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Part 2: In the Kitchen
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
That evening, the women gather in the living room. Cecilia starts talking about the importance of community, which leads Julia to reflect on her “hallucinations.” She knows they’re not real, but she still wishes she could be around other people who experience the same things—being with other people who hallucinate is comforting, since they know how real hallucinations actually feel. As Julia explains this, she notes how awkward the conversation has become. She cites this awkwardness as an example of how it’s uncomfortable to always be around people who don’t struggle with the same mental health issues as she does. But she also makes light of the whole idea, and this puts her friends at ease again.
Although Julia’s friends all seemingly want to be supportive, it’s clear that she feels somewhat isolated when she’s with them. After all, none of them are really capable of understanding what she goes through on a seemingly daily basis. Julia eventually makes light of this feeling, but she does so mainly to put the others at ease, thus emphasizing the extent to which she is forced to suffer in isolation, downplaying her own hardships and dealing with them on her own.
Themes
The women briefly go through what they’re going to say at the charity event they’re hosting. Because she’s the most experienced and theatrical, Emma gives the others pointers. Then, when it’s her turn to rehearse, she delivers a monologue taken from the prologue to “The Science of Educational Dramatics” by Emma Sheridan Fry, which talks about how “environment” influences the way people behave. Everyone loves Emma’s delivery. They continue the rehearsal, deciding that Sue will go last and ask for money from the audience.
Emma Sheridan Fry was a real-life educator who used her experience in the theater to empower impoverished immigrant communities in New York City in the early 1900s. Why Emma quotes her is never made explicitly clear, as the reference and its examination of how “environment” impacts behavior remains largely abstract and open to interpretation. Nevertheless, the fact that Emma quotes a well-known educator suggests that the charity event she and the others are hosting has something to do with education, perhaps signaling that the fundraiser aims to improve access to education—after all, it was not yet the norm in the 1930s for women to attend college. Given that Emma and the other characters all seem to have gone to college, then, it’s possible that their fundraiser has something to do empowering women to pursue an education.
Themes
As some of the women go into the kitchen to do dishes, a water fight breaks out. Everyone is laughing and trying to get each other wet, running in and out of the kitchen and onto the lawn. Meanwhile, Julia and Cindy catch up. Julia asks about how things are going with Cindy’s husband, and Cindy says she hasn’t actually seen him since Christmas. Julia, for her part, says she doesn’t need a love life these days, since she’s always thinking about bigger matters—like death, for instance. She thinks humans are always living under the threat of death.
Julia and Cindy’s conversation hints that all of the women in Fefu’s house are privately dealing with their own hardships. For Cindy, these hardships have to do with her marriage, and though the details surrounding the issue remain hazy, it’s clear that she and her husband aren’t on the best terms—and yet, it’s quite possible that this wouldn’t have even come up if Julia hadn’t explicitly asked, thus underscoring the idea that each character in Fefu and Her Friends struggles with a private kind of suffering. Everyone, the play implies, is wrestling with something.
Themes
Julia herself has been on the verge of death before, but “guardians” rescued her, though she doesn’t know who they were. She reflects on the idea of caring for someone, suggesting that human beings are each other’s “guardians” when they “give love.” Still, Julia worries that someday she will once again feel on the verge of death—and this time there won’t be any “guardians” to save her, so she’ll die “for no apparent reason.” Cindy doesn’t know what to say, but then Paula and the water fight interrupt their conversation.
Again, the exact nature of Julia’s suffering is largely undefined and abstract. What matters, though, is that she’s clearly struggling with some pretty dire feelings, and though she has faith in the power of love and mutual support to help her through trying times, she also pessimistically thinks that she will eventually be left to face hardship on her own—that is, she predicts that, when it matters the most, she will suffer (and ultimately perish) in isolation.
Themes
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Once the water fight is over, Cecilia and Paula stay in the living room while the others go in the kitchen. Cecilia says that she and Paula should really talk, but when Paula starts to say something, she tells her that they should talk at some point in the future, promising to call her soon. Paula tells Cecilia that she’s not currently pursuing her in a romantic sense, but Cecilia says she already knows this. She then declares that she’s going to leave after they all have coffee.
It’s unclear whether or not Cecilia truly wants to reconnect with Paula. When she says that she wants to talk, it seems like she’s interested in unpacking the emotions that have arisen in the aftermath of their relationship. But then she clarifies that she wants to talk later, not now—a distinction that makes it difficult to discern whether or not she genuinely wants to have this conversation at all, potentially leaving Paula on her own to process her difficult emotions.
