Themes In The Member Of The Wedding By Frankie Addams

In modern society, young women can personally choose how their lives will pan out. They can choose to pursue education at a college or work towards their careers. Or, they can choose to take a few years off of school to discover themselves and what they truly want. Other women may choose to get married or take care of their family. However, women's choices were not as wide and diverse in the 1940s, especially in rural or southern states. Many women would get married at a young age and become housewives and mothers, although women did realize they had more options when they began working during the war. In The Member of the Wedding, Frankie Addams is a 12-year-old girl in the American South who idealizes life outside of her small town and dreams …show more content…
Whenever Frankie discusses or thinks about the wedding, she mentions how it is in Winter Hill. Her obsession is in the fact that it is far away and will provide a connection with herself and the couple that is her brother and his fiancée. She latches onto them and insists that she loves them and that they will take her far away. This is evident when Frankie reveals to John Henry West that she plans on leaving town with her brother and his …show more content…
This does not necessarily work, as Frankie has to return home, but she does not stop idealizing people and other places. She eventually moves and also make a friend in another girl, which gives her both the sense of connection and also the excitement of moving to another place. This makes the reader wonder if this continued idealization of people and places will lead her to more disappointments and heartbreak, or if it will ultimately aid her in her dream of feeling