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How Does Frankie Addams Create Identity In The Member Of The Wedding

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Frankie Addams is a twelve year old girl caught in the awkward transition between a child and an adult. Frankie is the main character in Carson McCullers’ novel The Member of the Wedding. This novel has many themes, including discomforts of adolescence, coming-of-age, marriage, identity, and belonging. During the three days in the novel, Frankie makes some big changes. Discomforts of adolescence is a major theme in this novel. Frankie is at a very awkward age, and she is struggling with her youth. Her feelings are described as sad, depressed, and lost. McCullers showed the difficulty in growing up as an out-cast. “Frankie had become an un-joined person who hung around in doorways, and she was afraid” (McCullers 3). Frankie feels disconnected …show more content…

Frankie tries to create an identity for herself by changing her name. She changes her name a couple times in the novel. The first change is from Frankie to F. Jasmine. Frankie is so in love with the wedding what she wants her name to match her brother’s name, and his fiancée’s name. “’J A,’ she said. ‘Janis and Jarvis … isn’t that the strangest thing? ... Both their names begin with J A … if only my name was Jane or Jasmine ... Jarvis and Janie and Jasmine’” (McCullers 17). Frankie is convinced that changing her name to F. Jasmine will bring her closer to the wedding. “So sure is she that changing her name to ‘F. Jasmine’ will imbue her with the essence of the wedding that she imagines all three of its ‘members’ tied together” (Pingree 83). She believes that this name will make her a part of the wedding, and will give her a since of identity. Her second name change is from F.Jasmine to Frances. Her brother makes fun of her change to F. Jasmine, and calls her by her little kid nickname “Fankie”, from when her bike ran into a car and the paper called her Fankie Addams. She changes her name to Frances after John Henry’s death. Frankie will develop her own identity by growth, not through name

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