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Summary
Themes
and Colors
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
The play opens in Fefu’s nicely furnished New England home, where Fefu suggests to her friends Cindy and Christina that her husband surely married her as a reminder of how “loathsome women are.” Cindy is scandalized by this statement, insisting that nobody would ever marry for such a reason, but Fefu says that her husband frequently tells her that this is what he did. Cindy thinks this is awful, but Fefu says that she just laughs off the comment whenever her husband brings it up—after all, she says, she he has a point: women are “loathsome.” Cindy is shocked. Fefu says that she takes back everything she has said, though she encourages her friend to think about the idea a little bit.
From the very beginning of the play, it’s clear that Fefu likes to rankle her friends by making provocative statements. She wants, it seems, to get a rise out of Cindy and Christina when she says that her husband married her to remind himself how “loathsome women are.” At the same time, though, it’s worth noting that this idea—regardless of whether or not it’s intentionally provocative—highlights the fraught gender dynamics at play in Fefu’s life. Even if it’s not true that her husband married her as a reminder of how “loathsome women are,” there must be some kind of animosity and sexism in their relationship, otherwise it's unlikely that she would think to say such a startling thing about her marriage.
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Cindy asks Christina what she thinks of what Fefu has just said. Christina agrees with Cindy—she can’t believe what she’s hearing. But Fefu tells Christina not to be offended. She also insists that Cindy isn’t truly offended, even if she’s pretending to be. Cindy knows what she means, Fefu explains. As for Fefu herself, she appreciates “exciting ideas,” which give her “energy.” And the idea that women are “loathsome” is exciting because it’s repulsive. She likes that such an idea gives her “something to grapple with.”
Fefu now confirms that she likes to say challenging things. However, it becomes clear that she doesn’t do this solely out of a desire to shock her friends—rather, she wants to challenge herself, as evidenced by her assertion that she likes ideas that give her “something to grapple with.” She is, then, somebody who doesn’t shy away from difficult ideas or conversations, which is perhaps why she’s willing to think so cynically about the gender dynamics at play in her marriage.
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Christina and Cindy tell Fefu that they generally try to avoid things that they find “revolting.” But Fefu asks if they’ve ever picked up a rock, turned it over, and stared at the worms and fungus teeming along its underside. They say that they have. Fefu asks if they found the experience “revolting”—they did. But they also admit—at Fefu’s urging—that they were also “fascinated” by the disgusting rock. Fefu goes on to say that this is a good representation of life: people might seem clean on the outside (like the top of a rock), but there’s also an unsightly griminess hidden beneath their presentable exterior.
Fefu breaks off her conversation with Christina and Cindy, announcing that it’s time for lunch. But then she sees through the open French doors that her husband, Phillip, is approaching the house with some other men. Fefu asks Christina if she has ever met Phillip. Christina says she hasn’t and asks which one he is. Picking up a shotgun that has been leaning by the French doors, Fefu shoots it at Phillip and says, “That one!” Christina and Cindy are astounded, but Fefu casually tells them not to worry, pointing out that Phillip—who fell over when she fired the shot—is already getting up. She explains that this is a game they play: whenever he approaches the house, she shoots a blank at him and he pretends to have been shot.
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Fefu heads upstairs, leaving Cindy and Christina alone in the living room. They both feel like they need a drink, so Cindy prepares one for Christina, giving her an ice cube with just a few drops of bourbon on it (as per Christina’s strange request). They the talk about Fefu. This is the first time Christina has met Fefu, and she’s not so sure about her. Cindy tries to tell her that she’s “lovely,” even if she’s a bit odd. She explains that Fefu and Phillip have a very strange marriage, as they both make each other crazy. Christina wants to know why they don’t just leave each other, but Cindy says it’s because they’re in love. She also explains that Fefu’s gun is loaded with a blank.
