Fefu and Her Friends

by

María Irene Fornés

Fefu Character Analysis

Fefu is a seemingly well-off woman who hosts seven of her friends at her house so they can plan a fundraiser. Her friends see her as unconventional, and even she accepts that she isn’t like other people. Still, she wants her friends to like her, as evidenced by her conversations with Christina, whom she has just met. Fefu wants Christina to like her, but Christina has a hard time understanding Fefu, especially when Fefu picks up a shotgun and shoots at her husband, Phillip, as he walks toward the house. Fefu explains that this is just a joke she and her husband play, saying that the gun is loaded with blanks. Fefu’s admission unnerves Christina, and it becomes clear that Fefu and Phillip have an extremely fraught relationship—so fraught that Fefu even claims that Phillip only married her to have a “constant reminder of how loathsome women are.” It is perhaps because of this problematic relationship that Fefu seems to wrestle with a strange (and mostly unexplained) internal world of suffering, which mysteriously connects her to her friend Julia, who was injured in a hunting accident and, as a result, often has frightening “hallucinations” in which she speaks to antagonistic male figures whom she calls “judges.” Like many things in the play, Julia and Fefu’s bond is abstract and difficult to define, but it’s clear that they’re connected through some sort of suffering, as Julia talks to the “judges” about Fefu in a way that implies that Fefu is subject to the same kind of anguish that Julia herself has gone through.

Fefu Quotes in Fefu and Her Friends

The Fefu and Her Friends quotes below are all either spoken by Fefu or refer to Fefu. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Abstract Representation and Interpretation Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Quotes

FEFU: My husband married me to have a constant reminder of how loathsome women are.

CINDY: What?

FEFU: Yup.

CINDY: That’s just awful.

[…]

FEFU: Don’t be offended. I don’t take enough care to be tactful. I know I don’t. But don’t be offended. Cindy is not offended. She pretends to be, but she isn’t really. She understands what I mean.

CINDY: I do not.

FEFU: Yes, you do.—I like exciting ideas. They give me energy.

CHRISTINA: And how is women being loathsome an exciting idea?

FEFU: (With mischief.) It revolts me.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina (speaker), Cindy (speaker), Phillip
Page Number: 7-9
Explanation and Analysis:

FEFU: There you have it! You too are fascinated with revulsion.

CHRISTINA: Hmm.

FEFU: You see, that which is exposed to the exterior . . . is smooth and dry and clean. That which is not . . . underneath, is slimy and filled with fungus and crawling with worms. It is another life that is parallel to the one we manifest. It’s there. The way worms are underneath the stone. If you don’t recognize it . . . (Whispering.) it eats you. That is my opinion.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina (speaker), Cindy
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:

FEFU: That’s all right. I scare myself too, sometimes. But there’s nothing wrong with being scared . . . it makes you stronger.—It does me.—He won’t put real bullets in the guns.—It suits our relationship . . . the game, I mean. If I didn’t shoot him with blanks, I might shoot him for real. Do you see the sense of it?

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina, Cindy, Phillip
Related Symbols: The Gun
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

FEFU: […] I still like men better than women.—I envy them. I like being like a man. Thinking like a man. Feeling like a man.—They are well together. Women are not. Look at them. They are checking the new grass mower. . . . Out in the fresh air and the sun, while we sit here in the dark. . . . Men have natural strength. Women have to find their strength, and when they do find it, it comes forth with bitterness and it’s erratic. . . . Women are restless with each other. They are like live wires . . . either chattering to keep themselves from making contact, or else, if they don’t chatter, they avert their eyes . . . […]—Have I offended you again?

CHRISTINA: No. I too have wished for that trust men have for each other. The faith the world puts in them and they in turn put in the world. I know I don’t have it.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina (speaker)
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

CINDY: He shot. Julia and the deer fell. The deer was dead . . . dying. Julia was unconscious. She had convulsions . . . like the deer. He died and she didn’t. I screamed for help and the hunter came and examined Julia. He said, “She is not hurt.” Julia’s forehead was bleeding. He said, “It is a surface wound. I didn’t hurt her.” I know it wasn’t he who hurt her. It was someone else. He went for help and Julia started talking. She was delirious.—Apparently there was a spinal nerve injury. She hit her head and she suffered a concussion. She blanks out and that is caused by the blow on the head. It’s a scar in the brain. It’s called the petit mal.

