Thematic Study Of The Novel 'Wide Sargasso Sea' (1960) Written By Jean Rhys.

"This is not only a study of a lonely, ageing woman, who has been deserted by husbands and lovers and has taken to drink; it is the tragedy of a distinguished mind and a generous nature that have gone unappreciated in a conventional, unimaginative world." 

(From 'Introduction' : 'Wide Sargasso Sea' - A Norton Critical Edition) 

- Francis Wyndham

Introduction : This blog is written as a response to the Thinking Activity assigned by Yesha Bhatt about the novel 'Wide Sargasso Sea' (1966) written by a Dominican novelist Jean Rhys (1890 - 1979.) In this blog, I will focus on the themes like Womanhood, Slavery, Madness, and Colonialism with reference to the novel taken for study. 

Few Facts About the Novel :

> The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress. 

> Antoinette Cosway is Rhys's version of Brontë's devilish "madwoman in the attic". 

> Antoinette is caught in a patriarchal society in which she fully belongs neither to Europe nor to Jamaica. 

> Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and discusses the themes of race, Caribbean history, and assimilation. (Source : Wikipedia)

》Womanhood : The theme of 'Womanhood' is identified throughout the novel in the characters of Antoinette and her widow mother Annette who dies when Antoinette is in Convent School.

As the very novel is a prequel to 'Jane Eyre' (1847) which is set in Victorian England where patriarchy was normal and unnoticed phenomenon, but it is also carried out by Rhys in post-modern age through the depiction of female characters in her novels, especially in the novel being discussed. The patriarchy, despite being modernist age, seeps into the day-to-day life of the world and is often discussed and put on the board, but the novelists like Jean Rhys would time and again throw light on the burning issue and a hidden problem of every women throughout the globe.

Womanhood of Annette :

Although she lives for a short span in the novel, but the history of her marriage gives us evidence of her passive role in both the marriage. The first of Annette's husband Mr. Alexander Cosway was a drunkard and died; and after which Annette married to Mr. Mason who is a wealthy Englishman who often visits to Jamaica to make money and meet his wife Annette.

Annette is abandoned by Mr. Mason after home-burning event and leaves for England forever keeping his two children Antoinette and Pierre along with his wife Annette under care of the servants. This event highlights the passiveness of women who are engaged in matrimonial affairs in the patriarchal society.

Womanhood of Antoinette :

The central character of the novel, Antoinette stands out as an embodiment of womanhood controlled by an embodied patriarchy, Mr. Rochester, a fine Englishman and tyrant husband of Antoinette who is introduced in the second-half of the novel.

When women were not 'given' their right to speak, and if rarely done, scolded by society including women, the men like the husband would exercise their cruelty on women as if they have been given right to do so as sole solution to gust out their all frustration.

》Contemporary Womanhood at a Glance (India) : 

The article I found on news is dealing with the situations as discussed above; here is the link : Indian Express.

》Slavery : The second-important theme in the novel is that of slavery. As the matter of fact, the motive of the author behind capturing the theme of slavery in the novel might have been an inspiration from 'Jane Eyre,' for 'Jane Eyre' also renders some of the aspects of slavishness, be it of women or of black people as it is set between 1720 to 1830 of England till when the Slavery Abolishment Act (1833) had not been heard of as well as the setting of the novel 'Wide Sargasso Sea'  is of early 1800s.

Well, the novel 'Wide Sargasso Sea' reflects hidden rebellion of coloured Jamaican slaves against white masters who have enslaved the indigenous people of Jamaica, West Indies.

Here are some illustrations from the text which encompasses the hidden revolt of coloured indigenous slaves.

(1) Amelia : Amelia is often seen as smirking at and snickering at the husband and Antoinette, perhaps as a sign of her contempt towards her master whom she calls as "white cockroaches."

She was in bed and the girl Amelie was sweeping.

‘Finish quickly,’ said Antoinette, ‘and go and tell Christophine I want to see her.’

Amelie rested her hands on the broom handle. ‘Christophine is going,’ she said.
‘Going?’ repeated Antoinette.

