Customer Reviews

Bernice Bobs Her Hair and Other Stories (Signet Classics)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This wonderful story known as "Bernice Bobbs Her Hair", was an outstanding editon by S. Scott Fizgerald. This story told me alot about how you really can't trust someone who offers to change your social life and apperance. The caracterization used was good and the author made his points very clear as they came across very good. I am very good at picking those kind of things out but he made them very clear to me. I feel that Bernice took this act of kindness very well as she didn't take the public humiliation badly. She just took all of the attention from Marjorie and took it well. It was nice to see the spotlight switch from carachter to character once in a while. It goes to show who you can trust or not trust in life. This is a copy of our society today and it is actually happening.

I always enjoy The Great Gatsby, but was a little hesitant about picking up Fitzgerald's short story collection after laboring through This Side of Paradise last year. I figured that this short story collection might be the usual glitz and glamour; however, I was so pleased with many of the unique, imaginative tales Fitzgerald puts together. This collection contains some of the Jazz Era glitz, but also fantasy elements that take place outside this era. Still, they explore many similar themes from other novels (money and wealth, greed, dreams, popularity, prejudice, etc), and provide both social commentary and morals about this time period. They also have that definitive poetic flair typical of Fitzgerald.

Here are some of my favorites:

"Bernice Bobs Her Hair" is reminiscent of a modern high school comedy. Bernice is a socially awkward intellectual and a definite party pooper, so thinks her cousin Majorie. Majorie hatches a plan to take plain Bernice and make her into a socially attractive girl who becomes the center of attention. Majorie comes to represent the revolutionary free thinking, modern girl who pushes her ideas of popularity onto Bernice. As we might expect, Bernice soon becomes the talk of the boys, with Majorie a bit taken back and somewhat envious. When Majorie chides Bernice as a "bluffer" about actually going through with her plan to get her hair bobbed, it plants the seeds to a fantastic finish.

"The Ice Palace" has deep symbolism and amazingly poetic descriptions typical of Fitzgerald. Taking place during the Civil War, the story explores differences between the North and the South, and makes a bigger point to illustrate the importance of home and one's values. Sally Carol, a Southerner, has visions of moving up, and moving past the southern way of life and marrying a Northern man, Harry Bellamy. Harry takes Sally to the north to visit for awhile, but while there, Sally has conflicted thoughts and must decide where her true values lie. Fitzgerald captures insightful perspective into Sally's conflicted nature: "To the spirited throb of the violins and the inspiring beat of the kettledrums her own old ghosts were marching by and on into the darkness." Both Northern and Southern ideals are tremendously romanticized, with the South symbolizing warm, familial importance, and the North a cold, progressive way of life.

My favorite story of the bunch is "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz." Who would have thought Fitzgerald had so much humor in him? This is such a laugh out loud, funny story on many levels, as it is a definite satire about money, wealth and good living, and Fitzgerald reaches into his bag of fantasy to make anything and everything a possibility, even owning a diamond as big as a hotel. John Unger attends one of the richest prep schools in the world with classmate, Percy Washington. John, with idealized visions of wealth, is quite impressed when Percy boasts about his father being the richest man in the world, and takes him to a secret mountain range in Montana where his father keeps the world's largest diamond. Percy's father goes to extreme measures to guard this diamond for fear of having its price value diminish, so he has servants guard the entrance, and attempts to shoot down airplanes that fly overhead. Also, those who come to the Washington estate either must be imprisoned or "removed." John soon finds himself interested in not only the amazing lavishness of the Washington home, but Percy's sister, Kismine. John and Kismine decide they will try to escape and elope, but John is now a marked man and has to figure out an escape.

This is a story dripping with satiric qualities. There's a scene where John first gets there and is bathed in the most lavish of fashions, complete with a movie-reel overhead so John can be entertained all the while. Fitzgerald lampoons the ideals of wealth to the infinite degree, and taking shots all the while at the Washington family, especially Braddock, who at one point attempts to bribe God to keep his wealth intact. The story also has enough zaniness to compete with Vonnegut's world.

Also included are the stories "The Jelly Bean", "May Day", and "The Offshore Pirate", about a spoiled girl's notions of love, who meets her match.
Overall, this is a great collection, and maybe a bit more accessible, light read for those wanting to read Fitzgerald, but don't want to take on one of his novels.