Themes
Cecilia goes into the kitchen while Paula starts to go upstairs. Fefu appears at the top of the steps and starts to come down, but she stops and starts to hallucinate. In her hallucination, Julia comes into the living room—but she’s not in her wheelchair. She walks in, picks up a sugar bowl, lifts it toward Fefu, and then returns to the kitchen. Then, Fefu stops hallucinating and Sue’s voice sounds out, delivering a monologue about going to school and feeling exhausted. She remembers how she and the other female students often had to get medical checkups. The college often forced women to see a psychiatrist for arbitrary reasons, like because they felt nervous or for going out with multiple men.
The disjointed nature of the play is on full display in this moment, as Sue’s monologue about her time in college (and the way university officials treated female students) begins abruptly after Fefu’s strange “hallucination,” in which Julia is able to walk. It’s worth pointing out that, though the script of Fefu and Her Friends indicates that Fefu is only hallucinating the vision of Julia walking into the room, audience members don’t have the benefit of this stage direction. Therefore, the audience is left to piece together these strange events for themselves—they see Julia walk into the room, and though they might sense something strange at work, they have no choice but to fully immerse themselves in the experience of watching the play. This only heightens the sense of confusion and abstract representation at the heart of the play.
Themes
Listening to Sue, Emma and Julia help her recall one fellow student who wrote a very intelligent essay for a class. The professor didn’t believe the student was capable of writing something quite so good, but the student insisted that she wrote it, so the school sent her to a psychiatrist, refusing to believe she could have written the piece. After a while, the psychiatrist asked why the student wouldn’t just admit to him that she didn’t write it—he almost drove her crazy, Emma says.
There’s a frustrating irony to the situation that Emma and Julia recall in this moment: a perfectly healthy woman is made to feel mentally ill simply for demonstrating her intellectual prowess. Worse, the psychiatrist who unnecessarily takes it upon himself to help her ends up nearly driving her crazy. This story underlines the aggravating tendency of sexist, patriarchal societies to doubt, demean, and pathologize intelligent and independent women.
Themes
Paula launches into a monologue about what it was like when they were all in college. Some of them spent their summers on lavish vacations, but Paula never had the means to do such a thing. She didn’t like the privilege that many of the women around her had, and she noticed that the richest, most fortunate people tended to be the ones who would steal and cheat, which made no sense to her. She thinks that poor people should receive the benefits of education while rich people fend for themselves. Saying this, though, she recognizes that this is exactly what she and the other women—and especially Emma—have been trying to do. But she’s not sure they’ve done enough.
In this monologue, Paula sheds some light on the nature of the charity event she and the other women are staging, effectively confirming that they’re working toward improving access to education. More specifically, she says that they’re trying to give people with less money the chance to pursue higher education. And though she herself grew up wealthy, she thinks the educational system should prioritize people who live in poverty, perhaps because she thinks that education is the best way to empower people who might otherwise have trouble breaking out of poverty.
Themes
Paula starts crying and says she’s going to go wash her face, clarifying on her way out that she respects all the other women. Cecilia follows, wraps her arms around Paula, and kisses her. Paula quickly steps back and looks frightened, and then they both exit the room. Just then, Fefu reenters and addresses Julia, telling her that “every breath is painful.” She says that she thinks Julia understands, but Julia insists that she doesn’t—she has hardly been in touch with Fefu lately, though she thinks about her often. Julia asks how things are going with Phillip, and Fefu says that their relationship isn’t going well because Phillip can’t “stand” her. She feels as if he has left her, though he’s still physically present.
Cecilia’s display of emotion toward Paula suggests that she is still invested in their relationship, despite the cool, detached attitude she displayed earlier. On another note, Fefu and Julia’s strange connection through suffering comes to the forefront of the play in this moment, as Fefu clearly feels as if she can be straightforward with Julia when it comes to talking about her own hardship, perhaps because she thinks Julia knows what it’s like to be unhappy. When she says that “every breath is painful,” she presents her daily life as unbearably difficult and agonizing—something Julia likely understands, since her injury is a constant reminder of her own suffering.
Themes
Though things are strained with Phillip, Fefu explains, she genuinely feels like she needs him. She needs his touch and can’t imagine going through life without him. She then makes eye contact with Julia and says that she sees death in her eyes. “Fight!” Fefu urges Julia, but Julia says she can’t. Fefu insists that she just saw Julia walking on her feet instead of sitting in the wheelchair, but Julia refutes this—she can’t walk. But Fefu urges her to try, accusing her of being “willingly” “nuts.” She even says that Julia is “contagious,” claiming that she—Fefu—is going crazy because of Julia. Julia doesn’t refute this, saying that she tries to stay away from Fefu for this reason.
