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Response to “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
1. Biography
Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is
well known for the novels: “This Side of Paradise”, “The Great Gatsby”, “The Beautiful and the
Damned”, “Tender is the Night”, and “The Love of the Last Tycoon”. His short story collections
include: Flappers and Philosophers, Tales of the Jazz Age, All the Sad Young Men, Taps at
Reveille, the Pat Hobby Stories and The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Tales of the Jazz Age was his second collection of Short Stories. “The Diamond as Big as the
Ritz” in this collection was one of his greatest stories.
“The short story, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”, was written in 1920 in the month of May and first
published in the Saturday Evening Post. After this, it appeared in the collection, Flappers and
Philosophers.
His short stories include, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, “The Offshore Pirate,” “Bernice
bobs Her Hair”, “The Offshore Pirate”, “The Ice Palace” among many others.
His book was “The Crack Up”
2. SUMMARY
This story is about Bernice, the wealthy cousin of Marjorie. Bernice is from Wisconsin
and goes to visit Marjorie during the summer month of August. Bernice is a burden on her
cousin’s social life. She can’t dance and doesn’t seem to be able to attract the boys. In fact she is
such a deadbeat that Marjorie has to beg boys to dance with Bernice. Eventually Bernice
overhears Marjorie complaining to her mom about her and is devastated. She tries to bluff that

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she is going back home, but Marjorie is unmoved by her protestations. In face she seems relieved
that Bernice is about to get out of her life. Bernice recants and becomes a willing student of
Marjorie’s. Marjorie teaches her how to dance, flirt and ensnare the interest of boys. She does
this with great success until Warren, Marjorie’s beau, is hooked on Bernice as well. This alarms
Marjorie and she sets out to expose Bernice and trap her into bobbing her hair. Actually bobbing
her hair was one of the fads of the times and Marjorie gave Bernice the line to capture the
interest of the boys. It was to be a bluff; however, Marjorie calls Bernice’s bluff. When Bernice
decides to go through with it, the story climaxes and the unexpected occurs. The ending has a
truly bizarre and humorous twist that many readers will enjoy..
3. THE PLOT
The story flows smoothly and rapidly. Conversation ,description of characters, conflict or
rather the confrontation of Marjorie and the ensuing conflict that follows are all events that move
the story along.
I found the author’s use of language to be awesome. However his word choice indicates a
much higher vocabulary than that which I hear in daily usage and his Americanisms are difficult
for a non- American or an American from another era to understand.
The events seemed to flow quite effortlessly and were so realistic or natural that you feel
as though Fitzgerald is describing either his own life or the lives of people that he has witnessed
first hand. The conflict is quite effective in that it portrays` a genuine conflict that could occur
between two cousins. It is indeed practical and plausible.. I mean from the disgust that Marjorie
feels over Bernice’s outmoded style and approach to socializing to Bernice’s chopping off of
Marjorie’s pigtails in revenge. Revenge surely is a true to life theme here.

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I found the climax to be riveting. It was a classic peer, pressure situation coupled with a motif of
jealousy and pure hate. I could feel Bernice’s despair as she sought to escape from the snare.
Marjorie had so calculatingly laid for her. The tension was tangible as Bernice faced the
challenge of being damned if she bobbed her hair and damned if she didn’t. It was a classic two-
way trap reminiscent of a tic-tac-toe game.
The resolution satisfies one’s innate desire for equilibrium. How could Marjorie manipulate
Bernice to such lengths, causing her to gain then lose everything at no cost to herself (Marjorie)
After seemingly extricating herself from the first backfiring of her manipulation, would she be
allowed to get away with Bernice’s disfiguring of her own beauty? No, the justice felt poetic,
when Marjorie was made to pay for her evil ways.
4. MAIN CHARACTERS
4.1 Marjorie
Marjorie is bold, confident, fearless and adventurous. She is an uninhibited female
who basically, like a gardenia, adopts the live fast and die young philosophy. She is cold
and calloused. Her flaw is that like the dog in the manger, she doesn’t want Warren but
can’t bear to see someone else have him. She exhibits supreme selfishness viz. she must
be the ‘queen bee’ all the time. No one else must rule the roost. Her jealousy and cold
calculating heart is revealed when she attempts to destroy the very thing se built. She tries
to destroy Bernice right in front of Warren. She is clearly the antagonist in the story,
pushing Bernice beyond the limits of her fine upbringing.
4.2 Warren
Warren is a dutiful minion of Marjorie’s. He fawns over her even though he knows
she is gouging his eyes out. He reveals a weak character that like a hyena, accepts the

