The Member of the Wedding Summary

In 1944, a pre-teen girl named Frankie Addams, daughter of a jeweler and a deceased mother, struggles with her place in the world. She feels a sense of disconnection and isolation, longing for belonging, which is a constant theme throughout the story. Her brother Jarvis's upcoming marriage consumes her thoughts during the course of the narrative, which spans from Friday to Sunday. Frankie's fears and anxieties about matrimony are shared with Berenice, the family's housekeeper, and her cousin John Henry. Berenice dismisses these feelings as jealousy, while John Henry becomes her comfort, mirroring the companionship she used to share with her father at bedtime.

The narrative briefly explores a Saturday morning, then transitions to the evening, only returning to the afternoon events in the second part of the story. This section provides deeper insights into Frankie's character, her curiosity about the wider world, her naivety about life, and her struggles with burgeoning sexuality. Frankie has a sudden epiphany that she is a part of her brother and his future wife's union, using the phrase "They are the we of me". Subsequently, she changes her name to F. Jasmine, beginning with the initials J and A like Jarvis and Janice. She parades around town announcing her plans to elope with the newlyweds, hoping others will see her newfound maturity. However, her father still views her as his little girl, making this evident when she visits his jewelry shop and he informs her of Uncle Charles' death.

F. Jasmine, Berenice, and John Henry share a heartfelt dinner and a profound discussion about love, with Berenice warning F. Jasmine about her fantasies of joining Jarvis and Janice. F. Jasmine then visits Big Mama to get her fortune told, confirming her journey the next day, but also indicating her eventual return. She has an unsettling encounter with a soldier at a bar and escapes his advances by hitting him with a pitcher. The wedding ends disastrously for F. Jasmine, who is futile in her attempts to convince the newlyweds to let her join them. After a failed escape attempt with her father's gun, she is returned home by the police. The story concludes with a brief overview of the following three months, marking significant changes in F. Jasmine’s life, including a new friend, an impending move, Berenice's departure for marriage, and John Henry's death from meningitis.