Brandon's Analysis of "When Nice Ain't So Nice"

Brandon Harris
Professor Spencer/SWILUA
Writing 150H
25 October 2011
Infiltrating the Cult of Niceness

The concept of “niceness” is valued highly in Mormon culture, but what does niceness actually entail? In Eloise Bell’s work “When Nice Ain’t So Nice,” she effectively argues to a Mormon audience that the concept of niceness is vastly overrated and possibly quite destructive. She accomplishes this through use of allusions, contradictions from expectations, and metaphors.

Bell uses allusion to reiterate and emphasize her points by using a source other than herself. For instance, when she is trying to emphasize the particular dangerousness of the nicest women, she quotes Shakespeare’s saying, “Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” Through this reference to an external literary work, Bell effectively links her idea about the potentially brutal nature of nice women to William Shakespeare, widely considered to be the greatest playwright of all time, which strengthens her argument.

More instances of allusion in Bell’s work come when she uses phraseology that her Mormon audience would recognize as a famous phrase from scripture. As an example, when describing how the concept of niceness hampers self-discovery through likening the true self to wicked desires that should be repressed, Bell refers to the “Natural Man (and thus an enemy of God),” referencing a very popular term among Mormons originating from the Book of Mormon, which states that “[t]he natural man is an enemy to God.” In referencing a scripture which virtually all Mormons know, Bell succeeds in tying her point that niceness distracts from the journey of self-discovery with what her Mormon audience will consider to be one of the most reputable sources in existence.

In addition to allusions, Bell uses examples that demonstrate a contradiction between expectations based on appearance and reality. She does this in order to demonstrate that the appearance niceness gives is in stark contrast to its true nature and effect on people’s emotions. One set of examples Bell used was a group of serial killers and otherwise morally reprehensible individuals who, according to all descriptions, were very nice people. The clear contradiction between their horrible actions and their nice appearance serves well to introduce Bell’s point that niceness does not necessarily indicate internal charity towards other people and, as she tries to show later, could easily cause a lack thereof.

Another example of this that she gives is BYU students. When the appearance of niceness is expected, as in direct interaction with other people, she describes the students as “neatly dressed, smiling youths who hold doors open for each other and walk clear across campus to turn in stray Number Two pencils to the Lost-and-Found depository.” However, this is in contrast to the hostility of students in their letters to the editor of the student newspaper, a case where they don’t know the person with whom they’re interacting. Bell says that the letters “drip with innuendo, invective, and scripture-laden scourging.” A difference clearly exists between the way the students behave to those within the protection of niceness and the strangers who provide a nice outlet for their pent-up frustration. Her Mormon audience is particularly swayed by this example because they probably know many youths who fit that external description exactly.

Finally, Bell uses metaphors to help her audience understand how the seeming contradictions she demonstrates could come about. She uses one such metaphor by describing self-discovery as a journey undertaken by a hero beset by many demons such as pride, avarice, and, of course, niceness. This helps the audience to understand how niceness distracts from self-discovery by pointing out that niceness seeks the promotion of a false persona and attempts to smother self-expression. Coming from a culture where metaphors are frequently used to describe the intangible, the Mormon readers access Bell’s points more easily by the inclusion of such metaphors.

Continuing to draw on her LDS audience’s familiarity with metaphors, Bell begins her next metaphor with the phrase, “permit me a metaphor.” Similarly to her previous one, it represents the quest to discover one’s self. However, in this one, the person seeking the inner self is represented by a queen searching for her abducted child. Niceness enters the scene by replacing her child with a “nicer” one and insisting that the queen is selfish and ridiculous for continuing to search for her real child. This metaphor elaborates even further on how niceness attempts to counterfeit personality, and it effectively conveys this to the audience.

In conclusion, Eloise Bell effectively conveys to her Mormon audience that niceness can hinder self-discovery and possibly be a factor in pent-up anger vented towards strangers, which she accomplishes through use of allusions, contradictions, and metaphors. Because of her effective use of these tools, her LDS audience will have to question the very niceness so prevalent in Mormon culture.