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Fefu
Julia is one of Fefu’s friends. Like the others, she comes to Fefu’s house to help plan a fundraiser. Many of the other women are eager to know how she’s doing, since they all heard she was recently injured in a hunting accident. The accident itself was very odd and ultimately remains open to audience interpretation. She was out hunting with Cindy and a man. When the man spotted a deer and shot it, Julia suddenly fell down as if the bullet had hit her. She was bleeding from the forehead, but the hunter who fired the gun was quick to point out that he hadn’t shot her—she simply hit her head as she fell. Still, the impact did damage to her brain, and she now has petit mal seizures in which she “blanks out” and “hallucinates,” often speaking aloud in ways that unnerve the people listening to her. She also uses a wheelchair. All of her friends are very caring and supportive, but she tells them that she sometimes wishes she would be admitted to a psychiatric ward—at least then she would be surrounded by people who understand what she’s going through, she says. In one particularly strange and haunting scene, she “hallucinates” having a conversation with a group of domineering men whom she refers to as “judges.” In this conversation, the “judges” force her to recite a long theory about how the entire world is made for men, not women. These “judges” seem to antagonize her, and she eventually pleads with them to spare Fefu, though it’s never made clear what, exactly, is going to happen to Fefu. In this mysterious capacity, Fefu and Julia are connected by a certain kind of internal suffering, which is perhaps why Julia predicts that harm will befall Fefu. In the play’s final scene, Fefu shoots a rabbit, and this somehow ends up killing Julia.
Julia Quotes in Fefu and Her Friends
The Fefu and Her Friends quotes below are all either spoken by Julia or refer to Julia. 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:
).
Part 1
Quotes
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.
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([…] 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.
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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.
The human being is of the masculine gender. The human being is a boy as a child and a grown up he is a man. Everything on earth is for the human being, which is man. To nourish him. […] Woman is not a human being. She is: 1—A mystery. 2—Another species. 3—As yet undefined. 4—Unpredictable; therefore wicked and gentle and evil and good which is evil.
Part 3
Quotes
JULIA: […] My hallucinations are madness, of course, but I wish I could be with others who hallucinate also. I would still know I am mad but I would not feel so isolated.—Hallucinations are real, you know. They are not like dreams. They are as real as all of you here. I have actually asked to be hospitalized so I could be with other nuts. But the doctors don’t want to. They can’t diagnose me. That makes me even more isolated. (There is a moment’s silence.) You see, right now, it’s an awful moment because you don’t know what to say or do. If I were with others who hallucinate, they would say, “Oh yeah. Sure. It’s awful. Those dummies, they don’t see anything.” (The others begin to relax.) It’s not so bad, really. I can laugh at it. . . .
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. […]
Get the entire Fefu and Her Friends LitChart as a printable PDF.
Julia Quotes in Fefu and Her Friends
The Fefu and Her Friends quotes below are all either spoken by Julia or refer to Julia. 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:
).
Part 1
Quotes
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:
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Page Number and Citation:
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.
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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.
The human being is of the masculine gender. The human being is a boy as a child and a grown up he is a man. Everything on earth is for the human being, which is man. To nourish him. […] Woman is not a human being. She is: 1—A mystery. 2—Another species. 3—As yet undefined. 4—Unpredictable; therefore wicked and gentle and evil and good which is evil.
Part 3
Quotes
JULIA: […] My hallucinations are madness, of course, but I wish I could be with others who hallucinate also. I would still know I am mad but I would not feel so isolated.—Hallucinations are real, you know. They are not like dreams. They are as real as all of you here. I have actually asked to be hospitalized so I could be with other nuts. But the doctors don’t want to. They can’t diagnose me. That makes me even more isolated. (There is a moment’s silence.) You see, right now, it’s an awful moment because you don’t know what to say or do. If I were with others who hallucinate, they would say, “Oh yeah. Sure. It’s awful. Those dummies, they don’t see anything.” (The others begin to relax.) It’s not so bad, really. I can laugh at it. . . .
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. […]