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scraps of prey left over by the greater predator. In this case that predator happens to be
Marjorie. Warren is there waiting to take her back after all her wanderings and swinging.
To make matters worse instead of outright dumping her he falls for her cousin and is
unable to see that she is simply a creature of Marjorie the puppeteer. He’s weak, wishy-
washy and indecisive. One can see why Marjorie ‘forgets him ‘his character is not strong
enough to leave a lasting impression on her dominant, free-spirited character.
4.3 Bernice
Bernice is a well-cultured, traditional feminine young lady. She is respectable and
lacks the gay abandon the recklessness of her cousin. She might even be a bit prim and
proper, too stiff for the lively vivacious life of Marjorie and the Jazz Age. Bernice is also
weak and gullible. She allows herself to be molded by such a cold uncaring character as
Marjorie. Her desire to be popular and accepted drives her to abandon the solid culturing
she received from home. In fact she is unable to face the consequences of her actions. She
steals away in the middle of the night. Though she musters the courage to perform the
most dastardly act on Marjorie, she is unable to face her after. Bernice is clearly the
protagonist in the story. She is the character that has soul, you feel with her and
empathize with her in her success and her failure, her triumph and tragedy. She is the one
you ultimately desire to emerge victorious.
5. THEME
The main theme is about a conflict between a wealthy, respectable, attractive, girl,
reflecting traditional feminine values which render her incapable of socializing and her
vivacious, common, fun loving, cousin from a lower class, reflecting the gay abandon of the
liberated females during the ‘roaring twenties’. The lower class cousin actually wields social

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power over her hapless traditional cousin. The poorer cousin holds the keys to a successful social
life in the modern era which the wealthy outdated cousin cannot buy.
Then we have the theme of Jealousy where Bernice becomes such a success that Marjorie’s plan
backfires and Warren her beau, is attracted to Bernice now. Marjorie’s jealousy drives the story
to its climax.
6. Conclusion
I enjoyed the story. I t stimulated my thinking and actually drew me back to my late teen-
age years. The conflict between Bernice and Marjorie was quite real. Marjorie reminds me of
one of my elder sisters. I could really see her doing the makeover demands on outdated young
ladies. I was also able to identify with the boredom of Marjorie and her desire to see Bernice go
back home. The ‘tied down’ feeling of Marjorie is a real experience that youths feel when placed
in similar situations. It this case it is cousins, but this conflict often happens between sisters! It
was a true to life, must read, one sitting story..
I recommend this story to teenagers between ages 14-20 in our society. I think our girls and boys
are maturing much earlier than the characters listed in the story and some of the conflicts visited
here are taking place at a much younger age. I believe the 14-20 age group would be better able
to identify with the characters.

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Works Cited
Merriman, C.D. The Literature Network. Biography on F.Scott Fitzgerald. 2007. 31st May 2010
Shmoop. n.d. Literature, Bernice Bobs Her Hair n.d. Web. 31 May 2010
http://www.shmoop.com/bernice-bobs-her-hair
Shmoop n.d. Literature, Bernice Bobs Her Hair Plot Analysis n.d. Web. 31 May 2010
http://www.shmoop.com/bernice-bobs-her-hair/plot-analysis.html