The One Good Dress

When Paul D, Sethe, and Denver go to the carnival, they all dress differently. Sethe felt the need to dress well for her first social outing in years. Despite traveling to a all Black carnival day, Sethe feels the need to dress well using her only good dress. Sethe "felt obliged wear her one good dress, heavy as it was, and a hat. Certainly a hat." Sethe feels the need to look good and above her normal social standing for the carnival. This desire by Sethe to appear above her class demonstrates the disapirty between herself and the upper classes. Because Sethe is not actually of the upper classes, she is trying to appear as though she is, despite the discomfort of wearing a heavy dress in the hot summer. She goes further by being certain that she need to wear a hat. The focus on the hat demonstrates her desire to be seen as someone who has sense and is well off as there is a need to add a hat. This hat protects her from the sun and demonstrates that she is more frail and delicate than those of the lower classes.

Sethe's choice in her clothing demonstrates that there is a need to try to be above her status and to strive to join the upper classes. The social classes here are dysfunctional as there is a deep seated desire to attain the status of the upper classes with no feasible way of doing so. As such, the lower classes simply emulate the upper classes at their own expense and discomfort. A lack of social classes would create this need to inconvenience themselves.