One of the most effective learning approaches is through fictional and real-life narratives. Short stories have been used in the history of humanity to offer studying materials that allow students to connect emotionally with the texts and relate them with their experiences. The Egg and Bernice Bobs Her Hair are examples of narrations that attract human interest and, motivate learners to acknowledge universal themes and interpret life experiences from a personal perspective. However, writing short stories requires creativity, and the two texts use symbolism as a literary device, showing similarity in their application.
In the story The Egg, the narrator describes his encounter with the chicken egg, illustrating why it was selected as the object to distinguish failure and success. Throughout the plot, there is a simple conflict, the father’s struggles in achieving his dreams against external and internal barriers to excellence. The family’s chicken farm encounters certain challenges, such as diseases that prevent eggs from fully incubating while the hatched chicks struggle to survive. The father then tries out a restaurant business that later turns into an entertainment joint. The narrator emphasizes the parents’ frustrations and illustrates that his negative attitude towards life is from his experiences on a chicken farm and the eggs keep reminding him of failure.
The story’s primary literary device is symbolism, and the egg has been used as the object. The basic nature of the chicken product is binary because it can either be consumed as food or hatched into a chick, and the narrator uses the same analogy in comparing success and failure. Consequently, it represents the potential of success the father and mother had in their business plans. The family is in the dilemma of either selecting an egg or a chicken as their source of fortune. When the chicken business fails, the “egg” analogy follows them to their new restaurant, where the family still prepares it as a dish. Unfortunately, the customers do not love the delicacy, and the father is forced to entertain them. The egg symbolizes the possibility of a better life that the family keeps struggling to attain.
Bernice Bobs Her Hair bears some similarities with the first story with regards to the literary elements. The narration is about two young ladies who are cousins, Marjorie and Bernice, who finally meet in summer. The latter feels lonely in her initial days as a visitor and struggles to make a conversation with others. She overhears her cousin saying that she is boring and decides that she will change people’s perception of her. Bernice quickly becomes famous, but Marjorie dares her to bob her hair, which she does. However, she regrets this and cuts off her cousin’s braids out of revenge; Bernice’s visit ends in frustration and humiliation.
The similarity of Bernice Bob Her Hair and The Egg is in the use of hair as the element of symbolism. Both authors use the items to narrate the main characters’ experiences and the changes the symbols make in their lives. In this case, long hair represents feminism and the expectations the society had on women in that period as the bob cuts were only offered in male barbershops. Unfortunately for Bernice bobs her hair, which makes the entire town view her as defiant and a lady with loose morals. She is embarrassed about losing her womanhood, and since she cannot do anything to change this, Bernice cuts Marjorie’s hair as well due to her anger and revenge.
Short stories are perfect in offering life lessons everyone can relate to, and the two texts, The Egg and Bernice Bobs Her Hair are typical examples. To achieve the teaching objective, the authors employ literary devices in the brief narrations to help send the message effectively. Symbolism is one technique that the two stories have utilized to narrate the main characters’ awful experiences. Eggs have been used to represent the possibility of a better future, while hair is a symbol of womanhood and everything which is expected from a lady.