Analyzing Adolescence Through Frankie Addams

Honors English III

Whalen

11 October 2013

Analyzing Adolescence through Frankie Addams

"'Here we are- right now. This very minute. Now. But while we're talking right now, this minute is passing. And it will never come again. Never in all the world. When it is gone it is gone. No power on Earth could bring it back again. It is gone.’” (McCullers 121) Within this quote from Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding, Frankie Addams is expressing her foremost fear of shedding her childhood and becoming an adult. During this age of adolescence, Frankie, a bold, twelve year old girl, displays an array of emotions throughout the novel that depict the difficulties involved with growing up and discovering one's identity. Taking place during the 1940’s, The Member of the Wedding also demonstrates the societal laws and influences that are factors that result in the fact that Frankie is always under pressure. Carson McCullers portrays the confusion of adolescence through Frankie Addams as she struggles to balance discovering her own identity while attempting to fit into the society around her.

Frankie's discomfiture and confusion of adolescence is portrayed partly through her unrealistic imaginations. This can be seen when Frankie visits the fair, where there is a "freak exhibit" displayed consisting of people with abnormal or strange talents. She then begins to anxiously worry that she will become a freak herself and predicts that she will grow to be over nine feet tall (White 126). Within this unrealistic depiction of reality, it is evident that Frankie is uncomfortable with her own identity and believes that she is an outcast from the society around her. Frankie's naive and unrelenting imagination is portrayed again when she describes her ideal fantasy world. The fabricated world consists of a specific island that holds all war, nonexistent racism, and the freedom of choosing one's own gender (White 135). Berenice, the Addams' maid and often the voice...