Related Characters: Cindy (speaker), Fefu, Julia, Christina, Phillip
Related Symbols: The Gun
Page Number: 17-18
Explanation and Analysis:

([…] Julia goes to the gun, takes it and smells the mouth of the barrel. She looks at Cindy.)

CINDY: It’s a blank.

(Julia takes the remaining slug out of the gun. She lets it fall on the floor.)

JULIA: She’s hurting herself. (Julia looks blank and is motionless. Cindy picks up the slug. She notices Julia’s condition.)

CINDY: Julia. (To Christina.) She’s absent.

CHRISTINA: What do we do?

CINDY: Nothing, she’ll be all right in a moment. (She takes the gun from Julia. Julia comes to.)

JULIA: It’s a blank . . .

CINDY: It is.

JULIA: She’s hurting herself. (Julia lets out a strange whimper. She goes to the coffee table, takes a piece of chocolate, puts it in her mouth and goes toward her room. After she crosses the threshold, she stops.) I must lie down.

Related Characters: Julia (speaker), Christina (speaker), Cindy (speaker), Fefu, Phillip
Related Symbols: The Gun
Page Number: 17-18
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: On the Lawn Quotes

FEFU: […] I am in constant pain. I don’t want to give in to it. If I do I am afraid I will never recover. . . . It’s not physical, and it’s not sorrow. It’s very strange Emma, I can’t describe it, and it’s very frightening. . . . It is as if normally there is a lubricant . . . not in the body . . . a spiritual lubricant . . . it’s hard to describe . . . and without it, life is a nightmare, and everything is distorted.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Emma
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: In the Study Quotes

CHRISTINA: […] I think she is an adventurer in a way. Her mind is adventurous. I don’t know if there is dishonesty in that. But in adventure there is taking chances and risks, and then one has to, somehow, have less regard or respect for things as they are. That is, regard for a kind of convention, I suppose. I am probably ultimately a conformist, I think. And I suppose I do hold back for fear for being disrespectful or destroying something—and I admire those who are not. But I also feel they are dangerous to me. I don’t think they are dangerous to the world; they are more useful than I am, more important, but I feel some of my life is endangered by their way of thinking.

Related Characters: Christina (speaker), Fefu, Cindy
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: In the Bedroom Quotes

JULIA: […] Why do you have to kill Fefu, for she’s only a joker? (With a gravelly voice.) “Not kill, cure. Cure her.” Will it hurt?

(She whimpers.)

Oh, dear, dear, my dear, they want your light. Your light my dear. Your precious light. Oh dear, my dear.

Related Characters: Julia (speaker), Fefu
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Quotes

JULIA: He loves you.

FEFU: He can’t stand me.

JULIA: He loves you.

FEFU: He’s left me. His body is here but the rest is gone. I exhaust him. I torment him and I torment myself. I need him, Julia.

JULIA: I know you do.

FEFU: I need his touch. I need his kiss. I need the person he is. I can’t give him up. […]

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Julia (speaker), Phillip
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fefu and Her Friends LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fefu and Her Friends PDF

Fefu Quotes in Fefu and Her Friends

The Fefu and Her Friends quotes below are all either spoken by Fefu or refer to Fefu. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Abstract Representation and Interpretation Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Quotes

FEFU: My husband married me to have a constant reminder of how loathsome women are.

CINDY: What?

FEFU: Yup.

CINDY: That’s just awful.

[…]

FEFU: Don’t be offended. I don’t take enough care to be tactful. I know I don’t. But don’t be offended. Cindy is not offended. She pretends to be, but she isn’t really. She understands what I mean.

CINDY: I do not.

FEFU: Yes, you do.—I like exciting ideas. They give me energy.

CHRISTINA: And how is women being loathsome an exciting idea?

FEFU: (With mischief.) It revolts me.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina (speaker), Cindy (speaker), Phillip
Page Number: 7-9
Explanation and Analysis:

FEFU: There you have it! You too are fascinated with revulsion.

CHRISTINA: Hmm.

FEFU: You see, that which is exposed to the exterior . . . is smooth and dry and clean. That which is not . . . underneath, is slimy and filled with fungus and crawling with worms. It is another life that is parallel to the one we manifest. It’s there. The way worms are underneath the stone. If you don’t recognize it . . . (Whispering.) it eats you. That is my opinion.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina (speaker), Cindy
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:

FEFU: That’s all right. I scare myself too, sometimes. But there’s nothing wrong with being scared . . . it makes you stronger.—It does me.—He won’t put real bullets in the guns.—It suits our relationship . . . the game, I mean. If I didn’t shoot him with blanks, I might shoot him for real. Do you see the sense of it?

