Bernice Bobs Her Hair Illustrated

Bernice, a purportedly mixed-race[a] 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.[9]One evening, Bernice overhears a hurtful conversation between Marjorie and Marjorie's mother in which Marjorie comments that Bernice is socially hopeless.[9] She ascribes Bernice's social awkwardness and conversational reticence to Bernice's supposed Native American[a] ancestry.[11] "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."[11]The next morning at breakfast, a distraught Bernice threatens to leave town but, when Marjorie is unfazed by her threats, Bernice relents.[12] 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.