Bernice Bobs Her Hair Response

“Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is a witty, charming, and intelligent story about a girl, named Bernice, who had a cousin who was quite malicious and selfish. It started with Bernice being a boring nuisance to her cousin, whom she was visiting. From there, her cousin, Marjorie, took Bernice under her wing and taught her to be attractive to men. Bernice became so attractive, in fact, that she caught the attention of Marjorie’s worshiper, Warren McIntyre, who becomes infatuated with Bernice and her new found sense of herself. Envy rises up in Marjorie and she seeks to destroy Bernice, which she succeeds in doing by tricking her into cutting her long hair to a bob, then subtly throwing it in Bernice’s face. In the end, however, Bernice cuts Marjorie’s long hair and peace is restored within the reader’s heart.

Along with the great story line, this short story is filled with many rhetorical tropes. The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, includes many uses of allusion in his story. There is a sentence in which Bernice quotes “Little Women”, a novel by American writer Louisa May Alcott. She says, “Don’t you think common kindness----”. This is probably included to point out that Bernice was dependent on sources other than herself to let people know how she was feeling. She went to a book when talking to Marjorie; just like she turned to the advice of Marjorie when talking to the many boys she met. Another example of an allusion used in this story was when Bernice was talking to G. Reece at a dinner-dance. She used a quote from Oscar Wilde, an Irish author, saying “You’ve either got to amuse people or feed ‘em or shock ‘em. This was probably included because Oscar Wilde was known as a witty writer, and in this situation Bernice’s main goal was to be looked upon as “witty”. Fitzgerald refers to Marie Antoinette, who was executed by guillotine in 1793, when describing the way that Bernice felt when she was on her way to the barber shop. The author most likely included this to give a better idea of how Bernice felt about getting her hair practically cut off. If the reader didn’t know anything about Marie Antoinette, they probably still wouldn’t have had a hard time relating her experience to Bernice’s, because the author made it evident that she was beheaded.

There were also a number of metaphors and similes used in Fitzgerald’s story. Bernice referred to Marjorie as a “peach” for helping her with her changes. This does not literally mean that she thinks that Marjorie is a fruit, but it is her way of metaphorically saying that she is a sweet girl for offering her assistance. Bernice also announces that she wants to be a “society vampire.” This metaphor means that she wants to prowl the social scene, be seen, and be popular. When referring to the barber shop that Bernice was to go to, Fitzgerald states that “it was a guillotine indeed”. This is not literally a place where Bernice will go to get her head cut off, but it is what can be looked at as the end of her social life. It is used to add more color to the story and to build upon the allusion of Marie Antoinette.

Scott Fitzgerald compares Marjorie’s hands, as she was braiding her hair, to “restive snakes” by using the word “like”. This simile is most likely used to give the reader a negative image of Marjorie. A snake is most often looked at as a bane to goodness, so comparing her hands to snakes points out the fact that she was a malicious person. Another simile is used when Bernice was viewing her hair shortly after it had been cut. She said, “It was ugly as sin.” As the reader discovers in the beginning of the story, Bernice is a very reserved and moral person. So her comparing her hair to sin is saying that she her complete and utter distaste for it. It is a big deal, because to someone like Bernice, sin is just about one of the ugliest things out there. This simile was used to let the reader know how horrible Bernice felt about her new hairstyle. All in all, this was a charming story that was filled with many rhetorical tropes, such as allusions, metaphors, and similes.

"I Have A Dream"

Rhetorical Structure: Figures of Speech

1. Alliteration- repetition of initial consonant sound
Allusion- indirect reference to someone or something
Metaphor- all language that involves figures of speech or symbolism and does not literally represent real things
Simile- a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things, especially a phrase containing the word "like" or "as,"

2.“Five score years ago,” is an allusion to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, in which he says “Four score and seven years ago,” when he is referring to the independence of the United States. It was probably used because it points out parallels from Lincoln’s speech.

3. An allusion to the Declaration was the well-known phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. An allusion to the bible is “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh see it together.”

4. An example of alliteration can be found in the line “One day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression…”

5. An example of a metaphor can be found in the line “American has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’”.

