POST:In-Class Responses to Member of Wedding (closes 9/30)

In class on Monday and Tuesday, we did some short writing on our responses to The Member of the Wedding (using the Probst list of response questions). Take one of your responses from your notebook and post it here.

I'm looking for a variety of topics in these postings. Good luck.

There was one terrible and graphic vision i had when i read that John Henry had died of menanjitis. For some reason, i connected his death with his pictures and got a scence almost from a movie.

John Henry is drawing pictures on the wall when the pictures start to move. The screen shows the pictures swirling together into a spiral and then starting to form one large picture.
Once the swirling stops, they have formed a picture of John Henry lying in bed and screaming. The picture is extremly life like, yet has no color and the eyes are blank.
As John Henry notices this is a picture of him, he begins to scream though the sound seems to be coming from the picture. As John Henry screams and looks at the picture, it beings to gain color and he begins to fade. With hisfading, his scream becomes distant, yet louder in a way.
Eventually, John Henry fades out completely becoming only a memory of what he truly was, and in his place, the drawing becomes real.

There are multiple images that have remained in my mind after reading this story. The author's great descriptions and development of the settings lends itself to great imagery. For example, the kitchen with John Henry's "queer" drawings was an important setting in the book and is a powerful image that remains in my mind. Additionally, the blue, florescent light of The Blue Moon bar is very easy to imagine and visualize. I can picture Frankie walking from a brightly lit street into the strange, blue ambiance at the bar. Carson McCullers' great use of desciprtive and rich settings plays an important role in the novel, and helps the reader use their imagination as they read through the text.

7. Upon what, in the text, did you focus most intently as you read?

When I began to read the book The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers, I focused on Frankie because she is the main character of the book. The book is written in a third person narrative, which allows the reader to understand Frankie’s feelings. Therefore, it is most natural to focus most on Frankie. As I read on, however, I began to focus more on the minor character John Henry West. He is Frankie’s six-year old cousin, who spends most of his summer days over at Frankie’s house. John Henry is curious and the picture of innocence, but at times seems wiser than his years. He is often serious and quiet, but throughout the book, during major conversations between Bernice and Frankie, he will butt in and say his two cents. Throughout the book and during certain dull points, I found myself focusing more on John Henry and his little six-year old comments. One thing about the book that disappointed me was the fact that at the end, John Henry dies at the age of seven from meningitis. What a cruel way to kill a little innocent six-year old!

11. I felt more emotionally involved with this book than intellectually involved. Even though the author's writing was good, I seemed more focused on the story rather than her style. Constantly throught the book I compared the main character to myself. I saw the characteristics and experiences that are the same and different. I felt that the author's writing kept me hooked, but the story made me keep reading to the finish.

This book I found similar to the movie Harold and Mod. Frankie reminded me of Harold, and Bernice has some similar characteristics to Mod. Harold and Frankie are both nearly friendless and not a member of anything. The people they associate with are elderly women with almost nothing in common. These stories are similar because they both deal with and explain the difficulties of growing up with out a lot of help from piers. Both stories have important lifelong morals that are essential for adult life as we know it.

The Member of the Wedding's main character, Frankie, reminded me of the protagonist of Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Sayuri. She begins her life as young Chiyo, the daughter of a fisherman and a terminally ill mother. When she is bought to be trained as a geisha in Kyoto, she eventually grows up while enduring emotional conflicts. This reminds me of Frankie, who does not have a mother in her life and her father is not prominent. Chiyo and Frankie both come of age during emotional times, feeling alone and confused. As Chiyo changes her name to Sayuri, and Frankie changes hers to F. Jasmine, they reach an age of adult wisdom, and although they still struggle emotionally, both learn how to deal with life around them.

I really enjoyed the book: The Member of the Wedding. Throughout the entire book I experienced many different and varying feelings. I think that in the beginning of the book the focus is meant to be drawn to Frankie and the reader is meant to feel sort of sorry for her, but at the same time recognize that it’s her fault that she’s in the situation she’s in. So I ended up mostly feeling sorry for Frankie and Berenice in the beginning. But as the book pressed on, I found myself pulled more and more to John Henry, the far more innocent and vulnerable child. Whenever Frankie and Berenice were around, I really liked how John Henry would interject or mutter a retort under his breath. Also, you are forced to think what would have happened to Frankie in terms of depression if it had not been for John Henry. I really didn’t like it at the end because I thought the worst was over, but then she had to go and kill my favorite character. Thanks a lot Carson.

