"Bernice Bobs Her Hair" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

How does Fitzgerald represent the nature of identity in "Bernice Bobs Her Hair"? Is identity a static thing or is it something we can change? What does Bernice's actions at the end of the story reveal about her identity-- has she changed?

1) I found the wording in this short story a little hard to understand without rereading things. I also got lost in the way they talked to each other, their direct dialogue was different. It was boring for me to read, it wasn’t an interesting choice. I felt like it was one of those stories your looking for a topic so you just pick anything, which I didn’t like the topic.

2) Fitzgerald represents the nature of identity in the story through the character of Bernice. He shows the difference in how you portray your identity and other do. She is described as a pretty girl and rich girl, where at home is the popular one. Now in a different atmosphere she is confused to why she isn’t a person of interest and that the girls at home who are low on the popular scale are better than her now in this new scene. At one point she over hears her cousin talking to her aunt and finds that her flaw is her boring personality. She then agrees to try to become “one” of them and be socially accepted. When trying to find a different identity the boys are then interested, one in particular that sets her cousin off. Bernice is then tricked into taking one more step to becoming accepted by getting her hair bobbed. She then becomes the social outcast and figures out that her cousin ad it all planned out. This even triggers a different identity in Bernice, one with scorn, hate, and revenge. She takes scissors to her cousin’s hair and cuts her braid. I feel as though everyone has multiply identities in their one true identity. We all have our own ways, but within those identities their sin. I believe that we are all born with an identity but it can be altered and changed through events we live through in our lives. Bernice’s actions at the end of the story reveal many things about her identity; it’s changed in both good and bad ways. She has become more understanding of a social identity but has gained an evil part of her identity as well.