Discussing Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea as a 'Postcolonial text', with a focus on identities
Wide Sargasso Sea is a postcolonial text, written as a response to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Throughout the novel the reader can see evidence of key concepts alongside writing back, such as Othering and hybridity. These theoretical concepts are not only an effective way of dissecting the novel as a whole, but are woven into the protagonist's growing sense of identity, and later, madness. This novel is Rhys writing back for the mad creole woman that Bronte, and Western society, left 'in the attic'. But WSS isn't merely sympathetic, it raises questions surrounding how we understand 'madness' and trauma, and how they can contribute to an individuals actions. Giving a strength to those oppressed as opposed to feelings of pity and anger, feelings shown towards the same character represented in Jane Eyre. Hybridity concerns self identity and the feeling of belonging to two cultures and none coincidingly; a key element that Rhys suggests is one of the biggest causes of Antoinette's 'madness'. Rhys uses these postcolonial concepts to critique not only the atrocities colonialism inflicted on many at the time, but also to comment on the gap that was left after the Emancipation Act. Individuals and communities that had been historically connected to plantations were suddenly abandoned, literally, financially and culturally, to fend for themselves.
Wise Sargasso Sea begins with the protagonist using terms such as "They" and "We", immediately raising the question, "who are the others?". The others in the context of this question, are the "Jamaican ladies", who in the context of the theory of Othering, represent the majority. Characters like the "Jamaican ladies" act as the 'norm' in the novel, the binary opposite to Antoinette as "The Other". This idea of Othering is based on a relationship, one where the foundations are both relational as well as dependant, on two binaries. Postcolonial theories grew from colonial literature, literature that explored and commented on European civilisation and domestication as well as the absence of it in exotic lands; the original Other. This colonial world is perceived as "uncontrollable, chaotic, unattainable, and ultimately evil...the imperialist configures the colonial realm as a confrontation based on difference in race, language, social customs, cultural values and modes of production."(2006: 1911). Colonial literature like Jane Eyre uses the concept of Othering, to signify an 'exotic' character like Bertha. Bronte uses Bertha to flatter her binary, the protagonist Jane Eyre. Rhys however, gives more depth to the character of Antoinette, as well as to the theory of Othering; commenting on both the complexities of identity and Othering. Antoinette as a white creole is disrespected by the majority of both black and white people within the communities she resides in, "she must negotiate the white and black elements of her identity" (Mzoughi, 2016:88). Rhys raises a complex and dense subject matter in this narrative, "the personal identity of the creole is not “either/ or,” but reluctantly “both/ and.." (88). Even though Antoinette spent all of her life in the Caribbean, and feels as though she belongs to Caribbean culture, Tia consistently rejects Antoinette; aware of their physical differences even from a young age. Antoinette is referred to as a "white cockroach" which is the "first experience of hatred and rejection by a black girl her own age..." (536) that Antoinette experiences. Antoinette is transcendently taunted and abused; across time, oceans and novels.
Rhys subtly draws a focus on suffering throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, showing how negative experiences can lead to negative actions. Rhys gives context as to why someone, in this case Bertha or Antoinette, might become mad or be perceived as mad. We meet Antoinette and her family post Emancipation Act on their rundown plantation, Coulibri Estate. Antoinette's father was an ex-slave owner and had passed away five years prior, her brother is disabled and her mother shows signs of depression, amongst other mental illnesses. Although the community dislike the family and there's a sense of looming dread within the text, there seems to be no immediate danger. Rhys suggests this is because they "were white but [they] had not escaped and soon [they] would be dead for [they] had no money left. What was there to hate?" (2000: 16). The family had been abandoned by their own and were now worse off than the majority of the community, a just end perhaps for a family with colonial ties. However, anger develops after Anette, Antoinette's mother, remarries a white Englishman and the family are once again wealthy, and linked to colonialism. Anette grows even more desperate to escape, aware of the tensions and dangers that lurk beneath the surface of the community post Emancipation Act. Unfortunately Mr Mason, Annette's new husband, mistakes the deep-rooted anger and unrest of the community for "laziness". "Be reasonable Anette. You were the widow of a slave-owner, a daughter of a slave-owner, and you had been living here alone with two children, for nearly five years when we met. Things were at their worst then but you were never molestered, never harmed" (15). Rhys suggests that Mr Mason, as well as all the character represents, is naive in his awareness and acknowledgement of the humanitarian and sociopolitical issues that dominate their community.
