Word Choice And Themes In Dorothy Parker's 'The Waltz'

(QUOTE) American actress Paget Brewster once said, “Oh, my dating skills are the worst. No, I pick the wrong men; it 's amazing. I am awful, the worst dater.” Some people are bad at picking relationships, like Paget Brewster, while some relationships are bad, or not worth the effort. Dorothy Parker’s short story, “The Waltz,” takes place in the 1930’s, and is about a woman who dances with a bad partner with whom she would rather not dance. She cannot tell the truth about her anger because women were more socially oppressed in the 1930’s.Dorothy Parker uses word choice and tone to show that relationships are not worth the effort. One way Dorothy Parker shows that relationships are not worth the effort through word choice. An example of the word choice that shows that relationships aren’t worth the effort is the external dialogue versus the internal dialogue. An excerpt from “The Waltz” that shows this is, “WHY, thank you so much. I’d adore to. I don’t want to dance with him,” (page 1). The contrast between the external and internal dialogue shows a lot. She doesn’t want to dance with him, but society in the time period this story takes place doesn’t allow her to speak her true feelings. She has to be polite and follow the stringent rules of society. The relationships aren’t worth it because she can’t express herself and be herself because she is a woman. Another example of word choice that shows that relationships aren’t worth the effort is the more sophisticated words and