Frankie And The Weddings - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction A Member of the Wedding is a coming of age story about Frankie, a young girl who, at the age of 12 and a half, is on the verge of adulthood, yet very much a young girl. Throughout the novel, a number of motifs become apparent, and the main ones deal with Frankie’s identity crises. Frankie has gender confusion, as her character of Frankie is very much a boy who cusses, wears boys clothing, has boy hair and is gangly. Frankie is both a boy and a child. Later, Frankie makes a conscious decision to become a girl, and an adult girl at that, as she changes her name to F. Jasmine and proceeds to try grown up things, like going to a bar and drinking, making a date with a much older military man, and dresses nicely with perfume. It is noticeable that both of these personas – Frankie and F. Jasmine – have the same obsession, which is to leave the town. In the end, Frankie seems to settle into her own identity of who she is in that moment, which is neither a boy, a woman, nor an adult, but is, in fact, an adolescent girl and it is only then that Frankie stops obsessing about leaving the town and settles into the normal life of schoolwork and hanging out with a best friend. Analysis Frankie Addams, while ostensibly a tomboy is also confused, as she is perched on the boundaries of childhood and adulthood, as well as straddling the lines between masculinity and femininity, while being subjected to sexuality that is presumably beyond her tender years. The masculine/feminine dichotomy is shown by the fact that Frankie has a boy’s name, and is, by all accounts, a tomboy, yet also puts on Sweet Serenade perfume (White, 1985, p. 89). In one scene, Frankie is cussing like a man, and threatening to shoot every person who said that she “smelled bad” with a pistol, then John Henry repeats that Frankie smelled like “a hundred flowers” because of her perfume (McCullers, 1946, pp. 610-611). The feminine side is further shown when Frankie dreams about changing her name to F. Jasmine Addams (McCullers, 1946, p. 616), although this name is still a blend of the masculine and feminine. The Jasmine part is definitively feminine. Yet calling herself “F. Jasmine Addams” denotes a certain sound of masculinity. According to Groba (1994), in quoting Simon de Beauvoir, this is to be expected when young girls who rebel against society and refuses to accept the roles that others have thrust upon her, yet does not have the courage to completely repudiate the roles. This leads the young girl to either take flight from reality, as Frankie did repeatedly throughout the novel, or to struggle with herself in an attempt to fit into one role or the other (Groba, 1994, p. 138). Certain critics have interpreted Frankie as a girl who has to decide whether to become a woman at all, stating that Frankie is “sexless” (White, 1985, p. 91). Of course, the word sexless does have a literal interpretation, as Frankie is most definitely a female. However, in a figurative way, according to these critics, Frankie is sexless in that, while she is biologically female, she rejects the female condition while substantially embracing the male role. Therefore, her biology displays one aspect, while the majority of her traits represent the male, so Frankie is neither male nor female, but on the border of both, which makes her sexless (White, 1985, p. 91). This in turn, according to other critics, is what causes Frankie to reject the thought of growing up, for, in growing up, Frankie would have to choose a role, and this is something of which Frankie is very much aware. Indeed, androgyny shows up in various places in the novel, not just in the character of Frankie, but also, to a certain extent, John Henry, who loved Frankie’s doll and in a story of “Lily Mae” a man who fell in love with another man and decided to change his sex (McCullers, 1946, p. 694). This fluidity of sexuality and gender roles is influenced by Carson herself who was, as is explained later in this paper, a bisexual who was married to another bisexual (Perry & Weaks, 2002, p. 401). Yet White (1985) argues that Frankie does desire to grow up, and be treated as such. For instance, Frankie rejects the doll that is given to her, essentially “re-gifting” the toy to John Henry, who shows a bit of androgyny of his own in embracing this doll and naming her “Belle” (McCullers, 1946, pp. 616-617). Of course, her rejection of the doll can be interpreted either as Frankie’s being insulted by the gift because it is a gift for a little girl and she wants to be considered a grownup, or can it can be interpreted as a rejection due to the fact that a doll is a gift for a girl, and Frankie, being a tomboy, has no interest in dolls. White also argues that Frankie’s desire to embrace adulthood is shown by her decision to change her name to F. Jasmine, which sounds more grownup (White, 1985, p. 92). Thus, the moniker “F. Jasmine” serves the dual role of symbolizing both Frankie’s decision to grow up, and Frankie’s decision to become more feminine and choose a side, so to speak. When Frankie changes her name to F. Jasmine, she vows to stop being “rough and greedy”, which refers to her tomboy ways, as Berenice admonished Frankie to quit being “rough, greedy and big” and urges her to put on a nice dress and catch her a beau (McCullers, 1946, p. 696). Her F. Jasmine is different from Frankie, a different persona. Frankie considered herself a “country mule”; F. Jasmine goes to a hotel, where Frankie the country mule would never have been welcome (McCullers, 1946, pp. 655-656). Frankie was ambivalent and confused about her brother’s wedding; F. Jasmine felt an integral part of the wedding and felt that the wedding was “familiar” (McCullers, 