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Bernice Bobs Her Hair Part 2 Summary

  • After the dance, Marjorie and Bernice go home together. They don't have much to say to each other, and even though they're cousins, they're certainly not friends.
  • Marjorie, in fact, doesn't have any real female friends – she thinks other girls are stupid.
  • Sadly, Bernice had been hoping that they would be best friends. She is sorely disappointed in her cousin as a result.
  • As Bernice brushes her teeth and gets ready for bed, she wonders about the problem of her lack of popularity away from home. In her hometown, Eau Claire, she's a big success – however, it's never occurred to her that this might be due to the fact that her family is incredibly wealthy and important. Hmm…
  • Bernice doesn't understand why she's not popular at the dances here (the poor girl doesn't even realize that the only reason she has dance partners is that Marjorie arranges them!).
  • She does see that other girls who are less socially significant and pretty than she is sometimes have more luck with the guys, even back in Eau Claire; this, she attributes to their innate cheapness. Huh – might it actually be her snobby attitude that's at the root of this problem?
  • On her way to bed, Bernice decides to stop and say hello to her Aunt Josephine, Marjorie's mom. Outside the door, though, she discovers that her cousin is already in there.
  • The topic of conversation is Bernice herself. Marjorie is in the midst of a long rant about how she simply can't make her cousin popular – she's too boring.
  • Mrs. Harvey, being of a different generation, doesn't understand what Marjorie is so upset about. To her, any girl who's well-bred and pretty should automatically be popular. Her daughter attempts to explain why it's so important in these modern times to attain popularity.
  • Marjorie half-jokingly says that Bernice's dullness must be a result of her Native American blood, claiming that Indian women weren't very exciting. Her mother laughs this off – we get the idea that Bernice's "crazy Indian blood" (34) is something of a family secret.
  • On this note, Marjorie and her mother say goodnight. When Marjorie emerges, Bernice is nowhere to be seen.