The Member of the Wedding

McCullers’ novella, Member of the Wedding, follows Frankie Addams through a series of events that initiate her into adolescence. Frankie is quite imaginative, and thinks that she is also very independent; however, McCullers, once again, captures the anguish and loneliness that marginalized figures endure. Rough, gangly, and bossy are all words that accurately describe the character of Frankie; she is different or, in the words of McCullers, quite “queer.” She receives male influence from her father, Jarvis, and John Henry, but, with the exception of Berenice, her life is void of any female guidance. In fact, she is chastised by the other girls because of her boyish appearance, and is forced to play with her cousin, John Henry. Frankie does not belong to any “group” like all of the other girls her age do.

Frankie’s need to belong to something else leads her to announce that she will be joining her brother, Jarvis, and his wife, Janice, as the third member of their wedding. Throughout the novella, McCullers toys with the “we of me” notion through the character of Frankie. When Frankie hears the other girls say “we” they are referring to their social group, or whenever the housekeeper, Berenice, says “we” she could be talking about the people at her church, Honey, or even African Americans as a whole. Frankie does not belong to any social group, nor does she identify with anyone based solely on her gender or skin color. She does, however, deeply love her brother, and quickly comes to admire Janice simply because her brother does. Therefore, Frankie constructs a world where she belongs to an actual group, but because of her age, she fails to realize what marriage entails: Jarvis is startling his own family—without Frankie.

Throughout McCullers’ work, Frankie fights boredom by conjuring up elaborate stories to keep her occupied. She not only pretends to give blood to help the troops, but she also pretends to join the army in order to fight the Nazis in WWII. Despite the chimerical scenarios that she comes up with, she also experiences treatment from men that help her to realize her own transformation from a girl to a young adult. In one scene a solider invites her to dance, but, later that night, attempts to rape her. Frankie, never the one to meet a stranger, agrees to go dancing with the solider because she delights in having someone take interest in her; however, that notion quickly dissolves when she realizes his deeper sexual motives. Another important scene is when Frankie’s father hurts her feelings by referring to her long legs, and asking her why she still wants to sleep in the same bed as him? Frankie is no longer the little innocent girl she used to be; she is growing up, and being pushed out of her comfort zone.

Frankie’s manner of speech and fanciful scenarios strike me as Gothic. She seems fascinated by blood, suffering, and war, and is also quick to threaten anyone by saying she will murder them if they don’t do whatever she says. Additionally, throughout the work, death claims the lives of three people in Frankie’s community: John Henry, Frankie’s uncle, and an unidentified African American man. The deaths remind Frankie of life’s fragility and also contribute to the evolution in her maturity by the end of the work.

Frankie’s inability to identify with any one group during her early adolescence has led many critics to argue that The Member of the Wedding is a lesbian coming-of-age story. I believe that this line of reasoning is viable; I do not, however, agree with those who try to apply the same theory to the character of Mick Kelly from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Whereas Mick is tomboyish and misunderstood, Frankie is utterly confused. If Frankie does harbor any homosexual feelings, she has no outlet or means to express them. Many examples can be listed to argue that Frankie is homosexual: her aversion to sexually promiscuous behavior with the strange solider, her references to a sexual encounter she had with a boy as a vile act, and her close associations with girls who offer their friendship to her. On the other hand, Frankie can be interpreted as a girl without any female influence, who is simply emulating the behavior of her father and brother: the two people she absolutely venerates. Although Frankie’s sexual orientation and gender can be viewed as forces that oppress her, Berenice manages to accurately describe her situation by stating “we all of us somehow caught.”