Alec: Touching Bottom Feminist Literary Criticism

The Narrator in Touching Bottom experiences a feminist awakening when saving her step-son. Within the course of the crisis she overcomes her fear of deep water, saves the life of her step-son and recognizes the deep flaws in her husband. She confronts all of these challenges, drawing on her childhood as inspiration. Her life has been largely dominated by men up to this point, she was a good daughter to her father. Then she defied her father by marrying the man from L.A. which turned out to be a mistake, but that didn’t stop her from being devoted to his son. The precise moment of her awakening is clear when she touches bottom. "The bottom had never been too far away... I opened my eyes and looked up." It is almost as if in this moment she sees with new eyes, she is then able to beat the current and it is clear she made some positive changes in her life after this crisis, including divorcing her husband.