|
Have questions?
Contact us
Already a member? Sign in
|
Get every literary device explanation for Bernice Bobs Her HairPlus so much more...
Sign up for LitCharts A+Get instant access to every literary device explanation, plus so much more...
Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—The Terror:
As Bernice approaches the barbershop where her hair is to be cut, Fitzgerald employs metaphors and allusions to the French Revolution to heighten the dramatic tension:
[...] Sevier Barber-Shop. It was a guillotine indeed, and the hangman was the first barber, who, attired in a white coat and smoking a cigarette, leaned nonchalantly against the first chair. He must have heard of her; he must have been waiting all week, smoking eternal cigarettes beside that portentous, too-often-mentioned first chair. Would they blind-fold her? No, but they would tie a white cloth round her neck lest any of her blood—nonsense—hair—should get on her clothes.
The metaphors of the barbershop as a "guillotine" and the barber as a "hangman" emphasize the emotional stakes of getting the bob for Bernice. By comparing the haircut to an execution, the author shows how intensely Bernice feels the finality of her decision to bob her hair. This metaphor does more than suggest the severity of the act in Bernice's mind. It also highlights the irreversible nature of the change she thinks she’s about to make. It’s not a temporary decision, as a haircut might usually be thought of. To Bernice, it’s a life-altering event.
The allusions to the guillotine and the hangman at the end of the passage invoke the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. During the time following the creation of the French Republic in the 1790s, France was overtaken by a wave of public executions and massacres of the clergy, the aristocracy, and other “traitors.” This historical reference compounds the sense of dread and foreboding that overtakes Bernice. The narrator directly aligns Bernice’s personal crisis with this period of intense political upheaval and violence. Through this, the allusion underlines the political statement that bobbing one's hair during this time implied. It was a visible marker of rejecting former ideals of feminine beauty, an obvious and irreversible marker of defiance. The haircut is not just a personal choice but a visible declaration of opinion and alignment. The imagery of Bernice being blindfolded and having a white cloth tied around her neck to catch her "blood" (hair) is a further reference to this. To her, the cutting instruments the barber will use might as well be a guillotine, not a razor and scissors.
Monthly
Annual (Best Value)
$595USD/mo
Charged $71.40 USD every year
Teacher$795USD/mo
Charged $95.40 USD every year
Literature Guide PDFs
LitCharts PDFs for every book you'll read this year.
Instant PDF downloads of all 2243 LitCharts literature guides and of every new one we publish. Try a free sample literature guide.
"Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!"
Quotes Explanations
Find the perfect quote. Understand it perfectly. Then rock the citation, too.
For all 50,016 quotes we cover.
For all 50,016 quotes we cover.
Teacher Editions
Close reading made easy for students.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Common Core-aligned
PDFs of modern translations of every one of Shakespeare's 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 3 longer poems.
Literary Terms and Devices
Definitions and examples for every literary term and device you need to know.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Try a free sample literary term PDF.
Advanced Search
Refine any search. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
Related Themes
Comparing and contrasting texts? Find where any theme occurs across all of LitCharts in seconds.
Poetry Guides
Line-by-line explanations and analysis of figurative language and poetic devices.
For every lyric poem we cover.
For every lyric poem we cover.
