Analysis of Narrative Writing
through “The Red Dress”
Notes
Recap Questions

What is the narrator’s attitude towards:
◦ Her mother?
◦ High school?
◦ Lonnie?
Why doesn’t she want to go to the
dance? What is she nervous about?
 What does the narrator do before the
dance?

Vocab
Docility: easily handled
 Treadle: sewing machine operated by your
foot to put the machine in action
 Ferocious: intense anger
 Melodramatic: beyond dramatic;
overdramatic
 Irrelevant: not important, not applicable or
pertinent

Before

Narrator:
◦ Teenager
◦ Worried about others’ opinions
◦ Attitude towards mom- embarrassed and annoyed
by her, unappreciative, not nice
◦ Attitude towards Lonnie- jealous (we assume
Lonnie has money)

Mother:
◦ Indecisive
◦ Creeps around the house/the narrator’s life
◦ Gets an idea and doesn’t do much with it.
Before

Lonnie:
◦ Disguises how she really feels on the inside with
her physical appearance because she is prettier
◦ Privileged, vulnerable
◦ Do you think it is easier for her to play the part
because she is pretty?

Narrator & Lonnie:
◦ Talk about sex, love, and adult situations because
they are curious and inexperienced

Thesis: Story is leading up to the dress at
the Christmas party…action that is coming
During

Narrator:
◦ Self-conscious about her appearance (not as skinny
as she would like to be)
◦ Does not like high school
◦ She sees how cruel people can be if you’re different
◦ “Hungry laughter”- hungry to fit in; laughing
because everyone else is BUT she really thinks it’s
cruel
◦ Exposed to embarrassment, cruelty, social
competition, and sexual competition
◦ Doesn’t want to go to the dance…afraid of not
being asked to dance/not being sexually appealing
During

Narrator:
◦ Does her hair and makeup…thinks it will help
her keep up with her social world and fit in.
◦ Annoyed with her mom again
 Won’t leave them alone
 Copies the way they say goodbye
◦ Says thank you because she has to; doesn’t
mean it
◦ Very nervous; already engaged in sexual
competition with Lonnie…sees her as the
sexual being she wants to be herself.
During

The older girls:
◦ Seem like the most important guests
◦ Free to do what they wanted without criticism
◦ Viewed Grade 9 kids as invisible and inanimate
(not moving, living, breathing, etc)
◦ All had boyfriends
◦ Act like they are too good to be there
◦ Mason: teased her with a dance and walked
away
◦ Simile: “as offensive as having to memorize
Shakespeare.”
During

At the dance:
◦ Feeling ugly, alone, embarrassed, confused
◦ All of the other “ugly” girls are being danced with
◦ Her fears are being confirmed:
 She was afraid of rejection and got rejected
◦ Popular girls not even smiling
During

Mary Fortune comes along:
◦ Narrator sees confidence in her that she
doesn’t have but wants
◦ Doesn’t seem to like high school either
◦ Every girl she knows is boy crazy
◦ Ironic that the girl she is speaking to
(narrator) is actually the boy crazy girl
During
Mary suggests they leave and get coffee
 Narrator agrees:

◦ Made a new friend
◦ Nothing else to do at the dance because no
one is dancing with her
◦ Feels like she found someone who understands
her
◦ Narrator sees herself in Mary (Mary is older
and learned more by now)
During  After

“I was on my way to have a hot chocolate,
with my friend.”
◦ Why is this line significant?

As she is leaving, Raymond asks her to dance.
◦ Why is this the climax?
◦ What has changed or turned for the narrator at
this point?
 She was asked to dance/was approached AFTER she
stopped caring)
 Starts to think that maybe there isn’t anything wrong
with her.
Recap Discussion Questions
How did the narrator begin to change after
meeting Mary?
 Ultimately, why did the narrator decide not
to go with Mary?
 Are you disappointed with the narrator
after her decision? Were you expecting it?
 In the end, did she make the right decision?

Story Analysis

Second to last paragraph:
◦ Did you find her response to Raymond’s
invitation and to his “businesslike” kiss
believable? Why or why not?
Story Analysis

“Then he turned back to town, never
knowing he had been my rescuer, that he
had brought me from Mary Fortune’s
territory into the ordinary world.”
◦ Do you think the girl cares for Raymond, or is
she just relieved to be like everyone else? Why
do you think she finds it desirable to be ordinary
in an “ordinary world”? Why does the girl fear
Mary Fortune’s “territory”?
Story Analysis

“But when I saw the waiting kitchen, and my
mother in her faded, fuzzy Paisley kimono,
with her sleepy but doggedly expectant face,
I understood what a mysterious and
oppressive obligation I had, to be happy, and
how I had almost failed it, and would be
likely to fail it, every time, and she would
not know.”
◦ What is she trying to say here?
◦ Do you think she regrets not going with Mary?
Open-Ended Question

Through her experiences at the dance,
the narrator learns something about her
mother, about herself, about
other people, and about happiness and
unhappiness.
◦ Explain what the narrator learns?
◦ ** Remember to use the text for support.