Bernice Bobs Her Hair

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Bernice Bobs Her Hair DBQ Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story about an adolescent girl visiting her family over the summer, mainly her cousin Marjorie. The story takes place in a midwestern city, however the name is not disclosed to the reader. Bernice comes from a wealthy family and lives in a small town named Eau Claire. She has her own car and is going to New York to start College in the fall. She is concerned with her future and is seen as conservative. Marjorie is also wealthy, however, she is the complete opposite of Bernice. She could care less about her future and idolizes new culture. She is the essential modern woman. The story begins at a country club dance where nobody wants to dance with Bernice and Marjorie sees her as a burden on her social life. Later that night, Marjorie discusses this issue with her mother and Bernice overhears the conversation. The next day they get into an altercation, and thereafter Bernice decides to take advice from Marjorie and change to become a more contemporary woman. This story portrays the 1920’s through many themes as subcategories of modernity, for example, the separation between urban and rural life and the change in sexual ethics. The conflicts between rural and urban America were extremely large during the 1920’s. After the war, the economy had started to boom and flocks of people began to move to the inner cities. There were more job opportunities because, for the first time, consumer goods were being produced (class notes). In addition, social morals had started to shift in part of the mass media heightening urban society (class notes). Farmers and small town folks of rural America looked down upon city life. They believed in social reform, prohibition, and fought for their conservative ideologies. The background of both women is visibly different throughout the story. Bernice is from a
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