The Importance of Family in McCullers' The Member of the Wedding

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The Importance of Family in McCullers' The Member of the Wedding

"I don't need my mother or my father anymore. I am a teenager, who needs them? I can definitely live on my own." Carson McCullers wrote a novel, The Member of the Wedding (1946), which put a twelve-year-old girl, Frankie, in the situation of leaving her family and hometown. After last year, her best friend moved away and she was left alone. She used to be very popular and hung out in all of the clubhouses around town. Now, she was not invited to any of them. Frankie is also very jealous of her older brother and his fiancé because they get to travel all over the world. At their wedding, she plans to go off with them, and explore the world as three. Her father's helper, Berenice Sadie Brown, who is an African-American, tries to explain why she needs to stay here with her father. Not listening, she packs her bags with all of her belongings, and waits for the wedding.

The wedding is celebrated an hour away from her hometown, so they are going to travel on a train. Every night, she would think about the long train ride over, but knew in the end, she would be away from the awful town. John Henry, her six-year-old cousin, always follows her around everywhere that she goes. He told her that he was running away with her, where ever she decided to go. After realizing that her brother was not going to let her stay with them, she runs away into the night. J...

... middle of paper ...

...d pretty much helped Frances change her mind as well. Now, all she wanted was to be with her father.

Carson McCullers wrote an extraordinary novel called, The Member of the Wedding. This novel shows real life situations to a teenager's mind. Frankie hated the town she lived, and hated living with her father. She wanted to explore the world at the age of twelve. Finally, after all of the obstacles she went through, she realized that family is exactly what she needed in her life at that moment. Although some teenager may not understand, family is one of the most important things that anyone will ever have in their life.

McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. Boston: Haughton Mifflin Company.

1973.

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