1946, p. 656). Frankie’s uniform was typical boys clothes, such as overalls, track shorts, and barefeet; F. Jasmine dressed up in a pink organdie dress, wearing lipstick and perfume (McCullers, 1946, p. 657). Frankie dreamed of getting away from the town, such as when she fantasized about going to Alaska with her brother (McCullers, 1946, p. 606); F. Jasmine went from dreaming about going away to actually announcing her plans to leave to her father, stating, in a very grown-up way that she would write him letters (McCullers, 1946, p. 659). F. Jasmine tastes beer, and went to a bar and flirted with a grown man, a soldier (McCullers, 1946, pp. 682-683); awkward Frankie would never have been brave enough to do such a thing. Perhaps the sudden change in consciousness was Frankie’s reaction to fear, and this fear manifested in the thought that she would grow up to be a 9 foot tall circus freak (McCullers, 1946, pp. 617-618). This was because Frankie, at 5 feet 5 at the age of 12, figured that mathematically if she kept growing at the rate that she had been growing, she would be 9 feet tall and she would be like the circus freaks that she saw coming to town. These freaks, with names like “The Giant”, “The Fat Lady”, “The Midget”, “The Wild Nigger”, “The Alligator Boy”, “The Pin Head” and “The Half-Man Half-Woman” at once repulsed and fascinating Frankie, as shown by the fact that she went to all the booths to observe these freaks, yet was afraid of them (McCullers, 1946, p. 619). This possibly represents the Frankie dichotomy about whether she would prefer to be a boy or girl, and whether she wants to grow up or stay a child. In each of these choices, there is a certain amount of fear and ambivalence, yet a fascination as well. Thus, her fascination and fear with the freaks parallels these other dichotomies. And, when Frankie states that the freaks probably would never get married (McCullers, 1946, p. 620), this is an expression of her fear that she would never get married either, if she became a freak like them, which also shows a fear that she might not be feminine enough to get married like her brother. So, she changes her attitude towards her brother’s impending wedding, argues White (1985), not only because she sees marriage as her destiny now, partly because she wants to escape the fate of the circus freak, and also partly because Frankie, in her persona as F. Jasmine, wants to be grown-up and feminine (White, 1985, p. 93). White also argues that Frankie’s prior ambivalence is not due to the lack of a mother, as Berenice fulfilled this role and, in her perceptivity, encouraged Frankie to find a beau, surmising, correctly, that Frankie was concerned about her own future as a woman, therefore would also naturally be concerned that she would never get married (White, 1985, p. 94). Indeed, Berenice at once represents Frankie’s ideal, as Berenice has never had trouble finding a man to be with, if not necessarily love (McCullers, 1985, p. 697), yet also represents a kind of grown up nightmare for Frankie the romantic idealist¸ as Berenice has been married to a variety of scoundrels, including an alcoholic; a crazy man who “swallowed a corner of the sheet”; and an abusive man who “gauged out Berenice’s eye and stole her furniture away from her” (McCullers, 1985, p. 629). Yet Berenice had also experienced true love for nine years with her first husband, Ludie Freeman (McCullers, 1985, p. 629). Therefore, Berenice represents two aspects of adulthood - one that Frankie would aspire to, as Berenice was attractive to men and did experience true love – and one that Frankie would fear, as Berenice did not have the best judgment when it came to men, which led her into many dysfunctional relationships. Berenice therefore was an argument for both of Frankie’s ambivalent sides - the side that wanted to stay a boy and a kid would find argument in the fact that Berenice’s adult relationships were not healthy, therefore pursuing these relationships would result in misery and pain, so it would be best to stay a child and not pursue these relationships; and the side that wanted to grow up and insure that she did remain a marriageless freak, the side that was named F. Jasmine, would find argument in the fact that Berenice did have a true love, and, if that love did not pass away, she would no doubt remain with her true love. There is yet another side of Frankie that, unlike F. Jasmine who desires to grow up and be a girl and marry, wants to grow up, yet be a boy so that she could join the Marines and join the war effort (McCullers, 1946, p. 623). In this incarnation, Frankie fantasizes about flying aeroplanes “and winning gold medals for bravery” (McCullers, 1946, p. 623). This fantasy therefore represents another degree of ambivalence in Frankie, as she is not necessarily content to marry and be feminine, as she has the ambition to join the war effort as a boy. Of course, this could also represent Frankie’s desire to be a part of something, which would make her feel more anchored to the world, and the war effort was an important one during this period of time. Therefore, her fantasy was that, if she could not actually fight in the war, she could contribute by giving blood, thus saving the lives of soldiers, who would find her and thank her for saving their lives (McCullers, 1946, pp. 624). However this fantasy, like so many of Frankie’s other fantasies, could not come true due to Frankie’s tender age, which only serves to make Frankie feel even more “left out of everything” (McCullers, 1946, p. 624). In the end, however, Frankie seemed to accept herself as she was – an adolescent girl. This change came when Frankie, now named Frances, was rejected by her brother and his new wife, as she wanted to go with