Frankie has problems with discovering her true self and establishing her identity. "The reflection in the glass was warped and crooked, but Frankie knew what she looked like" (2). She doesn't like the way she looks and she believes that if she was shorter, her legs were smaller, her hair longer, and her shoulders wider, she would be truly happy (2). She is afraid of the dark and decides she will "not let things make her sad and she would not care" (24). She feels her "heart is divided like two wings" (42).
Frankie is lonely, because her best friend Evelyn has moved away, her father is always working at his jewelry store, and her foster brother Honey only appears briefly (23). Her only confidantes are her cook, Berenice and her six year old cousin, John Henry. "The three of them sat at the kitchen table, saying the same things over and over, so that by August the words began to rhyme with each other and sound strange" (1). She gets tired of talking to and having to entertain John Henry, but she won't let him leave when he wants to, for fear of not having anyone else to talk to (7). If her mother had survived giving birth to her, Frankie would have adapted better to her surroundings much better, because she could ask her mom for advice about how she dealt with being a teenage girl.
Frankie is desperate for attention, even mailing her older brother candy while he was in Alaska, just for the chance that he will write her a thank-you note (5). Frankie is jealous that her older brother is getting married and is able to leave their small town while she is stuck there (2). She believes her brother and his betrothed "have a good time every minute of every day" (3). She wants to run away with them and not "return after the wedding" (5). Berenice tells Frankie, "You're going crazy. That's where you going" (34).
Frankie lives in what she feels, is the most boring town on the planet and she believes "The world seem to die each afternoon and nothing moved any longer" (1). She starts getting anxiety and claustrophobia, and tells Berenice and John Henry "the world is certainly a (small) sudden place"(4). She points out "The irony of fate," because the butterflies want to be near her windows on her house, instead of "flying anywhere" (11-12). She doesn't see any value in her own surroundings. She wishes she "could tear down the whole town" (23).
Frankie needs an adventure. She talks of going to exotic places and having new experiences, she wouldn't have if she stayed in her hometown (21). She is jealous that John Henry has seen snow, when she hasn't (7). She once saw a freak show at the fair and feels like she could fit in with that group (17). Like many kids her age, her boredom leads her to look for entertainment and excitement. She tries shoplifting, shooting guns at still objects, and a fascination with holding, throwing, and thinking of mutilating her feet with sharp kitchen knives (23-26). She recognizes that there is a restless "feeling in her" (38). When she gets that feeling, she hits "herself on the head with her fist" (41).
Frankie doesn't like her name. She is "sick and tired of being Frankie" (20). She changes her name to F. Jasmine, to be like her brother Jarvis and his bride Janice (15). She was mad at her father all summer, because he wouldn't let her share his bed anymore when she got scared at night, but now with her new personality and name, she is not mad at him anymore (46-47). Berenice tries to tell her the importance of having a good reputation based on her name, but she refuses to listen, and thinks everything associated with her name is meaningless (108).
F. Jasmine does things the old Frankie would never do, like hanging out and drinking beer at an adult bar called the Blue Moon and talking to men who are way older than she is, even making a date with one soldier (64-66). She insists that she isn't pretending and she "wanted only to be recognized for her true self" (56). She even imagines what people will say when they see her doing something in her new life (60).
Like her old self, F. Jasmine has severe emotional problems. She is overly dramatic, emotionally unstable, and obsessed with the wedding. F. Jasmine claims to be not afraid of dark anymore and she threatens to kill herself if the escape at the wedding doesn't go exactly as she plans (75). When Uncle Charles dies the day before the wedding, she worries about how his death will affect the wedding (71).
F. Jasmine seems fascinated with other people's lives while on the verge of destroying her own. She wants to know "everybody in the world," (110), probably to get their stories and pass them off as a part of her new identity. She wants her freedom and thinks if she has nothing to worry about, she will be free. Berenice tries to let her know that "We go around trying one thing or another, but we caught anyhow" (114). When she later tries to run away, she writes, "Please Papa don't try to capture me," (141) in her note.
Ultimately, when anyone's life doesn't go the way they plan or they get let down in some way, they feel a certain degree of hopelessness and depression. When it happens to F. Jasmine, she again adopts a new personality in which she calls Frances, which is probably is her given name at birth. This personality is very bitter, wanting "the whole world to die" (135) and "hates everyone and wants only to spite and shame" (136).
Frances pushes away all the people she cares about and tells them "All I wish in the world is for no human being ever to speak to me so long as I live" (140). I'm sure that many teenagers have utter that exact phrase to their parents somewhere in the world, after such an event. Berenice assures Frances she will overcome her despair, find new friends, keep her dreams until the right time, and move on with her life (140), like everyone else in the world.
Whether her name is Frankie, F. Jasmine, or Frances, she is still a relatable character for people who have gone through the troubled teenaged years and have survived. Carson McCullers writes the development of the protagonist's personality in this book as realistic. The tone of the town and the main characters are set like people who could be living in the same town and having some of the similar experiences as John Singer and Mick Kelly in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. In this novel, McCullers gives us more stream of consciousness and we are able to tell more of what the character is feeling on the inside and how her brain breaks down, making Frankie more relatable.
Source
McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. Houghton Mifflin: Boston. 1946.
No comments:
Post a Comment