Fefu and Her Friends

In Part 3, it’s evening and the women are back in the living room, gathered around the piano and singing. Cecilia gives a speech about knowledge, asserting that sanity and intelligence result from the ability to process information and place it within context. Moreover, people need to have others who agree with the way they have interpreted information, but the educator must also be sensitive to the way people are different. Julia wishes that she could be with others who are hallucinating so she wouldn’t feel alone. Then Julia suggests that they start rehearsing. Fefu begins and briefly explains what she will talk about. Then she introduces Paula, who worries about whether she can speak without notes. Paula introduces Emma, who gives a dramatic reading from a text about teaching theater to children.

After Emma’s performance, all but Cindy and Julia exit to the kitchen to make coffee and wash dishes. There is laughter in the kitchen, and Christina races into the living room to say that the other women are having a water fight to decide who has to wash the dishes. They chase each other and get wet. Paula calls “truce” and declares Sue the winner. After a bit more splashing, Paula once again calls for a truce. Julia tells Christina that it is safe to come out, but Christina stays where she is. Cindy explains, “She’s been hiding all day” (51). Fefu returns and exclaims that she won. She exits to change her clothes, and Christina exits upstairs.

Cindy asks Julia how she has been. Julia explains that she thinks about death continuously. She explains that humans are in constant threat of death, but something rescues them over and over. Julia calls these rescuers “the guardians” (52) and is certain that one day the guardians will be too late, causing her to die “for no apparent reason” (53). Paula enters and jokingly asks if either of them take spoiled milk in their coffee. Then Paula explains that the joke was a kitchen joke and therefore unfunny in the living room. Paula exits. She reenters and makes another joke—this one with misogynistic undertones—and immediately calls to Emma to say that the second joke wasn’t funny either. Sue brings in a tray with coffee and notes that Paula and Emma seem to be talking conspiratorially.

Paula enters again and declares, “Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies, since our material is too shocking and avant-garde, we have decided to uplift our subject matter so it’s more palatable to the sensitive public” (54). Cecilia enters and asks if the water fight is over; Paula confirms that it is. Cecilia suggests that they ought to talk later, and Paula replies that she is no longer in love with Cecilia. Cecilia tells Paula that she will call her anyway, and Paula agrees to check when she will be available. Fefu enters, and Paula exits to change out of her wet clothing. Fefu watches as Julia enters, walking slowly without her wheelchair, to get the sugar bowl and exit into the kitchen.

The women all reenter, with Sue pushing Julia in her wheelchair. Fefu watches Julia. The women start discussing their time together in college. Sue remembers a girl named Susan Austin who admitted that she hadn’t been sleeping and was forced to see a therapist. The women recall Julie Brooks, a young woman who had been asked on a lot of dates and earned a reputation because she had truthfully entered the name of each boy on the sign-out log. And Gloria Schuman wrote a paper that was so good that her professors didn’t believe it wasn’t plagiarized. She too was forced to see a psychiatrist. Paula interjects, exclaiming that she grew up poor and believed that being wealthy meant being happy. She was disturbed to discover that those with resources were no happier than those without. Paula begins to cry and goes into the kitchen. Cecilia follows her and kisses her, attempting to embrace her. Paula pulls back, afraid, and Cecilia goes after her.

Fefu enters from the lawn and comments on the stars. All but Fefu and Julia go out to look. Julia notices that something is wrong with Fefu. Fefu asks Julia if she can walk and then immediately apologizes. Fefu confesses, “Every breath is painful for me” (58). Julia asks about Fefu’s relationship with Phillip, and Fefu admits that she needs him but that they exhaust each other, and he is no longer emotionally present. Fefu tells Julia that she sees death in her eyes and demands that she fight. She insists that she saw Julia walking and accuses her of giving up, allowing herself to be insane. Julia tells Fefu that she is too tired to fight. Fefu replies that her madness is contagious and that Fefu is also starting to go insane. Fefu pleads with Julia to fight and tries to force her out of the chair, but Julia just prays that Fefu will come to no harm. Christina enters. Fefu asks Julia for forgiveness, which Julia gives. Fefu takes the gun, telling Christina that she only plans to clean it and adding that she likes wondering if there is a real bullet in the chamber. Fefu exits. To Cecilia, Julia asks, “I didn’t tell her anything. Did I?” (61) There is the sound of a gunshot. Julia touches her forehead, which is bloody, and her head drops back. Fefu reenters with the rabbit she shot. They all gather around Julia, and the play ends with her ultimate fate unknown.