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Marjorie is a sly antagonist. She is a smart young woman of privilege and understands how to wield the power she has within her friend group and over her cousin. Marjorie has some admirable attributes, such as her willingness to buck cultural norms to live her life as she pleases. She is forthright and opinionated. However, she can also be cruel, thoughtless, and petty. Marjorie intuitively understands that her entire social life is a performance, and it is one that she is willing to participate in. Her success sets her up as a natural leader, though her motivations for guiding Bernice are intrinsically selfish.

Marjorie is always in a position of power in relation to Bernice, which allows her to support Bernice until it becomes inconvenient. By assigning and building the role that Bernice inhabits, Marjorie knows the weaknesses that are inherently at play. She is able to cast aspersions on the very promise she maneuvered Bernice into making about her hair. In forcing Bernice’s hand by calling out her bluff, she demonstrates the power she holds, putting Bernice into an untenable position with either choice Bernice makes. After the haircut goes badly, and the promise of it fizzles, Marjorie offers to repair the damage she forced Bernice to self-inflict. This offer is an attempt to keep Bernice under her thumb and keep the distribution of power between the two girls in check. However, Marjorie fails to anticipate an alternate outcome, one in which Bernice can possibly gain more ground than she has lost. In this miscalculation, Marjorie leaves herself vulnerable to great injury, and she loses her hair, an important symbol of her power.

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