6. An example of a simile can be found in the line “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like waters’”.

7. a. This is a metaphorical term.
b. This would be an effective way of moving his audience because those African-Americans who are listening with slave ancestors can probably relate and feel the pain those to which King refers.
c. King was inferring that the progress is taking too long to be made. He felt that, because slavery was over, people should no longer be discriminated against because of their skin color.

8. One example of an anaphora is the phrase “One hundred years later…” Another example is “We can never be satisfied as long as…”

9. One possible effect is that more blacks in the future could also possibly make changes, because they see that is not impossible to do. This phrase could also state the idea that racial equality in this country is nothing more than an optimistic dream.

10. There are a few of King’s images that jumped out at me as I was listening to and reading his “I Have A Dream” speech. “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” This particular quote caught my attention because he was making an indirect reference to slavery. This was 100 years after slavery was abolished, so the fact that King chose the words “manacles” and “chains” made me think that the effects of slavery were still in play. King also speaks of cashing a check that had insufficient funds. We as a people were promised Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, but blacks of the time were being deprived of at least one of these: Liberty. There was no liberty in the treatment of the African-Americans. This was a promise that was broken, so I loved the reference to a check that had insufficient funds. This describes the situation perfectly.

Understanding The Dream

1. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a great dream that changed the lives of many. He gave his “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 during the march on Washington. King’s dream was for every person living in this country to have equality, regardless of race, gender, or ancestry. Slavery had been ended for almost one hundred years, and African-Americans were still treated unfairly. Blacks were still discriminated against, and still suffered from the unjustified and belittling act of segregation. King felt that hose who were treated unfairly should attempt to gain their deserved place in society, but to do so without mistreating anyone else, because King was an advocate of peace.

2. Some specific acts of injustice were “the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” Also, “This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.” and “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”

3. The “American Dream” that was mentioned in King’s speech is the freedom that all citizens in the United States want to pursue their goals through free choice and hard work.

4. I think he did this to be inclusive of all the states in the United States. He wants to make sure that all the states feel included so that there is a wider response to his message.

5. I do think that I would have been moved by King’s speech because I am of African-American descent. At this time, I would have been mistreated because of the color of my skin, so this message would have definitely moved me.

Relating to the Dream

1. My definition of racism is the mistreatment of an individual based on the color of their skin, or ethnicity.

2. a. Perhaps the extreme right-winged organizations chose violence because they knew that they had no real purpose and could not fight the blacks with words. This also may have made them feel more powerful than the blacks. They were probably trying to remind the African-Americans of their heritage and where their ancestors were only years before.
b. This is possibly because their leader, Martin Luther King Jr., was an advocate for nonviolence. They most likely knew that they were right and didn’t feel the need to retaliate violently.

3. I do not think that today’s skinheads are very dangerous. Granted, they could do some minor damage, but in reality they would quickly be overtaken, because there are far more in this world today who believe in equality than those who don’t. So they would definitely be outnumbered, and this fact would probably cause them not to try anything.

4. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech in 1963, and in 2009 it is safe to say that we are reaping many of the benefits of it, because so much has been accomplished in terms of assuring equality of all. On this day, January 20, 2009, our nation’s first black president was sworn into office. This is a feat that many never saw actually happening, and it goes to show that anyone really could become whatever they want in life. This is a prime example of the “American Dream” being lived out. Many of the issues posed by King in his speech have been fixed. For example, segregation is now illegal in America, so there are no more “Whites Only” toilets or water fountains. It is also now illegal to deprive someone of a job based on race or gender. Black men and women are now allowed to vote. This is a great example of the equality that we as a people have today. Everyone is given equal opportunity to do everything in this day and age, and personally, I believe that this is what makes this country “the United States of America”. Although we Americans have made great strides in fulfilling King’s dream, there are still some things that have yet to be accomplished. We have not completely filtered out all of America’s discrimination. Although it is illegal to deprive someone of a job based on skin color, it is still done without anyone’s knowledge save the person doing it. There is also still racism in the country.

