Red Dress 1946

Oftentimes, we, as human beings, feel the need to fit in and to be labeled as “normal”. However, sometimes we exert ourselves to be accepted to the point where in we are overwhelmed because we are trying to be someone we are not and failure ensures. In the short story Red Dress 1946 the author, Alice Munro, introduced the persona, Alice, who did everything in her power to be noticed and to prevent embarrassment. Lonnie and Alice read fashion magazines to see what they need to do to become popular. In hope to get out of the school dance, Alice tried falling off her bicycle, to sprain her ankle. She opened her window in the middle of the night to try and make herself sick. When Alice arrived at the dance she tried to be like everyone else and

They would look in fashion magazines to see what they should do to be accepted to be popular. Physical appearance, social heredity, and popularity in school are all very important to Alice and Lonnie's reputation. Alice see’s her mother as always nitpicking at her and annoying. “My mother followed me to the door and called out into the dark. “Au reservoir!” This was a traditional farewell of Lonnie’s and mine; it sounded foolish and desolate coming from her, and I was so angry with her for using it that I did not reply.” Alice wishes for herself to be very much like Lonnie simply because, rather than having her dresses made for her by her mother Alice wishes that like Lonnie, she could buy her dresses in Beale’s store. Also while Alice is trying on her dress she wishes she was like Lonnie, light-boned, pale and thin. Alice describes her body as “a great raw lump, clumsy and goose-pimpled”. Lonnie’s father does not pay any attention to her in any way but she gets more than less of what she wants. Little does Alice realize, Lonnie envies her because all she wants is a mother who would fuss over her. This proves that Alice was not appreciative of anything, anyone ever did for her. Due to Alice’s lack of confidence when the time comes for the school dance there are a number of things that she thought would help herself avoid going. She tried to sprain her ankle by falling off

The way she was behaving, in thinking that she needed to be accepted and be like every other girl in society, did ruin her confidence and made her seem as if she was fake. “I remembered a magazine article Lonnie and I had read, which said ‘Be gay! Let the boys see your eyes sparkle; let them hear laughter in your voice! Simple, obvious, but how many girls forget!’ It was true. I had forgotten. My eyebrows drew together with tension. I must look scared and ugly. I took a deep breath and tried to loosen my face. I smiled”. Alice retreated into the washroom because she was left, no one had chosen her to dance. “Why take them and not me? Why everybody else and not me? I have a red velvet dress, I did my hair in curlers, I used deodorant and put on cologne”. In the washroom was a girl with the name Mary Fortune, it was very fortunate for Alice that they have met. Mary had a goal in life, and that was really hard to find in teenagers. She was going to university, she was not boy crazy. Mary was not all stuck on the mirror and wasn’t trying to make herself look pretty and she was definitely was not worried about her teeth. If Alice was in Mary's place she could have come and gone as she pleased and would not have been bothered with all the little nitpicky things. Alice learned to overcome her insecurity and her personal issues of her emotions of self-criticism. Mary taught Alice that she was not the