‘Yes, going,’ said Amelie. ‘Christophine don’t like this sweet honeymoon house.’ Turning round she saw me and laughed loudly. Your hushan’ he outside the door and he look like he see zombi. Must be
he tired of the sweet honeymoon too.’

Antoinette jumped out of bed and slapped her face.

‘I hit you back white cockroach, I hit you back,’ said Amelie. And she did.

Antoinette gripped her hair. Amelie, whose teeth were bared, seemed
to be trying to bite.

‘Antoinette, for God’s sake,’ I said from the doorway.

She swung round, very pale. Amelie buried her face in her hands and pretended to sob, hut I could see her watching me through her fingers.

‘Go away, child,’ I said.

‘You call her child,’ said Antoinette. ‘She is older than the devil himself, and the devil is not more cruel.’

‘Send Christophine up,’ I said to Amelie.

‘Yes master, yes master,’ she answered softly, dropping her eyes. But as soon as she was out of the room she began to sing:

'The white cockroach she marry
The white cockroach she marry
The white cockroach she buy young man
The white cockroach she marry.'" (Part 2 - From the Husband's Point of View.)

》Madness : The theme of madness is identified in the characters of Annette and after that in Antoinette, which brings to mind the famous feminist discourse of 'Madwoman in the Attic.'

Here is an informative video for further understanding of the idea about 'Madwoman in the Attic' :

With reference to the idea of 'Madwoman in the Attic,' there is an interesting work named 'The Madwoman In The Attic' The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination' (1979) written cooperatively by Sandra M. Gilbert & Susan Gubar. In their work, they have dealt with literary writings which have spoken even a bit of feminist aspect in the course. For instance, here is an excerpt from the book :

"Missionary in its rhetoric, the marriage making and soul making celebrated by Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre and by The Madwoman in the Attic in its interpretation of the novel are therefore thought to depend upon the dehumanization of Bertha Mason Rochester, the Jamaican Creole whose racial and geographical marginality oils the mechanism by which the heathen, bestial Other could be annihilated to constitute European female subjectivity." (From 'xxxvii Introduction' of the Second Edition, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1979, 1984.)

If we take the concept of Madwoman in the Attic with the reference of Rural India, we find the ladies oppressed by in-laws, family members, society, and religious impacts are prone to lose their mental balance which makes them aft in such a way that people consider them as they have lost their mind, but it is not true, the suppressed emotions are far worse than those which are expressed despite in the ugliest ways, for suppression will cause an increasing burden over one' (here oppressed women) mind impending the fits of madness in their behavioural patterns, which is the worst side of patriarchal society in which India and rest backward and developing nations are living unfortunately.

》Colonialism : Well, let us define the term 'Colonialism' first :

According to Oxford Dictionary of English Language, the term 'Colonialism' stands for :

'the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.'

And as Sir Edward Said has highlighted the aim and impact of Colonialism in his critical book 'Orientalism' (1979) as follow :

"By the end of World War I Europe had colonized 85 percent of the earth. To sir simply that modern Orientalism has been an aspect of both imperialism and colonialism is not to say anything very disputable. Yet it is not enough to say it; it needs to be worked through analytically and historically." (From 'Orientalist Structures and Restructures' of the Book 'Orientalism' (1979) by Edward Said.)

So, the question comes in mind that which link that links the theme of Colonialism with the setting of the novel 'Wide Sargasso Sea,' then we can give plenty of examples from the slave-characters depicted in the novel. We have Amelia, Godfrey, Baptiste, Christophine - though at lesser point, and rest of the coloured Jamaican farm-labours.

Mr. Mason as a Colonizer : The character of Mr. Mason is a representation of Colonialists of the early 17th century European countries. He visits Jamaica to make money and to enslave the indigenous people whom he considers dull and unharmful and then puts them to labor the farms he owned in the island.

The Husband as a Colonizer : The husband of Antoinette comes for his own physical and financial benefits, not to express his token of love to Antoinette. Further he has enslaving mindset towards women particularly, he tries to control Antoinette and loathes her after on realising her hereditary madness which Daniel, the bastard son of Mr. Alexander Cosway, makes him familiar with.

Thank you!

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