 the member of the wedding is a 1946 novel by southern writer carson mccullers. it took mccullers five years to complete (though she interrupted the work for a few months to write the short novel the ballad of the sad cafÃ©).mcdowell, margaret b. carson mccullers, boston, 1980 in a letter to her husband reeves mccullers, she explained that the novel was "one of those works that the least slip can ruin. it must be beautifully done. for like a poem there is not much excuse for it otherwise."quoted in carson mccullers:a life, josyane savigneau, london, 2001 she originally planned to write a story about a girl who is in love with her piano teacher, but she had what she called "a divine spark: "suddenly i said: frankie is in love with her brother and the bride... the illumination focused the whole book."letter to tennessee williams, quoted by josyane savigneau,carson mccullers: a life ==plot== the novel takes place over a few days in late august. it tells the story of 12-year-old tomboy frankie addams, who feels disconnected from the world; in her words, an "unjoined person." frankie's mother died when she was born, and her father is a distant, uncomprehending figure. her closest companions are the family's african american maid, berenice sadie brown, and her six-year-old cousin, john henry west. she has no friends in her small southern town and dreams of going away with her brother and his bride-to-be on their honeymoon in the alaskan wilderness. the novel explores the psychology of the three main characters and is more concerned with evocative settings than with incident. frankie does, however, have a brief and troubling encounter with a soldier. her hopes of going away are disappointed and, her fantasy destroyed, a short coda reveals how her personality has changed. it also recounts the fate of john henry west, and berenice sadie brown's future plans. ==critical interpretations== the member of the wedding is told from the point of view of frankie, who is a troubled adolescent. but for some critics it is a mistake to view the member of the wedding as simply a coming of age novelâa "sweet momentary illumination of adolescence before the disillusion of adulthood,"ali smith, introduction to the member of the wedding
1946_novels 1950_plays 1952_films 1997_films 20th-century_American_novels American_novels_adapted_into_films American_plays Broadway_plays Films_based_on_plays Novels_by_Carson_McCullers