#But aren't these academics tired of repeating the same shit at eachother?

[immediatebreakfast]

One thing that I do have to ask (regarding of course that most of these academic discussions, interpretations, and analysis have put more thought into this than me, along with not spreading an anti-intellectualism sentiment) about Lucy, and her themes related to her gender, her metaphors, and her literal and symbolic death is:

Why do everytime I search about Lucy's death, and transformation into a vampire, the only responses that I seem to get are all about sexy sex, sexual liberation, "feminist" slut shaming, and stuff about modernism with a weird sexual twist?

I'm sorry if I sound pedantic, but how can anyone read about Lucy's suffering, illness, then death (that is textual in the novel), and get that the conclusion is somehow that Lucy is now sexually liberated from those icky victorian rules thank to Dracula.

You know... the same vampire who put her through hell until he killed her.

Nuance is everything with these analysis, and the themes that are laid out in the novel have enough dept to cover a lot of interpretations, yet I can't shake the idea that the only way someone can reach the "she is allowed to be a sexually liberated slut now!!!" idea with Lucy is by willfuly misintrepeting the actual written text to fit their reading of it.

Are Dracula's attacks to Lucy sexual in nature? Yes, he is an older man preying on a younger woman, and taking advantage of her chronic illness to inflict his power upon her, then leaving behind only pain and confusion. Are these attacks insinuated to somehow be good for Lucy? Absolutely not, the text is clear in Lucy's suffering, and how she grows weaker by the day thanks to Dracula's constant assaults.

The text even remarks that Lucy is finally happier when Van Helsing and Seward are by her side protecting her, and giving her the means to recover from these attacks.

It's like these reads don't consider Lucy's character traits, nor her words about her own situation. She has never expressed any type of disatisfaction with her love life, nor her fiaance, nor the romance around her. One could even argue that Lucy is the most "innocent" character regarding that theme in the novel despite her being very eager to marry Arthur.

Wouldn't be better to argue about the actual liberation that Lucy goes through in the text? The death of Mrs. Westenra symbolizes Lucy's final step into becoming an adult.

Lucy has been treated like a child by her mother despite being ready for marriage. It has been implied that Lucy even holds resentment towards her mother for it, and still acts like the perfect daughter. Which means that Lucy has never been allowed to put in practice all of the education that goes into becoming the lady of the house.

And what happens when her mother dies in the most gruesome way, and Lucy realizes that she is all alone, and that the power has shifted to her? She immediately does all of the steps to calm everyone down, to order what to do, and to write what actually happened so no one gets blamed for the atrocities of Dracula.

That is the liberating moment that Lucy goes through which finally allows her to grow. Even if it was short, it was a moment that mattered to conclude Lucy's arc.

Lucy sadly died, but her death is one transformed, a wiser Lucy dies. What is left is not her.