KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS

SETTING

A small southern town (unnamed) in the early 1940s.

LIST OF CHARACTERS

MAJOR CHARACTERS

Frances "Frankie" Addams

Renames herself "F. Jasmine Addams," the protagonist of the novel, a young girl who begins the novel at twelve years old.

Berenice Sadie Brown

The African-American housekeeper of the Addams household, she is FrankieÂ’s only mother figure.

John Henry West

FrankieÂ’s young cousin, who spends time with Frankie and Berenice in the AddamsÂ’ kitchen. He dies of meningitis.

MINOR CHARACTERS

Helen Fletcher

A girl a year older than Frankie who asked her why she smelled funny when she had used a bitter-smelling ointment for boils. Frankie suspects that Helen has spread the news that she smells bad.

Jarvis Addams

FrankieÂ’s brother who has been living in Alaska and is returning to marry a woman from Winter Hill.

Janice Evans

JarvisÂ’s fiancee.

Aunt Pet

John Henry WestÂ’s mother and FrankieÂ’s aunt.

Uncle Ustace

Married to Aunt Pet, John HenryÂ’s father.

John

BereniceÂ’s foster brother.

Clorina

JohnÂ’s wife. Berenice was initially jealous of her, but came to love her.

Evelyn Owen

FrankieÂ’s best friend, who owns a football suit and a Spanish shawl, which the girls wear around town. EvelynÂ’s family moves away, leaving Frankie without a friend.

Barney MacKean

A boy with whom Frankie commits "a secret and unknown sin" in his parentsÂ’ garage.

Ludie Freeman

A brickmason and BereniceÂ’s first and favorite husband. He died after nine years of marriage.

T. T. Williams

BereniceÂ’s beau.

Honey Camden Brown

BereniceÂ’s foster brother.

Mr. and Mrs. Marlowe

A couple who rented the front room from the Addamses before Frankie came upon them while they were having sex and Mr. Addams asked them to leave.

Uncle Charles

John HenryÂ’s uncle who lives in the country and dies in Book 2.

Lily Mae Jenkins

A man Berenice tells about who fell in love with Juney Jones and changed into a girl so he could be with Juney.

Mr. Schwarzenbaum

The piano tuner.

Jamie Beale

BereniceÂ’s second husband, whom she falls for because he has a thumb like her beloved LudieÂ’s thumb. He turns out to be a "no good liquor drinker" and she leaves him.

Henry Johnson

BereniceÂ’s third husband, whom she falls for because he wears LudieÂ’s old coat. He has emotional problems and the marriage ends quickly.

Willis Rhodes

The last of BereniceÂ’s husbands and the worst. He was violent and mean. He gouged her eye out and now she wears a glass eye.

Big Mama

A woman who reads fortunes. She lives with Berenice.

Officer Wylie

The police officer who catches Frankie as she tries to run away from home.

Marry Littlejohn

FrankieÂ’s new best friend at the end of the novel.