home and had to carry on with their lives and fight for themselves. But changes are not easy to be assimilated by people. Women were still not sure about the so-called proper behaviour. Whilst many thought it would be fashionable to try to attract man’s attention no matter what, others were a bit more independent, like Bernice. In addition to new ideas and values, the easy access to money made citizens more prone to vanity and superficiality. Thus, it was easier to be an object on men’s hands than trying to find their own way, as Marjory did, although she didn’t realize it herself.
On the other hand, Bernice has her own beauty both on her looks and inside her. She only didn’t fit into the new social standards. Nowadays, this confusion still remains in some situations. We are even more influenced by propaganda than they were at that time and once we see a certain social group having some attitudes we wonder if that’s the way we should lead our own lives. The influence that the celebrities’behavior have in our lives illustrates my point perfectly. And the clash between our own wishes and wishes that are artificially placed in our minds (like the wish of being another type of girl that Marjorie instilled in Bernice’s mind) is still a delicate issue. After all, we all want to be accepted by the goup we are immersed it. So, can we blame Bernice for neglecting her own personality in order to be accepted by others and feel she was part of that social group? That’s all a matter of interpretation….
That’s it! I hope I hadn’t “viajado na maionese”.
Lucas, I agree with you that Bernice represents the Native Americans who personified the chaotic savagery of nature.
In Marjorie’s view, Bernice was doomed to be destroyed by the advance of civilization.
And I don’t think Bernice gives herself up…
In fact, she rejects Marjorie’s way of living (white civilization) and reinforces her Indian heritage by SCALPING her cousin, which is typically linked to Indians, I guess.
She wants to be free from those modern styles even if she is not successful, but living her own life represents self-determination and independence [as for the Indians - not victorious, but brave.]
I don’t think that I have any different comment from the others, they already discussed everything in details, but I’ll say what I think that is important…
The comments about relationship that Juliana made in the begining of this page are really great, this SS shows some prejudices about friendships and delimitates the hole of women in society. At the same time the society don’t like new behavious, women are trying to change this situation wearing new clothes and even cutting their hair differently. The society was going into a transformation from the old way to a new one.
Natalie’s comment about the Jazz Age exemplifies many things on this SS, as already mentioned: “The Jazz Age was a time when people stopped following the rules and become independent from the image which society imposed to them.”
About the end of the story and the indian thing, I liked so much Dany’s comment: “When the author puts Bernice in a position of a poor girl and at the end this “pitiable” girl acts like a “savage” by SCALPING her cousin (her victim), it’s clear that he wants to illustrate a North American Indian not only as a wild animal, but as a victim of the “war” who needed to act somehow. Also, it served to show that Bernice, as the Indians, was not a “creature” expected to continue to exist in this New World.”
My God! I was not able to make any new coment, my blogmates was so great that I couldn’t help pointing their best comments. rsrs. Sorry, but I promisse not being so much late to post the comment.
I agree with everyone here.. The jazz era, it may has its glorious and glamour, but there were these bad points as the futility and emptiness represented by Marjorie; and Bernice goes beyond it and criticize it. By the way, this scalping thing is really interesting. So we can say Bernice overcame the difficulties she went through while been in the company of her cousin, since as you already told, the native Indians did it when they had defeated the enemy.
How could you guys fall in love with Bernice? She is weak and allows herself to change her essence to fit in. She was different, proud, intelligent, but when she lets herself be guided by Marjorie, she loses it all and becomes a girl like all the others.
Marjorie thinks she is modern because she doesn’t care about social rules, but I think she break those rules just in order to be appreciated by the boys, like Bernice, to be accepted, to fit in, to believe she is marvellous and every boy loves her. So is that modern? I don’t think so. Marjorie just changed who to please: society and parents or boys? She choose the second, that’s it.
The connection to the Jazz Era and the Lost Generation that can be found in this SS and also in “The Great Gatsby” is Fitzgerald’s way to call attention to the wealthy, sophisticated Americans of this period whom he found to be shallow and self-centered. And Marjorie and the young society is the perfect “incarnation” of that cristicism.
WOW… as the other girls, I really liked this short story, I could identified myself with Bernice character when she was an ugly duck and then when she become a wild girl breaking with her past.
