and if you're right, then it reduces Hazel and her pregnancy (and therefore her womanhood) to being metaphors
Furthermore, I think both Hazel and Wanda are in the story primarily to 'center' Barbie. When Barbie first appeared (in "The Doll House"), she was largely a caricature -- married to Ken (a bit of comic relief acknowledged diegetically), an almost absurdly girly femme who dreams of being a princess. Using Hazel and Wanda (and to a lesser extent Thessaly) as counterpoints makes Barbie the normal one, even though the plot is about a real exploration of her childhood fantasia. Finally, Barbie is given the power to dictate whether Wanda is a man or a woman (even the image of Wanda as a woman with Death is in Barbie's dream). It falls to the heterosexual, cisgender woman to set everything "straight" in the end.
If the final chapter of this story had been a stand-alone, without the rest of the fantastical plot, it would be moving and maybe even enlightened. In context, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
no subject
Furthermore, I think both Hazel and Wanda are in the story primarily to 'center' Barbie. When Barbie first appeared (in "The Doll House"), she was largely a caricature -- married to Ken (a bit of comic relief acknowledged diegetically), an almost absurdly girly femme who dreams of being a princess. Using Hazel and Wanda (and to a lesser extent Thessaly) as counterpoints makes Barbie the normal one, even though the plot is about a real exploration of her childhood fantasia. Finally, Barbie is given the power to dictate whether Wanda is a man or a woman (even the image of Wanda as a woman with Death is in Barbie's dream). It falls to the heterosexual, cisgender woman to set everything "straight" in the end.
If the final chapter of this story had been a stand-alone, without the rest of the fantastical plot, it would be moving and maybe even enlightened. In context, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.