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Fefu appears at the top of the stairs and announces that she has just fixed the toilet in Cindy’s room. Christina is surprised to hear that Fefu does her own plumbing, but Fefu doesn’t think much of it, instead going on to talk about how Phillip scared her by falling down so realistically when she shot him. Cindy and Christina are a little perturbed—doesn’t Fefu only shoot blanks at him? “I’m never sure,” Fefu says. She then explains that Phillip once said that he might secretly put real bullets in the gun, but she thinks he only said this to make her nervous. When Christina says that Fefu frightens her, Fefu says that she frightens herself, too. But she also says that the game she plays with Phillip is good for their relationship—if she didn’t pretend to shoot him, she might do it for real.
Christina wants another drink. When Fefu learns that she likes an ice cube with just a drop of bourbon on it, she decides to make little ice-cube popsicles by putting little sticks in the cubes for later. Christina thinks this is weird, but Fefu doesn’t mind being strange, saying that everyone who loves her loves her for exactly who she is. Christina, however, finds Fefu frustrating, and she insists that Fefu surely infuriates everyone around her.
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Fefu delivers a monologue about how she likes men better than women and even feels jealous of men. She enjoys thinking and acting like a man, especially because she thinks men get along better with each other than women do. She likes that men have “natural strength” and resents the fact that women have to “find their strength,” since she thinks this means that whatever power they end up cultivating is full of “bitterness.” And this, she thinks, makes women uncomfortable and “restless” with each other. To her surprise, Christina actually agrees—she has also envied men for these reasons, particularly because the world puts so much trust in men, which ultimately makes it easier for them to have faith in the world itself.
Fefu goes upstairs to check on the plumbing again. Christina is emotionally fatigued from their conversation, but she turns her attention to the fact that one of their other friends, Julia, has just arrived. Julia is in a wheelchair, and both Christina and Cindy pay close attention to how she’s doing—but she seems perfectly chipper. When she goes to get set up in her room, though, Cindy and Christina talk about how Julia isn’t “better” yet. Cindy explains that she was with her when the accident happened: they were out hunting, and a hunter aimed at and shot a deer, but Julia fell down at the same exact time as the deer. She was having convulsions, seizing just like the deer was. But then the deer died, and Julia did not.
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Cindy explains that Julia’s forehead was bleeding, but the hunter quickly pointed out that this was because she hit her head when she fell down—not because he shot her. While he went for help, Julia started speaking in a strange, disturbed way. Cindy says that Julia sustained some sort of “spinal nerve injury,” explaining that she has a “scar in the brain” from hitting her head after passing out, and she sometimes has absence seizures in which she suddenly spaces out.
When Julia was “delirious,” she talked about how she is being “persecuted” and “tortured.” She said that judges condemned her to death—via the bullet from the hunter’s gun—but allowed her to live as long as she never talked about it. If she did talk about it, she would be tortured and murdered. Cindy explains all of this to Christina, adding that she has never repeated these things to anyone before. She’s afraid for Julia.
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Fefu overhears everything Cindy has just said about Julia. She comes in and asks who, exactly, hurt Julia, but Cindy says she doesn’t know. Fefu then tells Christina—who has only met Julia once before—to remember Julia as she used to be, saying that Julia was once very knowledgeable and confident. She knew everything and was afraid of nothing.
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More friends begin to arrive at Fefu’s house. Emma, Sue, and Paula all come inside and greet everyone else, and Paula tells Fefu how much she liked the lecture Fefu gave at “Flossie Crit,” prompting Julia to complain that Fefu didn’t tell her about it—she would have gone if she’d known. But Fefu downplays the event, insisting that it wasn’t very good. Then, before all of the women have lunch, Sue suggests that they should run through what everyone will be covering in the presentation they’re going to give later on, just so nobody ends up talking about the same thing.
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Everyone goes upstairs except Julia, Cindy, and Christina. Julia sees the gun and picks it up. Cindy explains that it’s loaded with a blank, but Julia just stares at the gun and then unloads it, letting the blank drop to the floor. She then starts to space out, staring off as Cindy and Christina wonder what to do. “It’s a blank…,” she eventually says, before adding, “She’s hurting herself.” Still lost in her own mind, Julia lets out a pained whimper before coming to and announcing that she has to go lie down. As she leaves, Cecilia—the final houseguest—arrives at the front door.