1. What feelings did the work awaken in you?

The Member of the Wedding arose a feeling of pity for Frankie in me. I pitied her because she was so lonely, and also because she didn't seem to acknowledge the companions she did have. The most pitiful trait of Frankie's was that fact that her foolish and unrealistic dreams set her up for crushing disappointment. Luckly, she could get over the disappointments at the end.

4. What image or images were called to mind?

An image that came up in my mind is when F. Frankie went to the Blue Moon. As the author described the bar, I thought back to the classic western saloon. I saw the swinging doors and I could hear the western music.

One scene that will probably be in my head for a while, is when Frankie went to find the monkey grinder. I don't know why it's stuck in my head but it is. I think its due to the monkey and the fact that that's where Frankie met the soldier.

The book seemed boring at first, but then it picked up and had some very deep moments. I think the characters are very well developed and used. I think berenice and john henry we key parts of helping frankie grow up. I think the characters were a huge part of the story and the author created develop and used them well.

1. What feelings did the work awaken in you?


As I read this book, the feeling that this book brought me was the feeling of loneliness. Even though I'm not lonely, I could still feel the emptiness inside when I read this book. What really created that feeling was the words of the author. As I read, I imagined myself there. So with the author's writing, I could feel the sadness through the character's action.

3. A line that I could really respond to was the ‘they are the we of me statement’. It made me think about high school and what the world is like. Everybody is a member; everybody has their place in the world it seems. Kids in high school seem to be in a class almost. As soon as you see somebody you categorize them somehow. So there are always groups of people that interact with each other on a regular basis. It made me think about how bad it would feel to be left out of a group. She must have been very unhappy because of this.

3. Did you feel involved with or distant from the work?
I felt pretty involved with the book. Although a lot of parts were kind of boring, I found many parts quite interesting and wanted to learn more. I found Frankie's depressing period quite interesting because we've all felt that way at one point and I wanted to see how she reacted to it. I found a lot of parts in the book that were very busy, too, and that can always capture my attention. The story was written so well that I was always wondering what the author would throw at me next and I was constantly thinking about the book everyday.

4. What Image or Images were called to mind?
Right at the end of the book when it said, "" I am simply mad about----" But the sentence was left unfinished for the hush was shattered when, with an instant shock of happiness, she heard the ringing of the bell." I pictured Frances smiling, cheek to cheek, and waving to other children in the school yard, with a sense of happiness in mind. She walks forward knowing that she can escape from the dull and boring life she lived in the summer and finally find and make new friends while reminding her self that she couldn't have made it this far if John Henry wasn't there for her.

11. I definitely feel that I responded very emotionally to this novel because the author did such an exceptional job of making the characters really come to life. As I was reading the book, I felt as if I was being drawn into it. I think it was able to really capture the audience because Frankie is a character that is so easy to relate to. We have all been through that time in life when we feel as though no one likes us, and we were left out. The descriptions of Frankie’s feelings and actions really made me sympathize as a reader, and it also awakened memories of incidents that were similar in my life. After I read the book, I felt very sad, yet relieved. It was like I actually felt what Frankie was feeling: sad about all the tragedies (i.e. John Henry’s death), but relieved that she could finally enjoy her life.

Throughout the book Frankie was constantly mentioning her longing to go to Winter Hill. The picture of a hill with beautiful snow flowing around came to mind. Even though there was not snow at Winter Hill, the name made me think of snow. This picture was so beautiful because it was Frankie’s paradise, she thought that once she got there her life would be all better and she would live happily ever after. Frankie was always saying how she wanted to go to Winter Hill where her brother Jarvis and Janice were, she wanted to be with them. “They are the we of me” She would dream of traveling all around the world with them and seeing everything. After all, she wanted to escape her dull and old life that just sat around playing cards all the time. Even though this was way far from the reality of what would happen, it was her utopia and no one could persuade her otherwise.

Question 7:Upon what, in the text, did you focus most intently on?

I focused mainly on the actions of Frankie. I think that ones actions can determine a lot about their character. I first noticed that Frankie was slightly reserved and cared a lot about what others thought of her. Therefore, I thought she would be a humble young girl. As the story progressed and she became further dissatisfied with her life, she took her anger out John Henry and Berenice. Towards the end of the book, she started reacting on impulse decisions, which ordinarily weren't very wise. In general Frankie was lost; she did not know who she was and felt misunderstood.

