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Part 2: In the Bedroom
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fefu and Her Friends, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Abstract Representation and Interpretation
Empowerment, Female Independence, and Feminism
Attraction, Romance, and Companionship
Friendship and Mutual Support
Suffering, Repression, and Violence
Summary
Analysis
Sitting in the kitchen, Paula writes something out on a notepad and then tells Sue that she has a working theory that love affairs always last exactly seven years and three months. First, there are three months of initial love, then there’s one year of trying not to pay attention to the fading romance, then another year trying to figure out what’s wrong, two years of putting off a breakup, and a year of trying to end it. After the breakup, she says, there’s another two years of trying to figure out what even happened—and all of this adds up to seven years and three months. There’s no way to avoid this, she says. Even starting an affair in the middle of another relationship won’t disrupt the process.
Sue’s theory about romantic relationships might seem somewhat depressing, since she takes it for granted that every relationship will come to an end—and, moreover, that real romance starts draining from a relationship after just three months. At the same time, though, her theory also normalizes the idea that people don’t just flit in and out of each other’s lives without leaving a lasting impact. The fact that she thinks every relationship requires two full years of emotional processing suggests that it’s completely normal and reasonable to spend time doing the hard work of mourning romantic loss in the aftermath of a meaningful relationship.
Themes
Paula’s conversation with Sue about love affairs takes place as Sue is preparing the soup she’s going to take to Julia (that is, the soup she brought her in the previous scene). When she leaves to take the soup upstairs, Cecilia enters. She and Paula have a somewhat tense conversation, as Cecilia notes that she has been meaning to call her. It slowly becomes clear that they used to be romantically involved, and Paula talks about how much she has thought about Cecilia in the years since they last saw each other. She has wondered how Cecilia would see her now—their lives went in different directions, and Paula misses Cecilia deeply. She feels as if she has become “lazy” and has “lost the drive” without Cecilia in her life.
That Paula has spent so much time thinking about Cecilia subtly reinforces Sue’s theory—after all, Paula is clearly still processing the end of her romantic relationship with Cecilia, which is in alignment with Sue’s idea that every love affair requires two years of trying to figure out what, exactly, happened to the relationship. However, it doesn’t necessarily seem like Paula has managed to emotionally heal in the aftermath of her and Cecilia’s relationship. To the contrary, she seems to feel that she is worse off now that she’s no longer involved with Cecilia.
Themes
Paula notes that Cecilia “abandoned” her and that she didn’t know how to move on. Her entire purpose in life when they were together was to bring Cecilia pleasure, but now they seem like strangers to each other, even if Paula still vividly remembers every moment of their relationship. As she says this, Fefu enters and invites Paula and Cecilia outside for a game of croquet, then she leaves again. Paula apologizes to Cecilia for letting the conversation get too serious, promising that she’s not “reproaching” her. Cecilia says that she knows this and takes Paula’s hand, saying that she has missed her, too. They walk outside together.
Again, it’s clear that Paula is still processing the emotional fallout of her and Cecilia’s former relationship. In fact, even Cecilia admits that she still misses Paula, too, thus reinforcing Sue’s theory that it’s necessary for people to take time to mourn the end of a romantic relationship.
Themes
