Jealousy In Bernice Bobs Her Hair

“Bernice Bobs Her Hair” is a short story about a girl named Bernice and her cousin Marjorie. During her visit, Bernice overhears Marjorie tell her mother how she doesn’t like Bernice because she is dull and Bernice confronts her the next morning. After fighting, Bernice later that night agrees to let Marjorie help her not be boring. Marjorie helps Bernice gain some popularity, where Bernice lying that she was going to bob her hair was one thing that majorly helped her quick popularity. After a few short days, Marjorie starts to become jealous of Bernice because she has become too popular for her liking especially with Warren, one of Marjorie’s previous suitors.
Jealousy has a strange way of creeping up on people, especially when people
Marjorie’s jealousy first started to really show when Bernice was waiting for Warren to go to a bridge party. Marjorie decided to quietly sneak a quick jab in at Bernice telling her to forget about Warren saying “‘You may as well stop making a fool of yourself over Warren McIntyre. He doesn’t care a snap of his fingers about you.’”(1470) Marjorie did not know whether or not Warren truly did care about Bernice or not but she did know that her saying he did not would hurt Bernice which it did. Unfortunately, Marjorie’s jealousy did not stop at her snide remarks because her jealousy had completely taken
At the bridge game, people kept asking Bernice when she was going bob her hair and Marjorie took that opportunity to embarrass her cousin by calling her out and saying she won’t bob her hair. Bernice, taken aback by her cousin’s actions, gets defensive and embarrassed and then agrees to bob her hair right then and there. At the barber Marjorie calls her out again by saying “give up and get down! You tried to buck me and I called your bluff. You see you haven’t got a prayer.” (1472) which pushed Bernice to tell the barber to bob it. Bernice looked horrible with her hair bobbed and everyone even Warren and her Aunt Josephine had a hard time pretending that they liked it, which Marjorie had known would happen. “Bernice did not fully realize the outrageous trap that had been set for her until she met her aunt’s amazed glance…” (1472) At dinner, Bernice learned that the dance she was supposed to attend the next day was being hosted by a woman who’s “pet abomination” (1472) was bobbed hair. Marjorie pretended that she had forgotten about the party and half-heartedly apologized while trying to say that her hair didn’t look bad and was becoming of her. Marjorie successfully tricked and betrayed Bernice into something she knew would negatively affect her but did not care because of her