ABSTRACT
In the folktale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the Queen stands before her mirror repeatedly asking who is the fairest woman of all. One mirror is her boyfriend, who is the reason a heroine primps. Another mirror is society, which holds up to heroines a standard of beauty that is almost impossible to attain. The dominant class defines what constitutes beauty through its ownership of the beauty/fashion complex and ability to consume on an immense scale. Heroines derive their models of feminine beauty from magazines. Several novels provide excellent glimpses into the dynamics underlying heroines’ transformation from plain to pretty. Heroines feel that no boy could possibly care for them as they are. As soon as they meet a potential boyfriend, they immerse themselves in rigorous beauty routines. Beautification is one of the ways in which women’s consciousness becomes centered in the body, with a focus on the physical self as a defining feature of femininity.