It is here that the underlining tensions in the plot reach an explosive point; physically in the shape of the character's house on the estate burning down, and metaphorically in the way that it shapes Antoinette hereafter. Carole Angier discuss' the affects suffering can have on the oppressed, specifically in relation to WSS; "suffering often corrupts... people are turned cruel by cruelty, unjust by injustice; oppressed people are dangerous people, oppressively aggrieved and vengeful..." (2013: 525). The community have reached boiling point and rebel against Mr Mason and Antoinette's family, in doing so Antoinette's brother is killed and Anette is taken to a mental institution. In the chaos Antoinette sustains a head injury, and when she wakes in the next part of the novel, weeks have passed and the protagonists sense of self has changed. Angier's essay suggests that trauma can be viewed in cycles; actions of oppression can lead to acts of violence. Angier's response to WSS specifically, highlights the affects trauma and oppression can have on individuals and communities; a central topic that runs throughout WSS, as well as in postcolonial literature as a whole. The aim is not to justify the actions of wronged people, it is however to present a way of understanding actions that are made. Leading the reader to "condemn society" more so than whomever has individually acted out. This concept is relevant both in terms of the people of Coulibri, as well as individual characters; Antoinette and Anette, for example. Equally, these two characters work as their own cycle; mirroring one another – another sealing of Antoinette's fate.
The use of cycles continues throughout Wide Sargasso Sea; the novel is a metatext that not only address' the version that has already been written, but also the theme of reading. The act of reading, as well as the variation in individuals interpretations, is visible throughout the novel. It's also relevant to point out that both reading and literature are referenced throughout Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, which could be another reason Rhys sought to include this theme. In Part Two of the novel Antoinette and her husband both read the same book but present different opinions about it to one another, as well as to the reader. This theme is integral in supporting one of the major concepts addressed in WSS, "There is always the other side, always". Deborah Kimmey reads WSS as a metatext, "Wide Sargasso Sea makes a strong case that reading is a critical site for contesting ideological discourses and for creating a subversive counter-discourse" (2005: 115), postcolonial writing tends to question European culture and discourses as they play the privileged binary against colonised countries. The theme of reading encourages the reader to ask questions whilst they work through the text, a concept similar in intention to that of Angier’s; the importance of context and understanding individuals’s actions.
As Wide Sargasso Sea is a metatext, we can presume that the reader is likely to begin reading the novel already aware of the protagonists end. By the time the reader reaches the end of WSS, a question the reader might ask is whether it is possible or not for Antoinette to have ever been constructed with agency, or whether or not we are merely looking for a coherent reading. This is, in part, because Jane Eyre is a modern and generally coherent text. Both of the novel's protagonists oppose each other in the sense that although Eyre is a self-conscious character, what she says matches her feelings and actions; her character grows throughout and she is proven to have agency. Whereas Antoinette does not have agency at any point in WSS, apart from the very end, but even then we are aware that after Wide Sargasso Sea draws to a close, Bertha goes on to take her own life in Bronte's novel. Kimmey suggests this end is a kindness to Antoinette, that Rhys is attempting to transform Antoinette's fate and her legacy, saving her as best anyone can.
"But only the self-justification is here, showing us Antoinette inhumanely abused in her family, her society and her search for love. The rest, the revenge and the self-pity, are both left to another book... Antoinette is still alive on the last page of Wide Sargasso Sea." (531)
Throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, we see a focus on Antoinette's identity crisis. One way in which Rhys does so is through the literary theory of hybridity; “ the white creole’s interest in knowing her identity has a didactic function. In her search, the white creole teaches the readers about the multidimensional representation of truth about the self" (Mzoughi, 2016:93). The character of Antoinette is never given the luxury of comfort in her identity, her creole heritage pulls her into the void between cultures; neither one ever fully accepting her. Hybridity is the feeling of belonging to multiple cultures, and none, simultaneously. This concept is encoded with histories of conflict, violence and oppression. Margaret K. Bass defines it well,
" ...with the creation of a new culture comes a mandatory relinquishing of the old... one offshoot of this merging and rending is a hand of cultural schizophrenia or a feeling of belonging to two worlds, and another is a feeling of rootlessness - a feeling of belonging to no world at all." (Ryan-Ranson, 1993: 128).
Unfortunately it is the latter of these two processes that seems to consume Antoinette, she feels marooned and without agency throughout the novel. However, we do see other factors contribute to Antoinette's lack of identity and eventually lead to her madness; isolation, abandonment and the abuse she receives throughout her life, are just three examples. But these factors could still all be traced back to Antoinette's displacement.