them after they were married to wherever they were going, yet, of course, Frankie was left behind (McCullers, 1946, p. 772). Yet, in the end, Frankie settles in with a new best friend named Mary, with whom she attends a circus and does not visit the freaks, and her days are filled with school and Mary (McCullers, 1946, p. 790). Thus, her newest incarnation is Frances, who is neither a grown up girly girl like F. Jasmine, who seeks to get away, drinks alcohol in a bar and sets up a date with a military man; nor a child, like Frankie, who fears being a freak and dresses like a tomboy. Both F. Jasmine and Frankie longed to get away from the town; Frances does not seem to have that same obsession. Both F. Jasmine and Frankie lived in a fantasy world of their own choosing; Frances, with her rational focus on school and her new best friend, seems to live in reality. Frances represents a kind of acceptance that Frankie finds within herself, an acceptance of who she is in that place and time, thus eschewing both the past and future selves. And, in this acceptance, Frankie finds peace, as is evidenced by the fact that she no longer seeks to escape but is happy where she is. Perhaps Frankie was representative of Carson McCullers herself, as she was herself married to an alcoholic, while Carson also battled alcoholism, and her husband and Carson both were bisexual (Perry & Weaks, 2002, p. 401). Therefore, Carson has difficulties with her own sexuality, which is somewhat representative of Frankie’s desire to be both a boy and a girl, and her own relationship was far from ideal. This is possibly reflective of Frankie’s ambivalence to her brother’s wedding in the beginning, and Frankie’s ambivalence about growing up as well. Marriage is a thing that grown-ups do, and Carson, having experienced a dysfunctional marriage, much like Berenice, may have fantasized that she could have stayed a child and not gotten married, so this desire was transferred to Frankie. At the same time, Carson admitted that, even though she grew up in the South, she was restless and her small town “seemed to pinch and cramp my adolescent heart” (Perry & Weaks, 2002, p. 402). This is shown in Frankie’s characterization as a girl who had wanderlust in her heart, wanting to go to Alaska, to fight the war, and just to leave the town in general without a destination necessarily in mind. Yet another similarity that Carson had to Frankie is that, like Frankie, Carson dressed in a masculine manner, and had an androgynous nature, and, like Frankie, Carson was made to feel a freak for the way that she looked, as “some of the girls gathered in little clumps of femininity and threw rocks at her when she walked nearby, snickering loud asides and tossing within hearing distance such descriptive labels as ‘weird’, ‘freakish-looking’ and ‘queer’” (Perry & Weaks, 2002, p. 402). Therefore, it would seem that Frankie was the personification of many of the ambivalences and hurts that the author felt in life. Most striking is the fact that the other little girls in her neighborhood thought Carson was a freak and weird. This feeling is most likely the basis for Frankie’s thought that she would end up in the circus as a freak, and perhaps Carson, being taunted and called a freak herself, thought the same way about herself. Like Frankie, Carson desired to get away from the town, which is not surprising in view of how she was treated in that town. Carson probably felt the wanderlust because she wanted to escape the small-town cruelty, and that she instinctively knew that she would be better accepted in a big city like New York, which is where she especially dreamed of going (Perry & Weaks, 2002, p. 402). Therefore, that would provide another motivation for Frankie’s constant desire to leave the town, as Frankie feared being a freak and perhaps her desire to leave that town would be an attempt to run away from her fate, as Carson herself did. And, lastly, Carson felt ambivalence about her sexuality, desiring both men and women. Frankie, in her confusion about whether she wanted to be a girl or a boy personified Carson’s own ambivalence about her own sexuality. Even Carson’s name, which has a distinctly masculine sound to it, is similar to Frankie, as Frankie also has a masculine name. Thus, Carson’s masculine/feminine dichotomies are transferred to Frankie, which provides another window into Frankie’s character, as Frankie is representative of Carson herself. Conclusion Like Carson McCullers, Frankie has many confusions in her life. She cannot decide whether she wants to be a boy or girl, a grown up or a child. These confusions lead her to go from one extreme to the next – a boy child named Frankie, and an adult woman named F. Jasmine. However, in the end, Frankie finally decides that she is simply Frances, a normal young girl with a female best friend and schoolwork as a focus. It is only then that Frankie becomes satisfied enough about herself that her obsessions with leaving the town abate and she finally accepts her position of exactly where she is at - not in the past, nor the future, but the present. Thus the lesson is that, in order to be satisfied with one’s identity, it is necessary to live in the present and accept life as it is. Sources Used Groba, Constante (1994). “The Intolerable Burden of Femininity in Carson McCuller’s The Member of the Wedding and The Ballad of the Sad Café.” Atlantis XVI 1-2, pp. 133-148. McCullers, Carson (1946). The Ballad of the Sad Café. Perry, Carolyn and Mary Louise Weaks (2002). The History of Southern Women’s Literature. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. White, Barbara (1985). Growing Up Female: Adolescent Girlhood in American Fiction. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Read More