The Waltz By Dorothy Parker

In the Short story “The waltz” by Dorothy Parker we are in the woman's perspective, and what she is dealing with whilst dancing with a man. We can conclude that she does not like the man, but how she presents herself to him makes her seem like she is enjoying herself. In actuality, her inner dialogue is filled with criticism and hatred for this man and his poor dancing abilities. Throughout this story, you can deduce that Parker is using her protagonist's point of view, symbolism, and Diction. To show how women feel and how they must conform to society's standards to please a man in the 1940s.

Throughout the story, Parker depicts how the protagonist feels perfectly because we are reading the short story through her eyes. We can understand the internal and external actions while she is dancing with the man. At first, the protagonist tells the man “[why] thank you so much I’d adore to” (Parker 1). When she was first asked to dance, but shortly after, it is revealed what the woman feels. Parker shows this through the protagonist’s eyes by telling the reader “here [she] was sitting, feeling bad for the poor girl he was dancing with. And now I’m going to be the poor girl” (Parker 1). By Parker creating this

There are specific diction used for the internal monologue and external actions. For instance, in the women's internal monologue, it appears as if she's using colloquial diction because she comments on the man's poor dancing by stating “[f] or god's sake, don’t kick, you idiot…” (Parker 2). However, the woman's external actions it does not appear how she feels. Because, when she’s talking to the man, she is using a more polite and lady-like speech. For example, once he kicks her shin while dancing instead of telling him what he did or how much of a terrible dancer he is, she just responds with “[g]oodness, no. It didn’t hurt the least little bit” (Parker