From the same author that wrote The Great Gatsby, Fitzgarald also wrote the short story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”. This character driven story tells the tale of two cousins at odds with each other trying to be civil. The story comes to a head when the main character, Bernice, is convinced by her cousin Marjorie and her friends to cut her long hair and style it in a bob cut; a seemingly simple and overall harmless thing to do, even if it was a mistake. After all, hair does grow back. However, it garnered such a strong reaction from Bernice that she ran away. Therefore, is there a greater significance to the hair cut than just the hair being cut? Bernice Bobs Her Hair was written in the year 1922 and at that time, bob cuts were seen as very risqué, sinful even. It was a new and upcoming fashion trend, but not quite socially acceptable and was especially not the kind of hair style for a young lady of high dignity and status which was exactly what Bernice was. The story doesn’t directly talk about Bernice’s status, but it does explain it through her interactions with other…show more content… Because Bernice was a guest, her mother told her that she needed to treat Bernice kindly and get along with her. Bernice, however, was stuck in her ways and made it very difficult for Marjorie to integrate her into her social circles without saying something that would hurt her feelings. She complains, “I’ve done my best. I’ve been polite and I’ve made men dance with her, but they just won’t stand being bored.” It is only after Bernice discovered Marjorie’s true feelings that she allowed herself to give her honest opinion; which was that she did not care much for Bernice and would be indifferent to her presence. She also would not stand to be emotionally manipulated or guilted into hiding her true feelings. She is very blunt in explaining this to her when she said, “If you expect me to weep with you you’ll be disappointed. Go or stay as you
