body paragraph(s)

Ok so I was writing my first paragraph, still unsure about the state of my thesis, when I realized it was simply too long to only be one paragraph in a 3 page paper, so I decided to split it into two.  I don't like it quite as much since I feel like they're less developed no that they're so short, so that's why I'm going to post both so that we can combine them later if possible.

                While Therese shows her capacity for affection and friendliness with Carol, her inability to connect or socialize amiably with the other people in her life demonstrates a lack of maturity stemming from her lesbianism.  Even during short interactions with less important characters, such as Mrs. Robichek, she shows little compassion; once Therese sees “the terrible, shocking ugliness of the short, heavy body with the bulging abdomen…she could not make herself listen” to anything this hospitable woman says (20).  Her disgust with Mrs. Robichek shows a shallowness and lack of understanding that becomes very much a part of her character.  For instance, as soon as Therese falls in love, she becomes more and more distant from Richard, and eventually she starts to detest him with little reason.  Though she never has felt anything more than a platonic friendship for him, she does say, “I like his attitude-more than most men’s.  He does treat me like a person instead of a just a girl he can go so far with or what not” (81).  In the year she has known him, he has treated her very well, but that does nothing to stop her from very quickly changing the way she treats him.  When Therese spends time with Richard after seeing Carol, she first suggests that Richard “cancel the reservation [to Europe] in case she can’t go,” (54) and then denies his offer to see his family on a Sunday because she’d rather “work.”  When Richard points out the oddity in her reasoning, she again brings up the idea of cancelling the trip to Europe.  In this scene, Therese knows she no longer wants to date Richard, and in her defense, she does make clear she still cannot love him, but instead of seeing him as a friend who’s loved her for a year now, she views and treats Richard as a nuisance. 

In addition to the attempts to avoid future encounters with him, Therese’s love for Carol further impacts her friendship with Richard negatively as she starts to become enraged over nonsensical issues.  In a later scene, Richard presented Therese with a kite as a thoughtful gesture, much to her enjoyment, and ironically this causes her to immediately think of Carol.  She begins flying the kite successfully, but once it runs out of line, Richard excitedly suggested he cut it.  Since she clearly equates the state of bliss she feels flying the kite with the bubbly sensation she gets from her new love, Therese experiences so much anger that she “couldn’t believe she had heard it” (99).  In a frenzy, “Therese jerked the stick sideways, out of his reach, speechless with anger and amazement. There was an instant of fear, when she felt Richard might really have lost his mind” (99).  She then proceeds to scream in more fury than she releases throughout the rest of the novel combined, which proves her irrationality since Richard literally just cut the kite that he himself made.  From this point, their relationship only deteriorates as Therese brushes off Richard more and more, until finally he realizes she no longer wishes to see him because of her feelings for another woman.  In the argument which proceeds, Therese lets her all her inhibitions go and attacks Richard in every aspect of his life, saying, “You’ll drop painting some day and me with it.  Just as you’ve dropped everything else you ever started” (156).  She continues with, “You’re like a little boy playing truant as long as you can” (156).  Therese, before having undergone her transformation, never would have belittled Richard’s aspirations, and furthermore her comments have little to do with their fight.

This is what I have so far. A lot of work to be done, but I'll know more on where to go once I finish my thesis.