Again, it’s not exactly clear what’s going on here, other than that Fefu seems to be suffering internally. It’s also evident that Fefu has made a connection between her own suffering and Julia’s injury. It’s as if she wants to see Julia get better in order to prove that it’s possible to be independent and resilient in the face of hardship—Fefu wants this, perhaps, because her feelings for her husband have compromised her own independence. She recognizes that their relationship has soured, but she still depends on Phillip. Unable to tear herself away from a seemingly toxic relationship, she looks to Julia, possibly hoping that seeing her friend overcome a difficult injury and its psychological complications will help her (Fefu) overcome her own challenges. The problem, though, is that Julia can’t just get up and walk; she can’t, in other words, simply overcome her own suffering.
Themes
Fefu says she wants to rest but doesn’t know how. She’s scared. She then tells Julia to “fight” again and grabs her wheelchair, shaking it hard and urging Julia to stand. She pulls Julia up, but Julia only says, “May no harm come to your head,” repeating this line but changing the last word to “hands,” “eyes,” “voice,” and “heart.”
Although it doesn’t seem to be a direct reference to anything in particular, the strange chant that Julia repeats in this moment—“May no harm come to your head,” etc.—has a biblical ring to it, as if Julia is reciting some sort of prayer for Fefu. Considering that Julia spoke about Fefu earlier in the play while hallucinating a conversation with the mysterious “judges,” it seems likely that she fears Fefu will soon be subjected to the same kind of torture that she herself has experienced at the hands of the “judges.” This quick incantation, then, is possibly Julia’s attempt to protect Fefu from falling prey to the same suffering that she herself faces.
Themes
Finally, Christina enters, so Fefu lets go of Julia. Fefu recognizes how bad this looks and says that Christina can call her a monster if she wants, though she then turns to Julia and asks for forgiveness, which Julia grants. But then Fefu picks up the gun and declares that she’s going to clean it. Christina is frightened and tries to convince Fefu to put the weapon down, but Fefu doesn’t listen, instead moving toward the lawn. As she does this, Christina asks Julia if she’s all right, but Julia is mainly worried about whether or not she told Fefu anything she wasn’t supposed to. Cecilia enters and asks what, exactly, Julia isn’t supposed to tell Fefu, but Julia just says, “She knew.”
Once again, the exact meaning behind this scene is hard to pinpoint. However, when Julia says, “She knew,” it seems likely that she thinks Fefu somehow knows about the mysterious and malicious “judges” that have been tormenting Julia since her injury—and, moreover, that these “judges” are now pursuing Fefu. Earlier in the play, when Cindy first explained what happened to Julia on the hunting trip, she noted that Julia ranted and raved in a state of delirium. In this state of mind, Julia spoke about the “judges” and said that if she ever talked about what happened to her, she would be tortured and murdered. This, it seems, must be why Julia is suddenly so nervous about whether or not she told Fefu too much.
Themes
A shot rings out. Christina and Cecilia run outside, but Julia quickly covers her forehead with her hand, which she then brings away and stares at. There’s blood all over her face. Her head drops right as Fefu enters with a dead rabbit. Fefu announces that she shot and killed the rabbit, but then she notices Julia and drops the animal, going over to her friend. All of the other women enter and surround Julia, who remains slumped in her wheelchair as the lights fade.
The final moments of Fefu and Her Friends are highly abstract and hard to translate into any sort of straightforward analysis. However, there is a circularity at play here, since Julia’s strange death recalls her initial injury. In both cases, Julia gets shot without actually getting shot. Broadly speaking, this is possibly a representation of the ways in which certain kinds of violence and suffering are inescapable, especially for women living in antagonistic, sexist societies. On another level, though, Julia’s death seems to be a sacrifice of sorts—she has tried to warn Fefu about the “judges” and the kind of torturous suffering coming her way, and she has now paid the price by dying. But in doing so, it is feasible—according to the play’s strange internal logic—that she has saved Fefu, effectively breaking the rules set by the “judges” in order to help her friend escape the same miserable fate that she herself has been forced to endure. In turn, the play becomes an abstract examination of friendship, sacrifice, and support—an idea underscored by the fact that all of Julia’s friends slowly gather around her as the stage lights dim.
Themes
