The Member of the Wedding (Plot Summary)

Plot Summary

Act I

The setting is the kitchen and yard of a house in a small southern town in August, 1945. It is late afternoon. Berenice, the black cook, serves drinks to her employer, Mr. Addams; his son, Jarvis; Jarvis’s fiancee, Janice; and his daughter, Frankie, a twelve-year-old girl with short-cropped hair. Also present is Frankie’s seven-year-old cousin John Henry. Jarvis has brought Janice home to meet his family. Mr. Addams tells them that Frankie has been talking non-stop about the wedding since Jarvis announced the engagement. Taking a sip of lemonade with liquor in it, Frankie awkwardly tries to get attention by imitating a drunk. Janice notices music coming from a nearby clubhouse and, when she asks Frankie about it, the girl tells her she is not yet a member of that group.

After everyone leaves, Berenice accuses Frankie of being jealous of Jarvis and Janice. Berenice, Frankie, and John Henry play a game of three-handed bridge. Frankie talks about her mixed feelings regarding the wedding. The bridge game takes an odd turn when Frankie and Berenice realize that John Henry has cut out the pictures of the jacks and queens. Frankie gets frustrated with him and sweeps the cards from the table. She laments her life, how she wants to leave the family home. It is revealed that Frankie gave John Henry the doll that Jarvis brought for her. Sounds of neighborhood children are heard. John Henry wants Frankie to join him outside with the other children. She refuses, but she goes out when a group of older girls enter the yard. The girls inform Frankie that she was not elected to their club — Mary Littlejohn was. Frankie becomes angry. Berenice suggests she start her own club with the neighborhood children, but Frankie does not want to lead “those little young left-over people.”

Frankie decides that she wants to be called F. Jasmine Addams. She worries that she is too tall for her age and a freak. She wants to improve herself before the wedding, then she wants to die. When John Henry gets on her nerves, she makes him go home. Frankie starts to get a splinter out of her foot with a knife. She laments that her best friend has moved away. Frankie repeats something Janice said about her earlier, that Frankie wouldn’t grow much more, then embellishes it. Berenice points this out, and the fact that Frankie is very jealous. The cook says that Frankie has a crush on the wedding and teases the girl. Frankie gets so angry that she throws the knife at the wall. She swears that she is going to leave town as soon as the wedding is over.

Berenice’s beau, T. T. Williams, and her foster brother, Honey Camden Brown, come by to pick up Berenice. T. T. tells the cook that her brother got in a fight with a soldier and the military police beat him. The threesome depart, leaving Frankie alone. Frankie decides that she’s going to go with Jarvis and Janice after the wedding, so that she can belong to something, so that she can be a part of a “we.”

Act II

It is the following day, the same kitchen/yard setting. Berenice is cooking and John Henry is blowing soap bubbles when Frankie enters. The cook is angry at Frankie because she has been gone all day. Frankie tells Berenice that she bought her outfit for the wedding, and then went all over town telling everyone she is leaving with Jarvis and Janice after the wedding. She says that she will kill herself if they do not take her. Berenice changes the subject as she serves Frankie and John Henry supper. She thinks that Frankie needs a boyfriend and suggests Barney MacKean, who lives next door. Frankie calls Berenice crazy. The racket of the piano tuner chimes in, making Berenice tense. Frankie finds something Berenice says funny and starts to shadow box. Silence falls as the girls in the club pass through the Addams’s yard. Frankie yells at them.

T. T. and Honey come in the back door, informing Berenice that Sis Laura, an old vegetable seller, has died. Frankie changes into her dress for the wedding to show Berenice. It is an orange satin evening dress inappropriate for a young girl. Frankie asks Berenice for her honest opinion, and the cook tells her she does not like it. The others basically agree. Mr. Addams comes in and yells at his daughter for being late. He asks T. T. and Honey if they would like to work for him next week at his jewelry store. T. T. politely tells him he cannot work on that day, but Honey is less polite in his gruff, negative response. Mr. Addams insults him, then goes back to the store. Honey and T. T. leave soon after.

Frankie reflects on death for a while, and Berenice talks about each of her four husbands. She says she loved only the first one, Ludie; she only married each of the subsequent ones because, in some way, they reminded her of Ludie. Berenice tells Frankie she knows of the young girl’s intentions. Berenice warns the girl to be careful about her preoccupation with the wedding. Still, a few moments later, Frankie begins rhapsodizing about the places she, Jarvis, and Janice will visit and the many adventures they will have together. Berenice pulls Frankie onto her lap and calms her down. Frankie says she does not understand much of the world. The scene ends with Frankie, Berenice, and John Henry singing a hymn.

Act III, Scene 1

It is just after the wedding ceremony the next day. In the kitchen, Berenice and T. T. arrange the refreshments for the reception. Berenice and T. T. watch the wedding from inside the door. It is revealed that Honey is in trouble again, having pulled a knife on a white bartender who refused to serve him; the young man is now wanted by the police and has disappeared. Frankie enters and says that she has not yet told Jarvis and Janice about her plans to live with them. She could not get the words out, and she is embarrassed about her dress. Frankie leaves and John Henry enters. He tells T. T. and Berenice that Frankie gave him lots of her stuff while she packed. Frankie returns and Berenice tries to dissuade her from her plan. The bride and groom are ready to leave, and Frankie says goodbye to the group in the kitchen. She leaves, and the sound of an argument immediately ensues offstage. John Henry returns to tell Berenice and T. T. that Frankie is in the newly weds’ car and won’t get out.

Moments later, Mr. Addams pulls Frankie into the kitchen and asks her what is wrong. Jarvis and Janice follow. They try to console her, but Frankie cannot accept that she is not a part of the couple. The young girl is very upset, and Berenice tries to comfort her. John Henry tells Berenice he is sick, but she does not believe him. Frankie continues to cry. Mr. Addams tries to help, but Frankie declares that she is tired of her existence, picks up her suitcase, and runs away. T. T. and Mr. Addams run after her, while the sounds of a storm rumble in the background. John Henry gets scared and again says that he has a headache. The power goes out. Berenice admits that she is scared as well.

Act III, Scene 2

It is the following morning, about four o’clock. Mr. Addams and Berenice are in the kitchen together. Frankie is still missing, and John Henry has become quite ill; it is revealed that he has meningitis. Mr. Addams goes to find out about his condition, and, after he leaves, Frankie returns. Berenice shakes her, and Frankie says that she has run all over town. She says that she decided to kill herself and had her father’s pistol out. But at the last second, she decided not to pull the trigger. As Berenice marches her off to bed, Honey arrives. Honey tells Berenice that the police are after him. Berenice gives him money to leave town.

Act III, Scene 3

The scene opens in the Addams’s kitchen, several months later. The kitchen is bare, and Berenice is the only one on stage. There is a suitcase at her feet. Frankie enters. Berenice has quit because Frankie and her father are moving into a new house with her aunt and uncle, the Wests. Frankie wants Berenice to come with them, but the cook refuses. Frankie reveals that she has new friends, Mary Littlejohn and Barney. Berenice reveals that Honey hung himself in jail and that she nursed John Henry through his illness until he, too, died. Frankie talks about Barney, but Berenice finds she can no longer relate to the young girl. Frankie states that Jarvis and Janice are in Germany now. She talks about the around-the-world trip she and Mary will make together. Barney and Frankie leave. The lights go down on Berenice, who is left alone on the stage. She hums the hymn that she, Frankie, and John Henry sang together at the end of Act II.