It was a guillotine indeed, and the hangman was the first barber, who, attired in a white coat and smoking a cigarette, leaned nonchalantly against the first chair.

In the above passage, what is Fitzgerald’s primary purpose in using the guillotine metaphor?

to make the act of the haircut seem more ominous

to foreshadow how the haircut will affect Bernice

to introduce the barber as a dangerous man

The given excerpt is taken from "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a short story written in 1920. The story was first published in May 1920 in the Saturday Evening Post.

The story is about a wealthy girl named, Bernice. In the month of August, she pays a visit to her cousin's house, Marjorie. Bernice is unattractive and no boy wants to dance with her. Her cousin then teaches how to be a 'society girl' and teaches her how to flirt with boys. After learning all these manners, Bernice becomes talk of the society specially among boys. Warren who was first interested in Bernice cousin, Marjorie, shifts his interest to Bernice. Jealous of this, Marjorie, tricks Bernice in bobbing her hair. After the hair-cut, Bernice again become less attractive to boys. There's a party held in the honor of Marjorie and her mother, so, Bernice decides to leave before the party. But before leaving, she sneaks into the room of Marjorie and cuts her braids.

In the given passage, Fitzgerald used the metaphor of 'guillotine' to foreshadow that this haircut is going to have an effect on Bernice.

'Guillotine' is a tool used to behead criminals.

This use of metaphor shows that Bernice is now going to be beheaded and this is going to impact Bernice's social life again.

So, the correct answer is second option.