Response to Christina Kettering's "Dress Rehearsal"

Christina Kettering’s “Dress Rehearsal” is about the relationship between two sisters who are very close in age. Kate, the older sister, feels overshadowed by her younger sister, Diana. This sense of being overshadowed leads Kate to feel very sensitive about her personal identity. Interestingly enough, this dynamic is the opposite of what is expected, for normally, in stories about identity dealing with siblings, it is normally the older sibling who overshadows the younger sibling. This worrying about her identity leeches into several aspects of Kate’s life, including her friendship with Sean and her responsibilities in the school play. Eventually, the worrying becomes too much, and Kate must assert who she is as a person. However, this assertion finally allows her to rest firmly in her own identity.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. It revolved around a good storyline, which was interesting and compelling. The images and descriptions were wonderful throughout, and were often inventive. One of my favorite images is the description of the dress Diana tries on: “The white dress was lumpy in all the wrong places, like cottage cheese.” Not only were the descriptions done well, but the characterization was also superb. It was obvious from the narration that Kate and Diana are very close and care about each other. For example, the scene where Kate clears a space for her sister on her bed reveals that the two are confidants to each other. This characterization made the story even more compelling, because it is interesting that Kate doesn’t like always been compared and associated with her sister, when obviously the two are very close, as well as very similar.

That being said, there are also some things I would like to see worked on in order to clear up some questions that remained after reading the story. First of all, the ending felt a bit rushed. Though the idea of identity is introduced on page four, by the time the story begins actually expanding on that idea and running with it, the story begins to end. I’d like to see the issue of identity being dealt with in more depth earlier in the story. Also, as far as identity goes, I’d like to know more about Kate. The main source of conflict is Kate’s animosity towards always being confused or compared with her sister. Yet, there really isn’t any description that distinguishes Kate from Diana in the reader’s mind. Sure, Kate says that she’s “a year older, a foot taller, and [she has] red hair,” but because the reader doesn’t really know what Diana looks like, there really isn’t any separation between the two characters. Also, Kate always defines her identity in terms of her sister. When she makes her assertion on page seven, she says, “I’m Diana’s sister, her older sister. I’m the tall one, the responsible one, the redhead.” All of these things are in comparison to her sister, which is exactly what she is trying to escape. If she is so concerned about her own identity, I feel like her own descriptions of herself should come apart from descriptions of her sister.