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina, Cindy, Phillip
Related Symbols: The Gun
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

FEFU: […] I still like men better than women.—I envy them. I like being like a man. Thinking like a man. Feeling like a man.—They are well together. Women are not. Look at them. They are checking the new grass mower. . . . Out in the fresh air and the sun, while we sit here in the dark. . . . Men have natural strength. Women have to find their strength, and when they do find it, it comes forth with bitterness and it’s erratic. . . . Women are restless with each other. They are like live wires . . . either chattering to keep themselves from making contact, or else, if they don’t chatter, they avert their eyes . . . […]—Have I offended you again?

CHRISTINA: No. I too have wished for that trust men have for each other. The faith the world puts in them and they in turn put in the world. I know I don’t have it.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Christina (speaker)
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

CINDY: He shot. Julia and the deer fell. The deer was dead . . . dying. Julia was unconscious. She had convulsions . . . like the deer. He died and she didn’t. I screamed for help and the hunter came and examined Julia. He said, “She is not hurt.” Julia’s forehead was bleeding. He said, “It is a surface wound. I didn’t hurt her.” I know it wasn’t he who hurt her. It was someone else. He went for help and Julia started talking. She was delirious.—Apparently there was a spinal nerve injury. She hit her head and she suffered a concussion. She blanks out and that is caused by the blow on the head. It’s a scar in the brain. It’s called the petit mal.

Related Characters: Cindy (speaker), Fefu, Julia, Christina, Phillip
Related Symbols: The Gun
Page Number: 17-18
Explanation and Analysis:

([…] Julia goes to the gun, takes it and smells the mouth of the barrel. She looks at Cindy.)

CINDY: It’s a blank.

(Julia takes the remaining slug out of the gun. She lets it fall on the floor.)

JULIA: She’s hurting herself. (Julia looks blank and is motionless. Cindy picks up the slug. She notices Julia’s condition.)

CINDY: Julia. (To Christina.) She’s absent.

CHRISTINA: What do we do?

CINDY: Nothing, she’ll be all right in a moment. (She takes the gun from Julia. Julia comes to.)

JULIA: It’s a blank . . .

CINDY: It is.

JULIA: She’s hurting herself. (Julia lets out a strange whimper. She goes to the coffee table, takes a piece of chocolate, puts it in her mouth and goes toward her room. After she crosses the threshold, she stops.) I must lie down.

Related Characters: Julia (speaker), Christina (speaker), Cindy (speaker), Fefu, Phillip
Related Symbols: The Gun
Page Number: 17-18
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: On the Lawn Quotes

FEFU: […] I am in constant pain. I don’t want to give in to it. If I do I am afraid I will never recover. . . . It’s not physical, and it’s not sorrow. It’s very strange Emma, I can’t describe it, and it’s very frightening. . . . It is as if normally there is a lubricant . . . not in the body . . . a spiritual lubricant . . . it’s hard to describe . . . and without it, life is a nightmare, and everything is distorted.

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Emma
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: In the Study Quotes

CHRISTINA: […] I think she is an adventurer in a way. Her mind is adventurous. I don’t know if there is dishonesty in that. But in adventure there is taking chances and risks, and then one has to, somehow, have less regard or respect for things as they are. That is, regard for a kind of convention, I suppose. I am probably ultimately a conformist, I think. And I suppose I do hold back for fear for being disrespectful or destroying something—and I admire those who are not. But I also feel they are dangerous to me. I don’t think they are dangerous to the world; they are more useful than I am, more important, but I feel some of my life is endangered by their way of thinking.

Related Characters: Christina (speaker), Fefu, Cindy
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2: In the Bedroom Quotes

JULIA: […] Why do you have to kill Fefu, for she’s only a joker? (With a gravelly voice.) “Not kill, cure. Cure her.” Will it hurt?

(She whimpers.)

Oh, dear, dear, my dear, they want your light. Your light my dear. Your precious light. Oh dear, my dear.

Related Characters: Julia (speaker), Fefu
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Quotes

JULIA: He loves you.

FEFU: He can’t stand me.

JULIA: He loves you.

FEFU: He’s left me. His body is here but the rest is gone. I exhaust him. I torment him and I torment myself. I need him, Julia.

JULIA: I know you do.

FEFU: I need his touch. I need his kiss. I need the person he is. I can’t give him up. […]

Related Characters: Fefu (speaker), Julia (speaker), Phillip
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis: