Английская Википедия:Bernice Bobs Her Hair

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"Bernice Bobs Her Hair" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.Шаблон:Sfn It was first published in May 1920 in the Saturday Evening Post.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The original publication was illustrated by May Wilson Preston.Шаблон:Sfn The work later appeared in the September 1920 short story collection Flappers and Philosophers.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Fitzgerald's story follows the plight of a mixed-race Native American girl named Bernice from rural Eau Claire, Wisconsin, who visits her beautiful and sophisticated white cousin Marjorie in the city.Шаблон:Sfn In an attempt to be popular, Bernice announces she will bob her hair, but this announcement leads to unforeseen consequences.Шаблон:Sfn

Decades after its publication, literary critic Orville Prescott of The New York Times hailed the work in 1951 as a landmark story "that set social standards for a generation of young Americans, that revealed secrets of popularity and gave wonderful examples of what to say at a dinner table or on the dance floor."Шаблон:Sfn

Background

The story was based on letters which a nineteen-year-old Fitzgerald sent to his fourteen-year-old sister Annabel.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn As she wished to make herself more socially appealing, he "attempted to refine her social skills, providing detailed instructions on popularity and improving her image."Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

In 1915, Fitzgerald wrote her a voluminous 10-page letter which gave "advice on conversation, poise, carriage, dancing, expression, dress, and personality."Шаблон:Sfn Fitzgerald later used this letter for the basis of his 1919 story draft.Шаблон:Sfn The original text of the story was much longer, but Fitzgerald cut nearly 3,000 words and changed the ending to make the story more attractive to publishers.

Fitzgerald named the title character Bernice as a reference to Berenice II of Egypt.Шаблон:Sfn According to legend, Berenice sacrificed her most beloved possession—her tresses—to ensure victory in warfare.Шаблон:Sfn For this act, the gods bestowed upon her a great honor: they placed her tresses in the heavens as the constellation Coma Berenices.Шаблон:Sfn

Summary

Шаблон:Multiple image Bernice, a purportedly mixed-raceШаблон:Efn girl from rural Eau Claire, Wisconsin, visits her beautiful and sophisticated cousin Marjorie Harvey for the month of August. At the Saturday-night dances, none of the handsome boys wish to dance with or speak to Bernice, and Marjorie feels that Bernice is a drag on her social life.Шаблон:Sfn

One evening, Bernice overhears a hurtful conversation between Marjorie and Marjorie's mother in which Marjorie comments that Bernice is socially hopeless.Шаблон:Sfn She ascribes Bernice's social awkwardness and conversational reticence to Bernice's supposed Native AmericanШаблон:Efn ancestry.Шаблон:Sfn "I think it's that crazy Indian blood in Bernice," remarks Marjorie. "Maybe she's a reversion to type. Indian women all just sat round and never said anything."Шаблон:Sfn

The next morning at breakfast, a distraught Bernice threatens to leave town but, when Marjorie is unfazed by her threats, Bernice relents.Шаблон:Sfn She reluctantly agrees to let Marjorie turn her into a society girl. Marjorie teaches Bernice how to hold interesting conversations, how to flirt with unattractive boys to make herself seem more desirable, and how to dance. At the next party, Bernice's best line is teasing the boys with the idea that she will soon bob her hair, and they will get to watch.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Quote box With her new coquettish demeanor, Bernice becomes popular with the boys in town, especially with nineteen-year-old Warren McIntyre. Warren, who lives across the street, has been in love with Marjorie since childhood but she consistently neglects him. When it becomes clear that Warren has shifted his romantic attentions from Marjorie to Bernice, a vindictive Marjorie sets about publicly humiliating Bernice by tricking her into going through with bobbing her hair.Шаблон:Sfn

Marjorie tells various boys that Bernice never intended to bob her hair and that it was merely a ploy to attract their attentions. To prove Marjorie wrong, Bernice consents to be taken to a barbershop by Warren, Marjorie, and a coterie of admirers. However, after the barber bobs Bernice's hair, the boys abruptly lose interest in her, and Bernice realizes that she was tricked by Marjorie.Шаблон:Sfn

Marjorie's mother points out that Bernice's flapper haircut will provoke a scandal at an upcoming party held in her and Marjorie's honor. Deciding it would be best to leave the town before the party the next day, Bernice packs her trunk in the middle of the night and plans to leave on the next train after midnight.Шаблон:Sfn Before she departs, she leaves her aunt a note explaining where she went, Bernice sneaks into Marjorie's room and shears off her cousin's two luxurious braids while she sleeps.Шаблон:Sfn

Exiting the Harvey house, Bernice leaves with both her luggage and Marjorie's two severed braids. As she proceeds to the train station, she notices Warren's house across the street. Realizing she was still holding the braids, tosses them onto Warren's front porch and with a laugh, shouts, "She should have scalpedШаблон:Efn the selfish thing!" Шаблон:Sfn Then, picking up her luggage, Bernice runs down the moonlit street to the train station to return to her rural hometown of Eau Claire.Шаблон:Sfn

Adaptations

The short story has been adapted twice for television.Шаблон:Sfn In 1951, CBS adapted the story for a Starlight Theatre episode starring 26-year-old Julie Harris as Bernice, Mary Sinclair as Marjorie, and Jerry Paris as Otis.Шаблон:Sfn Anita Loos appeared in a cameo as herself.

The story was again made into a television production in 1976 for PBS for The American Short Story.Шаблон:Sfn It was directed by Joan Micklin Silver and starred 27-year-old Shelley Duvall as the teenage Bernice, Veronica Cartwright as Marjorie, and Bud Cort as Warren.Шаблон:Sfn The role of Draycott Deyo was played by Patrick Reynolds (then using the stage name Patrick Byrne) and Marjorie's mother was played by Polly Holliday.Шаблон:Sfn

The story was later converted into a one-act play by D.D. Brooke for The Dramatic Publishing Company.Шаблон:Sfn

It was adapted into a 2015 musical by Adam Gwon and Julia Jordan.Шаблон:Sfn

The Irish pop group The Divine Comedy turned the story into a song on its 1993 album Liberation.

References

Bibliography

• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite magazine
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite web
• Шаблон:Cite journal
• Шаблон:Cite journal
• Шаблон:Cite news
• Шаблон:Cite book
• Шаблон:Cite book

External links

• The Saturday Evening Post — "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" (HathiTrust)
• Шаблон:Librivox book
• Шаблон:IMDb title
• Шаблон:IMDb title