Although many won’t admit to it, there are far too many people in this country who judge individuals based on the color of their skin, which is clearly disapproved of in King’s speech. We have made leaps and bounds from where we once were in terms of equality, but we have quite a while to go before we are where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted us to be.

Salvation

1. The main point of Hughes's narrative was that not everything about church and God is truthful. Hughes felt that he was deceived as a child because he was told the Jesus would come to him, but He never did. The change that occurred in him was that he no longer believed that there was a Jesus.

2. Hughes finally gets up and decides to be saved because Westly had done it and had not been struck dead for lying. So he decided to save the further trouble and lie, too. Afterward, he is sad and crying because of the lie he told and because of the fact that he no longer believed in Jesus.
3. The title is somewhat deceitful because it gives the idea that this narration was about Hughes’s salvation, but in reality it is about his lack thereof, and the second sentence proves this. He is saying that his “salvation” was false.

Purpose and Audience
1. I think he wrote “Salvation” to let his readers know a little more about himself. Yes, he was a Christian, but he did not believe in Christ because of this experience that he had. He also possibly wanted to criticize the whole church experience, because if he didn’t experience Christ, there is a good chance that many others hadn’t either. The 5th and 6th lines in paragraph 6 support this. The boy sitting next to him simply pretended that he was saved, and if he did, who’s to say that no one else did the same. He also may have wanted to explain that maybe it’s not a good idea to try to have children saved, because they have not really experienced life yet and many can’t appreciate what God has done for them. All the adults in the congregation screamed and leaped and praised God when Hughes got up to be saved, but it said nothing about the children rejoicing for him, too.
2. Hughes seems to assume that everyone in his audience is African-American. Details, such as the descriptions of some of the congregation members, let us know this assumption to be true. Hughes says that some of the women have jet-black faces and braided hair. That is something that would normally be seen in a church that is full of African-Americans, and he puts this in here so that his readers can relate to his story. He also describes a man’s hands as being calloused, which would usually be seen on a black man’s hands.
3. The details help re-create the increasing pressure Hughes feels by showing the sense of shame and guilt that he felt for having everyone wait for him to be saved. He was the second to last one sitting on the mourner’s bench, and he felt guilty for making the congregation wait until nightfall for his salvation. Pressure was great because he was actually waiting to have and encounter with Jesus, and he felt that he could not. It became even worse when the only boy sitting next to him got up to be saved. He felt even more pressure, because he knew that the boy had not really seen Jesus, so Hughes didn’t know what to do.

Method and Structure
1. Hughes probably chose narration because he wanted to add in his own feelings on the subject. He had a personal experience with the matter, so it would make sense for him to recall his experience to his audience. An argumentative essay may have had some of the main points of this narration, but it would not have all the feeling, detail, or credibility. The title of it may be “The Deception Behind Salvation”.
2. Hughes shortens the time taken to get to the sermon, and also shortens the service of the church that day, aside from the altar incident. He skips all of the people that went, except him and Wesley. He drew out his part to add more expression to his experience. At the end, he jumps to his home when he was in bed, because it was the only thing that mattered at the time. This gives the ending of his reason for writing this chapter.
3. During the sermon, he uses transitions that depict a shorter time period than days or weeks, such as “then”, “suddenly”, and “finally”. He then uses “that night” as a jumper transition.
If the reader does not understand how a revival meeting works, then the whole purpose of the narration is lost.

Language
1. Hughes’s language reveals that he feels like this was altogether a horrible experience. His feeling of guilt was depicted when he said that he cried because he had deceived everyone in the church. He felt bitter about the experience. This is shown by him revealing to his audience that he, to this day, does not believe in Jesus because of the experience. He felt sorrow because Jesus had not come to help him.
2. I think that he is trying to achieve the effect of having his writing actually resemble that of a child. Since he was a child when the experience happened, he decided to take it back to his childhood days to relive this sad experience.
3. When Hughes says “see”, he actually means to literally “see”, with his eyes, Jesus standing before him. His aunt means to feel His presence and to experience Him. The difference is significant, because Hughes didn’t literally “see” Jesus, but there was a possibility that he could have felt His presence and been overtaken by Him if he had known what the adults meant by “see”.