I thoght it was a lovely book full of good lessons and a great outcome. Bernice was a sweet but strong in her own way. Hidden by her hair, a type of security blanket, and what she had been taught all of her life-- which, was to be a good girl, she is brought into reality. Of course there is always the problem. Her cousin who isn't such a good girl gives her the ultimatium of either staying with her for the rest of the summer or leaving. A nice split in Bernices life, more than just leaving her cousin and going home, it leaves her without what security she once knew for an inevitable change in her life. The characters were very well rounded and full of interesting pops and quirks. I liked Margarie, but found her to be weaker than Bernice in that the world she thought surrounded her turned out to be mearly a fantasy. I saw Bernice as a great role model for the average girl no matter what decade it is, (girls are always delt ultimatiums like this and she hung in there like a early femminist)I'm not sure if she had any idea of who she was until cutting her hair. A very good book indeed, by a very great writer. Three stars from me.

I thought that the book, Bernice Bobs Her Hair was actually pretty good. The author did a good job of portraying society how it actually is now days. He showed that people try too hard to fit in and feel like they belong with others. They should not worry so much about being popular and feeling cool because that can often blow up in your face too. They may try too hard to fit in and end up with less friend than they had in the first place. The people who are in the "in" crowd in this movie are mean. They laugh at Bernice and they make her believe that she is starting to fit in. Then, once Bernice does one thing wrong, they all ditch her and say that she isn't cool and that she never was cool. Bernice was so naive and innocent in the whole thing until the end and that really surprises you. You don't expect that to come next. Marjorie seems kinda of witchy to Bernice just because she isn't cool and doesn't fit in with her and her friends. I think that the way the author wrote the story made it very real and I think that many people will be able to identify with the story. He did a great job of mixing comedy with some seriousness. If he had any more seriousness it could have become a little boring. The comedy was perfect. Some of the lines you had to really pay attention to but

I thought that this book was pretty good. It was funny and taught a lesson. It really showed me how you should be yourself and not let anyone change you. I liked the irony in it and the surprise ending too. I kind of expected Bernice to end up bobbing her hair, but I really didn't think that she would have the guts to cut Marjorie's hair. In the beginning of the movie, Bernice was so shy, and just kind of kept to herself. I really thought that she changed throughout the book. She became more outgoing and kind of opened her eyes. she realized that the world isn't perfect and that there will be problems that you have to deal with. Her main problem was her mean cousin, and in a way, she did overcome it. She got revenge anyway. That's all that really matters. This book also did a good job at having the characters represt society at large. Marjorie represented the shallow and superficial people of the world, obviously, and Bernice represented the innocent and naive people. I think that what Bernice went through was kind of a good experience for her. It taught her many lessons in life that could only be taught through experience. She may have felt like an outcast, but everyone does at one point or another. At least she got something out of it. I think that these characters did a very good acting job. It really seemed like they were real. This was a good book, and I would recommend it to people. It has all the necessary characteristics of what a good book should have. Like humor, irony, and a learning experience.

This book is very good. I thought this movie was very hilarious it had so many jokes that could be missed so easily. I think that this story tells us a lot about ourselves. I feel that it shows how segregated and selfish our society is. Just because of Bernice's appearance she was not liked very much and was not very popular. She thought that she should bob her hair so that she could be in the "in" group. Then when she did cut her hair off she felt so awful. I can just imagine that she felt like a failure because she wanted to be popular and then when she did cut it people disliked her more than ever. It is just horrible that people dislike her because of her looks instead of looking at her personality and deciding if they liked her or not based on that factor. I also think that it displayed how shallow the characters were in the film. How many of us would actually turn against somebody just because they had their hair done differently rather than looking inside of a person. It also showed how girls are exactly the same as they used to be. They take a lot of time to primp and to get so beautiful. When the guys are alway saying that they are beautiful no matter if they do all of that primping. I think it also shows who your real friends are and how you can determine if they will back you up in rough times.

I thought that the funniest part was at the end when Bernice goes and cuts off of Marjorie's hair and then throws it in that pickup. That should teach her a good lesson because she will learn to appreciate people more than she appreciated Bernice. I think that is so funny because I could see myself getting revenge on someone by doing something like that.

This is a real good book and I would recommend it to anyone.