The Graduation Dress Symbol Analysis

The graduation dress Ernestine sews for herself symbolizes the sense of self-sufficiency and confidence that she learns to cultivate. Lily teaches her that this kind of willpower and independence is necessary for Black women to embody if they want to take a stand against the racist power structures at play in the United States. In the very beginning of their relationship, Lily suggests to Ernestine that self-presentation matters because it’s a way to challenge the assumptions white people make about Black people—which is why Lily makes a point of buying clothes from the stores where wealthy white women shop, since outdressing these women can be a “subversive” act. In keeping with this, it’s noteworthy that Ernestine makes her own graduation dress. The effort she puts into it comes to represent the kind of self-made drive that she later applies to her college career, given that going to college in the first place was something that was out of reach for many Black women in the 1950s. And yet, Lily also says in a moment of anger that it doesn’t matter what Ernestine wears to graduation—a dress in and of itself, she argues, won’t make Ernestine successful. What will make her successful, though, is the self-sufficiency and personal agency that drives Ernestine to make her own dress in the first place. In turn, the dress comes to stand for the resourcefulness and resilience that ultimately enable Ernestine to break down racial barriers and strive toward unprecedented success.