The Member Of The Wedding Analysis

Shinji Lin
Dr. Beagle
Honors English (P4)
March 8, 2016
The Strange Case of a Girl Named Addams
In Carson McCullers’ novella The Member of the Wedding, Frankie Addams, the 12-year-old protagonist, undergoes puberty and matures throughout the story. She is fearful and disconnected in the first part of the novel. However in Part Two, she fabricates a connection with Jarvis and Janice, her brother and his fiancée, and changes her name to F. Jasmine to match the J A of their names. Finally in Part Three, she finds herself speechless at the couple’s wedding and loses the connection, but develops into a young woman by the name of Frances. The three names of the Addams girl represent a different outlook and stage in the course of the novella.
Jasmine to match the J A names of Jarvis and Janice, her brother and his fiancée, and she has developed a purpose, a sense of connection, and a feeling of self-confidence. When Frankie was uncertain of what she would become, F. Jasmine currently has a clear goal. Previously in Part One, she concluded that Jarvis and Janice “are the we of me. Yesterday, and all twelve years of her life, she had only been Frankie. She was an I person who had to walk around and do things by herself” (42). By realizing how she can be included somewhere, Frankie becomes F. Jasmine. She splits herself from Frankie, as though the past twelve years never happened, but she has a more positive outlook on life. While Frankie was unsure most of the time, F. Jasmine is more secure with her role in the world. After she has her epiphany to run away with Jarvis and Janice after their wedding, she believes she knows what she will do in life. The two identities of the Addams girl are clearly different: “the old Frankie of yesterday . . . had been puzzled, but F. Jasmine did not wonder anymore; already she felt familiar with the wedding for a long, long time” (50). Many times, Frankie had been confused and unsure about why she was in the world. Now, her brother’s wedding and honeymoon have given her something to look forward to in life, as F. Jasmine feels that she is part of their marriage and in a greater sense, part of the world of
Jasmine ceases to exist and changes to Frances when she is unable to convey her desire to run away with Jarvis and Janice at the wedding, yet truly begins to grow up into an adult. At first, she is distraught at not being able to tell the couple her dream, however, she is determined to leave home and runs away the night she returns from the wedding. Frances “would show them. The wedding had not included her, but she would still go into the world. Where she was going she did not know; however, she was leaving town that night” (149). In contrast to Frankie who would think and speak of leaving, Frances is a proactive girl. She finally takes action and follows her wish to leave her home. While she is departing, Frances has an epiphany about sexual encounters in her former lives. She “recalled the silence in the hotel room . . . a fit in a front room, the silence, the nasty talk . . . these separate recollections fell together in the darkness of her mind . . . in a flash there came in her an understanding” (155). Differing from the naïve Frankie and F. Jasmine, Frances suddenly realizes past events that had to do with sex. This conveys her maturation as she recognizes an aspect of adult life. In addition to discovering what sex is, Frances becomes more realistic about her plans to run away from home. Before Frances departs, she comes up with a plan to go to Hollywood or join the Marines. However, she is picked up by the police