These short stories are becoming more interesting time by time, now the character not only stay alive in the end, but also has the power and strength to revenge against their enemies in order TO BE FREE….WOW. I am sorry, I am little bit excited here….
Anyway, it doesn’t matter if it was centuries ago, or nowadays. The point is that they expect us to always follow the rules of the society. Someone is always watching our step. But fortunately things are changing….So, lets go girls!!!!!
We can understand Bernice=Romanticism and Marjorie=Modernism.
Romanticism the old style and modernism the name tells us.I found some caracteristcs at wikipedia that ifit with this idea.Remember Modernism was the style of the time.
Let’s see:
*Romanticism:Valoriza o que se idealiza e sente;Sentimentos à flor da pele;Textos geralmente respeitosos;Imagens fantasiadas, perfeitas.
*Modernism:”as formas “tradicionais” das artes plásticas, literatura, design, organização social e da vida cotidiana tornaram-se ultrapassadas, e que se fazia fundamental deixá-las de lado e criar no lugar uma nova cultura”;substituir as “marcas antigas” e por novas formase possivelmente melhores, de se chegar ao “progresso”. “Em essência, o movimento moderno argumentava que as novas realidades do século XX eram permanentes e iminentes, e que as pessoas deveriam se adaptar a suas visões de mundo a fim de aceitar que o que era novo era também bom e belo.”
I parcially agree with Mel when she says that Bernice is weak. I understand Bernice when she “joins” Marjorie: she just wanted to fit in, to be part of a group. Although I think that Bernice “denies” her past by joining Marjorie, I see her as a woman that just wanted to be accepted, doing whatever was necessary to achieve her goal. She “lost” her past parcially because all her past would be forever in her mind and soul. I do not know if I made myself clear… I hope so.
It is very nice to read Fitzgerald depicting the society from his time. He seems to have the ability to talk about it as someone who is inside but his “eyes” are somehow outside, holding a very critical look. The author refers to the young society’s environment as a “stage” to the youth as “actors”. This is perfectly representative of Marjorie’s behavior. She is all the time pretending to be another person, for the sake of “being popular” as the author says.
This is what part of what the author says about the young men and their behavior during the dancing parties:
“youth in this jazz-nourished generation is temperamentally restless, and the idea of fox-trotting more than one full fox trot with the same girl is distasteful, not to say odious.”
The search for popularity and its importance are well shown through the conversation between Marjorie and her mother:
“‘Oh, I know what you’re going to say! So many people have told you how pretty and sweet she is, and how she can cook! What of it? She has a bum time. Men don’t like her.’ ‘What’s a little cheap popularity?’ Mrs. Harvey sounded annoyed. ‘It’s everything when you’re eighteen,’ said Marjorie emphatically.”
Bernice possesses old “feminine qualities” which are appreciated among the older people, but not among her generation and this fact leads her to take part in one of those “submerged population groups” we’ve been discussing about. In her case we face a peculiar situation. She suffers not from lack of qualities but from having the “wrong” ones. At the end of the SS we notice a real change of attitude in Bernice. From that moment on we can’t be sure about what qualities she will keep, how she will mix them. We can only expect things will never be the same.
Two possible issues to be raised may come up when we contrast Marjorie’s and Bernice’s personalities. One of the issues is related to the idea of “American Way of Life” underlying the Jazz Age. “Youth in this jazz-nourished generation is temperamentally restless”. That is, Marjorie can be seen as the model of a city girl of her time who is much attached to appearance, to money, and is able to fake opinions.
On the other hand, Bernice represents the traditional values found in the countryside that were not changed so far. “Marjorie had no female intimates – she considered girls stupid. Bernice on the contrary all through this parent-arranged visit had rather longed to exchange those confidences flavored with giggles and tears that she considered an indispensable factor in all feminine intercourse”. Then, it leads us to a second issue which is the allusion to submerged population group. Bernice, as she might have felt misplaced when in the middle of “society”, developed a willing for a change. “Bernice felt a vague pain that she was not at present engaged in being popular”. In fact, Bernice did change herself, what was consecrated by the scene of her having her hair cut.
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I`m very surprised to find those brilliant opinions about that short story that I`m studing right now¡¡