6. I think the main point that the author is trying to suggest is to be happy with who you are and what you have. In the story, it showed Frankie as this tomboy with low self-esteem and found that she didn't in with the world around her. This makes her a very unhappy person that only thinks negative thoughts. If she changed her point of view and looked at her situation from a positive perspective, she could be happier. The book shows us that not being happy with what you have can bring an enormous amount of discontent.

1.)

As i read this book, i became very involved with the emotions of this story. I sensed the feeling of loneliness and despair. Although neither of these emotions apply to me, i still felt that i could relate well with Frankie. I could tell she was lonely from the way she was always inviting her cousin, John Henry, to do everything with her. I think Frankie showed her emotions through other people more than she did herself. It seemed to me that she didn't want people to know that she was lonely, and she was emberassed of the fact that she was lonely. This was one of those books that while you're reading it, you feel like you're actually there, and i think this was the main reason i felt so connected with Frankie.

1. What feelings did the work awaken in you?

The novel was extremely stimulating and awakened many feelings in me. Throughout the book, I felt a sense of undersanding and empathy. Because I am still in my teenage years, I can easily relate to the character of Frankie. I have been through many of the problems she went through in the novel while she began the process of transitioning from a young child to an adult. Because of my experiences as a teenager, I can understand why Frankie feels the way she does at the beginning of the book and changes so much in the time between the beginning and the end of the book. My personality has changed so much from when I was twelve. I used to be very shy and wouldn't even think of talking to people that I did not know. Now I am more outgoing and am not afraid of meeting new people. I could see this change in Frankie while reading the novel. Another feeling that the novel awakened in me was the feeling of disappointment. Even though, in the back of my mind, I knew that Frankie was not going to get to go along with her brother and Janice on their honeymoon, I still was quite disappointed when I read that they left without her. I guess that I felt this way because Frankie was consantly talking about the wedding. This caused the event to keep building up in my mind, so once I found out that Frankie was disappointent with the wedding, I became disappointed also.

11. The emotional vs. intellectual response question

Personally, I responded to the novel more emotionally than intellectually. I believe that this work of literature is more of an emotional work than an intellectual one. I think that in order to understand Frankie, you have to respond emotionally because Frankie is a very interesting and complex character. She has depth and she seems real on many levels. I found it very easy to connect with her character and the other characters as well. Perhaps this is why I responded the way I did. I think that to know Frankie, you must first look at the book from the point of view of a 12 year old girl. Thus, pertaining to the psycological needs of Frankie's influential character, we find that she understands more, or maybe, understands less than most girls her age. Even though she seems to have a sense knowledge to her, I think that, in her own ways, she is ingnorantly innocent and naive. This novel shows me that life and the people that live in this world, are forever changing. May it be physically, emotionally, psycologically or just changing in general, we are always shifting into a different pattern, a different mood, a different place, time, or maturity level. We, as a whole, change constantly.


(Well, I really have know idea what that whole "thus, pertaining to, psycological needs, influential character" thing was about but, it works.)

Question 12/ anti-5: Did you feel involved or distant from the work? Explain?

I personally felt very distant from this book because there was very little if anything of hers to really connect to my own personal life and hence made the book very boring and annoying for me to read. For starters, even the setting deterred me because I have never really lived in a place where it's constantly 80 degrees with 98% humidity. However, I still could not relate much of anything with her, such as her being a loner. I for one have always had a strong group of friends to support me through both thick and thin alike. In fact, I still cannot find any way how a person could be so socially inept as to not even have one singular friend that is not related to or lives with that person, but that is beside the evident point. With that, I could never relate to her incredibly horrible family connection. By this I mean that I have always had a mother and father to support me, no brothers or sisters to worry about, nor any other close relatives except those out of state. In essence, I have a fairly normal family structure that is completely and utterly opposite to her own. Finally, although I have experienced many a hardship during my life I have never had any events that come even close to as horrific as those that happened to her on a daily basis. She is practically a bad luck magnet for goodness sake!!! That is why I could barely connect with this book, that is, if I could at all.

5. As I read about Frankie it reminded me a bit of myself. As a growing girl I naturally felt left out of groups or "cliques". At the time it felt like I was going through a very, very early mid-life crisis. It was like I didn't know who I was and I wanted to discover my group of people. Sometimes it felt like I needed to start all over again at a small village in Tennessee. Frankie also felt left out of the girl's club and wanted a change in her life. However, I did not feel as extreme as Frankie felt during her teenage years.