Well, I was right. Pennington said that I focused a bit too much on LeBlanc’s argument of the “metaphorical lesbian” instead of making my own claim strong enough. But besides that, my first draft was pretty strong, so I can’t complain!
Pennington suggested that I bring in Edna’s relationship with Adele Ratignolle since there are also homoerotic undertones to it. I’m conflicted about whether to include Ratignolle or not because I really wanted to focus just on Mademoiselle Reisz and Edna, but it could make my argument stronger to bring in Adele. Stay tuned.
I’m also a little worried that my thesis makes too strong of a claim by saying that the sea in The Awakening is a symbol of lesbian love. I think I have to do a lot more work to convince the reader/other critics about that. Many feminist critics think that Edna’s suicide is a return to the womb, but with all the sensual language associated with the sea throughout the novel, I view the sea as more of a lover than a mother, especially when paired with Edna’s relationship with Reisz. Gah, I don’t know.
I do feel that I have a good start with this essay, but there’s just something missing or not quite right. With one or two more revisions, I know I’ll have it figured out, but I have to think about it a bit more.
Excuse me while I just let my brain explode onto this webpage. Maybe there’s a way to include Adele without having to write an entire paragraph about her? I could include a few remarks about her within my paragraphs about Reiz? Showing that Edna had a sensual relationship with more than one woman would make my argument stronger, but would it take away from the main focus? Do these questions even matter? What is life?
Ugh, I need to go to bed.
