“In literature, the theme always expresses a point-of-view on some aspect of the human condition” (Beck, Dirk). The human condition Alice Munro’s the “Red Dress” alludes to is the theme of conformity. Conformity shows itself in the form of an adolescent girl’s mother, the magazines the nameless narrator and her friend read, and an outlier who shows a person can be happy without conforming. The narrator’s mother is a woman who doesn’t care about the way she comes across, at the same time has the desire to fit in. The mother uses her daughter as a way to live the life she couldn’t. She dresses her daughter in clothes she wishes she could’ve worn at her daughter's age. She interacts with the narrator’s friend—Lonnie—in a way that almost suggests
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Mary represents the idea that one does not need to conform to be happy. Mary faces the same “defeat” as the narrator, yet sees a bright future ahead, filled with happiness and possibility. The narrator gets a different perspective of how to live her life with the help of Mary and all she stands for.
In the “Red Dress - 1946” magazines perpetuate society's expectations as well as tell young woman on ways to conform. The magazines suggest on how to behave around boys, inform them on what to expect from their bodies (in a sexist and stereotypical manner), also why husbands “seek satisfaction away from the home.” These magazines provide questionnaires that educate the narrator on whether she and her friend have the right personality that makes one popular.
These magazines recommend to the narrator on how to change herself to fit society’s expectation of what a young woman should look like. This concept is one of the reasons the narrator is jealous of her friend Lonnie. Lonnie fits criteria that society has told these young woman on what makes a person beautiful. The narrator describes herself as “a great raw lump, clumsy and goose-pimpled,” and illustrates Lonnie as “light-boned, pale and thin.” She heavily compares herself to Lonnie and longs to look like her. In an attempt to look like the magazines tell her to, she does her hair up in curlers in hopes the “female ritual” with to aide her. All “suggestions” on how to behave pressure the young narrator into thinking that she needs to conform to live a proper and happy
Mary represents the idea that one does not need to conform to be happy. Mary faces the same “defeat” as the narrator, yet sees a bright future ahead, filled with happiness and possibility. The narrator gets a different perspective of how to live her life with the help of Mary and all she stands for.
In the “Red Dress - 1946” magazines perpetuate society's expectations as well as tell young woman on ways to conform. The magazines suggest on how to behave around boys, inform them on what to expect from their bodies (in a sexist and stereotypical manner), also why husbands “seek satisfaction away from the home.” These magazines provide questionnaires that educate the narrator on whether she and her friend have the right personality that makes one popular.
These magazines recommend to the narrator on how to change herself to fit society’s expectation of what a young woman should look like. This concept is one of the reasons the narrator is jealous of her friend Lonnie. Lonnie fits criteria that society has told these young woman on what makes a person beautiful. The narrator describes herself as “a great raw lump, clumsy and goose-pimpled,” and illustrates Lonnie as “light-boned, pale and thin.” She heavily compares herself to Lonnie and longs to look like her. In an attempt to look like the magazines tell her to, she does her hair up in curlers in hopes the “female ritual” with to aide her. All “suggestions” on how to behave pressure the young narrator into thinking that she needs to conform to live a proper and happy