Fried Green Tomatoes
Fannie Flagg
 Throughout the novel the narrator and time period changes. The reader relies on the chapter-opening visuals in order to establish the date and the source of the chapter. Some of the narration comes in the form of the fictional newspaper in Whistle Stop, Alabama called The Weems Weekly. Other narrations come from the Couches' house in Birmingham, and finally, some of the other narrations fill in some of the more intimate details of the characters mentioned in the various stories. The story jumps between two time periods. The first is set in the mid-1980s. Evelyn Couch goes with her husband several times a year to visit his aunt in a nursing home. Even though the aunt dislikes Evelyn, she still makes the trip. On one visit, she meets Ninny Threadgoode, another resident of the same home. Ninny begins to tell Evelyn stories from her life growing up in Whistle Stop in the 1920s, which is the second time period. As the novel advances, Ninny and Evelyn develop a lasting friendship. Evelyn also learns from the characters she meets in Ninny's stories. Ninny Threadgoode grew up in the bustling house of the Threadgoode family and eventually married one of the Threadgoode brothers, Cleo Threadgoode. However, her first love was young Buddy Threadgoode, whose closest sibling was the youngest girl, Idgie (Imogene) Threadgoode. An unrepentant tomboy, Idgie learned her charm from Buddy and the two of them were inseparable. Young Idgie becomes devastated when Buddy gets hit by a train and dies. After Buddy’s death Idgie kept away from her house and the only one who knew where she was, was Big George one of her family’s African American workers. Nothing could get Idgie to come home or act like more of a lady until a few summers later when the virtuous Ruth Jamison came to live with the family while she taught at the Vacation Bible School. The family and servants watched with amusement as Idgie fell head over heels in love with Ruth, but when Ruth went home to Georgia to marry a man she was promised to, once more, Idgie left home. Shortly after Ruth's mother dies of an illness, Idgie receives a page torn from the bible. The page was from the Book of Ruth (appropriately Ruth 1:16, "But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.'"), and was sent to the Threadgoode house. This page was believed to be a sign that Ruth was being abused by her husband Frank Bennett. Idgie then decides that she is going to get Ruth and bring her back to her house, so Idgie, Big George, her two brothers, and two friends go to Georgia to get Ruth. Intimidated by Big George, Frank does little more than protest before the group leaves with Ruth. Papa Threadgoode gives Idgie money to start a business so that she can care for Ruth and their son. Idgie uses the money from Papa Threadgoode to buy the cafe in which Sipsey, her daughter-in-law Onzell, and Big George (who was married to Onzell) worked. Idgie and Ruth used the money they made at the café to raise their son. The café quickly became known all over the US during The Great Depression due to the communication between various hobos who visited the café while passing through town. One of these hobos was half-time Whistle Stop resident Smokey Lonesome who became a part of the café family when he was in Whistle Stop. The café had a reputation for feeding men who were down on their luck. Idgie and Ruth even created a little controversy when they decided to serve black customers from the back door of the cafe. Around the same time as the controversy Georgia detectives stopped by to investigate the disappearance of Ruth’s husband Frank Bennett. Through Mrs. Threadgoode’s stories Evelyn begins to question the purpose of her life. She also begins to come to the realization that her reasons behind caring about what people's opinions were while growing up were pointless. When Evelyn’s efforts to reconnect with her husband are ignored she looks to Idgie’s story and becomes inspired by Idgie's boldness and audacity. Evelyn then creates an alter-ego named Towanda, a hyper-violent, Amazon-like character who lashes out at people. Evelyn begins to feel uneasy by how much satisfaction she feels at lashing out, and confesses this to Mrs. Threadgoode. Evelyn gets a job with Mary Kay Cosmetics and, at Mrs. Threadgoode's suggestion, starts to take hormones for menopause and becomes happier than she ever had been. For years the cafe ran, through World War II and into the 1950s. Idgie and Ruth's son grew up, and the lives of the town members moved on. However, when Ruth died of cancer, the life went out of the cafe. Several years later, Idgie herself was arrested along with Big George for the murder of Frank Bennett after his car was found at the bottom of a lake outside of Whistle Stop. The case is dismissed at the trial when the local minister lies on the stand and testifies that she and Big George were at a three-day revival the weekend Frank Bennett went missing. It is believed that the minister lies on the stand as a way to pay Idgie back for anonymously bailing his son out of jail. Bennett's body was never found, but it is revealed toward the end of the novel that when he came into the cafe to kidnap Ruth's infant son, Sipsey killed him with a cast iron skillet. While Big George barbecued the body, Sipsey buried Frank’s head in the Threadgoode’s garden. The barbecued body of Frank Bennett is then served to the Georgia detectives who are investigating Frank’s disappearance. The detectives rave that it is the best barbecue they have ever had. Evelyn, having gained a new outlook on life, goes to The Lodge (which she paid for with money she made selling cosmetics) in order to lose weight. Her husband Ed forwards her mail to her while she is away and she receives a letter from Mrs. Hartman, who is Mrs. Threadgoode's neighbor. In the letter, Mrs. Hartman tells Evelyn that Mrs. Threadgoode has died and that she has something for Evelyn from Mrs. Threadgoode. The ending of the novel reveals that some of the characters from Mrs. Threadgoode’s stories are still alive.