Berenice: “What makes you think they want to take you along with them? Two is company and three is a crowd…Remember Noah and the ark?...He admitted them creatures two by two…”
F. Jasmine: “They will take me”
Berenice: “And if they don’t”
F. Jasmine: “If they don’t, I will kill myself, but they will”
Berenice: “Kill yourself how?”
F. Jasmine: “I will shoot myself in the side of the head with…the pistol that Papa keeps under his handkerchiefs along with Mother’s picture in the right-hand bureau drawer” (79-80)
Frankie has become Humbert-Humbert obsessed with the idea of leaving with her brother and his soon-to-be wife and not coming back. In this scene, Berenice tries very stubbornly to make her understand that it does not make sense for Frankie to go with them. However, Frankie, tired of not fitting in anywhere, dismisses Berenice’s advice and with much assurance tells her that if her plan fails, she will commit suicide. After Frankie describes how she would proceed to do such thing, McCullers describes a very vivid reaction coming from Berenice: “Berenice did not answer for a minute and her face was a puzzle. ‘You heard what Mr. Addams told you about playing with that pistol. Go on upstairs now. Dinner will be ready in a little while' (80).” She was simply speechless given that it is not common for a 12-year-old to talk so impulsively about suicide.
To the reader it seems very clear that Frankie is putting all her eggs on her brother and fiancé’s basket. However, it does not seem very feasible that the plan will succeed given that it is not the custom for a newlywed couple to begin marriage with a 12-year-old awkwardly violent girl by their side. How could the failure of the plan affect Frankie’s crazy temper? Would she actually do something of that nature in order to show her dissatisfaction?
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