Fefu and Her Friends

At the beginning of the play, Fefu points a gun at her husband and shocks her friends by pulling the trigger. When he falls down, she reassures them that the gun is loaded with blanks and he isn’t actually injured. According to Fornés, this imagery was inspired by an old Mexican joke in which two men are at a bullfight. One man comments on an attractive woman. The other asks, “Which one?” and the first man points his gun, shoots, and says, “That one.” The twist on this joke in Fefu and her Friends comments on how within patriarchal power structures, a man can destroy a woman simply due to admiration, treating her as if she is disposable. Hunting is predatory, and this frames the dynamics in a heterosexual relationship as one between predator and prey.

The gun represents masculinity, which is why Fefu picks it up. She is determined to reject femininity and social gender roles and live more like a man. A gun signifies a power over life and death, but there is also a blurring of lines between power and the illusion of power. The hunter who was involved in Julia’s accident shot a deer.