Dressing Up For The Carnival Summary

Dressing up for the Carnival is a short story by Carol Shields. The message communicated by the author was that in everyday life, people tend to conceal their genuine personality by exhibiting an illusion of the persona that they wish to be viewed as by their surrounding society. In this particular case the characters use physical props as their “costume”. Some characters use these props as a costume because they provide a sense of comfort. A character from this story would be X. X is an anonymous middle aged citizen. His prop is his wife’s lace-trimmed nightgown. He is careful to only wear this when no one is home, and usually after the sun goes down so that nobody would be able to see him. The nightgown provides him with comfort because he
Notably, the youngest character in the story: 10 year-old Mandy uses her brother’s helmet because it provides her with more confidence. In the few minutes Mandy is running to unite the football helmet to his brother, she feels as though she is her brother. Her brother, Ralph Eliot is the best halfback of the school team, and he is always praised. By taking this helmet, she feels like she is an amazing football player who is always admired, and it gives her adrenaline to get to the stadium faster. Additionally, the character of Mr.Gilman used a bouquet of yellow daffodils as his prop, and it gave him more confidence. Mr. Gilman is an 80 year old man who was self-conscious about his missing tooth, watery eyes, and his wobbly chin. In order to please his daughter-in-law, he bought a bouquet of bright yellow daffodils. The bouquet of daffodils was his prop to gain more confidence. When he walked around town with this bouquet, he felt more important, and more wanted because more people acknowledged him. In the text they mention, “He [Mr.Gilman] received more courteous attention, such quick service. The eyes of strangers appear friendlier than usual.” (Gilman