Bernice Bobs Her Hair: Short Story

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Bernice, a wealthy, young Wisconsinite, travels to her aunt’s house to visit her cousin Marjorie. The pair have trouble connecting, however, and Bernice soon finds out that her cousin thinks she’s putting a damper on her social life. Bernice doesn’t know how to act at parties, so with her cousin’s help, she turns into a true society girl. Soon she is dancing and flirting, often suggesting she has plans to bob her hair—the trademark of the “liberated” woman of the time. However, as Bernice descends deeper into her new lifestyle, the fickle nature of the social scene becomes increasingly evident.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” based on letters he had sent to his younger sister providing similar advice on how to become a more attractive society girl. It was originally printed in the Saturday Evening Post in 1920.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781443423229

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896, St. Paul, Minnesota-1940, Hollywood, California) creó uno de los mitos de la literatura del siglo XX, el gran Gatsby, y contribuyó de un modo fundamental a la invención de su época. Su primera novela, A este lado del paraíso (1920), narró la educación sentimental de su generación, y sus cuentos inventaron la Edad del Jazz y configuraron las emociones y la imaginería de los años veinte. Hermosos y malditos (1922) adivinó el fin de la fiesta inagotable («la mayor orgía de la historia», según el propio Fitzgerald) y lo preparó para escribir El gran Gatsby (1925). Pasó por Hollywood, a la busca de dinero en el nuevo paraíso cinematográfico, y fracasó. La Depresión económica de 1929 la vivió como depresión y quiebra personal: Suave es la noche (1934), su cuarta novela, volvió a demostrar la extraordinaria capacidad de Fitzgerald para sentir y contar la compenetración indisoluble entre los grandes hechos históricos y la historia íntima de los individuos. En diciembre de 1933 su mujer, Zelda Sayre, había sido internada en una clínica psiquiá­trica. En 1937 Fitzgerald volvió a Hollywood como guionista. Su nombre sólo aparecería en los créditos de una película sonora: Tres camaradas, y por bebedor fue despedido de su último trabajo en Holly­wood, donde murió de un ataque al corazón. Su novela final, inacabada, El último magnate, hablaba de la desilusión de Hollywood. T. S. Eliot había juzgado así El gran Gatsby: «Me parece el primer paso que da la ficción americana desde Henry James.»

Book preview

Book Cover

BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR

F. Scott Fitzgerald

HarperPerennialClassicsLogo

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

About the Author

About the Series

Copyright

About the Publisher

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

I

After dark on Saturdaynight one could stand on the first tee of the golf course and see the country club windows as a yellow expanse over a very black and wavy ocean. The waves of this ocean, so to speak, were the heads of many curious caddies, a few of the more ingenious chauffeurs, the golf professional’s deaf sister—and there were usually several stray, diffident waves who might have rolled inside had they so desired. This was the gallery.

The balcony was inside. It consisted of the circle of wicker chairs that lined the wall of the combination clubroom and ballroom. At these Saturday night dances it was largely feminine; a great babel of middle-aged ladies with sharp eyes and icy hearts behind lorgnettes and large bosoms. 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.

But, after all, this critical circle is not close enough to the stage to see the actors’ faces and catch the subtler byplay. It can only frown and lean, ask questions and make satisfactory deductions from its set of postulates, such as the one which states that every young man with a large income leads the life of a hunted partridge. It never really appreciates the drama of the shifting, semi-cruel world of adolescence. No; boxes, orchestra-circle, principals, and chorus be represented by the medley of faces and voices that sway to the plaintive African rhythm of Dyer’s dance orchestra.

From sixteen-year-old Otis Ormonde, who has two more years at Hill School, to G. Reece Stoddard, over whose bureau at home hangs a Harvard law diploma; from little Madeleine Hogue, whose hair still feels strange and uncomfortable on top of her head, to Bessie MacRae, who has been the life of the party a little too long—more than ten years—the medley is not only the centre of the stage but contains the only people capable of getting an unobstructed view of it.

With a flourish and a bang the music stops. The couples exchange artificial, effortless smiles,

Reviews for Bernice Bobs Her Hair

[lamotamant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wish I'd read this prior to The Great Gatsby because I think it would have propelled an interest in his other works that Gatsby just didn't imbibe. I just wasn't dazzled by the Gatsby-glitz and I find/found school reading lists pretty claustrophobic. However, I find myself loving this short story. There's a lot of growth in character for Bernice in a very short page-span, the prose pulling it off quite winningly.

[Suzie Dalien · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked the theme and the characters. The story was good too!

[saschenka-316193 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Early short stories showing promise of things to come, pervasive themes of class disparity, yearning and women’s role in society. Captures settings of rural/small town South, NYC and some Midwest very well. Characters know they want something but cannot say exactly what— yearning to be somewhere else. Eerie in sections where one feels the living memory of the Civil War (60 years ago or so): if you were in your 20s now, it would be absorbed memories of the 1960s from your older relatives.Slight overuse of adjectives (a painterly aspect?) and the dialog style may be distancing for readers; use of racist terminology and perspective may be off-putting but it is in keeping with the time period, as is its portrayal of women. Fitzgerald’s female characters do mostly have some sense that they are dealing with a stacked deck. While not many memorable lines, and later work is more deftly written, multiple images and characters in this collection stay with the reader. “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” The Ice Palace,” and “May Day” strongest; the only weak link is “The Offshore Pirate.”