Rhys has created a realistic trail of abuse that flows through the heart of Wide Sargasso Sea. In doing so, Rhys has given depth to the character of Antoinette and unfurled conversations regarding colonialism, identity and oppression. By focusing on a range of postcolonial theories such as Othering, hybridity and identities throughout the text, the reader is able to understand a greater amount of context from that time period. Bertha's fate in Jane Eyre cannot be changed, and nor is Rhys attempting to do so. Antoinette's context however is revealed, and contemporary readers are invited to ask questions about their history through Rhys's literature. Both Bertha and Antoinette are trapped by oppression, isolation and abuse, within their texts and by their colonial roots. Rhys’ gift to Antoinette is a moment of agency, the luxury of a past and a new depth to her character. WSS still educates readers about societal issues sixty years after publication, many of the issues raised are still very much relevant in society today, even more so as conversations around immigration, identity and trauma continue to develop.
Bibliography
Angier, C. (2013) Jean Rhys: Life and work. London: Faber Finds, Faber and Faber.
James Birx, H. (Ed) (2006) Encyclopaedia or Anthology, Volume 1. China: Sage Publications.
Mzoughi, I. (2016) The White Creole in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea:
A Woman in Passage Human and Social Studies, Volume 5, pp 88-110.
Rhys, J. (1968) Wide Sargasso Sea (twentieth century classics). 27th edn. London: Penguin Books.
Rhys, J. and Smith, A. (2000) Wide Sargasso Sea (Penguin modern classics). London: Penguin Classics.
Ryan-Ranson, H. (1993) Imagination, emblems and expressions: Essays on Latin American, Caribbean, and continental culture and identity. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling green state University popular press.
Wise Sargasso Sea begins with the protagonist using terms such as "They" and "We", immediately raising the question, "who are the others?". The others in the context of this question, are the "Jamaican ladies", who in the context of the theory of Othering, represent the majority. Characters like the "Jamaican ladies" act as the 'norm' in the novel, the binary opposite to Antoinette as "The Other". This idea of Othering is based on a relationship, one where the foundations are both relational as well as dependant, on two binaries. Postcolonial theories grew from colonial literature, literature that explored and commented on European civilisation and domestication as well as the absence of it in exotic lands; the original Other. This colonial world is perceived as "uncontrollable, chaotic, unattainable, and ultimately evil...the imperialist configures the colonial realm as a confrontation based on difference in race, language, social customs, cultural values and modes of production."(2006: 1911). Colonial literature like Jane Eyre uses the concept of Othering, to signify an 'exotic' character like Bertha. Bronte uses Bertha to flatter her binary, the protagonist Jane Eyre. Rhys however, gives more depth to the character of Antoinette, as well as to the theory of Othering; commenting on both the complexities of identity and Othering. Antoinette as a white creole is disrespected by the majority of both black and white people within the communities she resides in, "she must negotiate the white and black elements of her identity" (Mzoughi, 2016:88). Rhys raises a complex and dense subject matter in this narrative, "the personal identity of the creole is not “either/ or,” but reluctantly “both/ and.." (88). Even though Antoinette spent all of her life in the Caribbean, and feels as though she belongs to Caribbean culture, Tia consistently rejects Antoinette; aware of their physical differences even from a young age. Antoinette is referred to as a "white cockroach" which is the "first experience of hatred and rejection by a black girl her own age..." (536) that Antoinette experiences. Antoinette is transcendently taunted and abused; across time, oceans and novels.
Rhys subtly draws a focus on suffering throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, showing how negative experiences can lead to negative actions. Rhys gives context as to why someone, in this case Bertha or Antoinette, might become mad or be perceived as mad. We meet Antoinette and her family post Emancipation Act on their rundown plantation, Coulibri Estate. Antoinette's father was an ex-slave owner and had passed away five years prior, her brother is disabled and her mother shows signs of depression, amongst other mental illnesses. Although the community dislike the family and there's a sense of looming dread within the text, there seems to be no immediate danger. Rhys suggests this is because they "were white but [they] had not escaped and soon [they] would be dead for [they] had no money left. What was there to hate?" (2000: 16). The family had been abandoned by their own and were now worse off than the majority of the community, a just end perhaps for a family with colonial ties. However, anger develops after Anette, Antoinette's mother, remarries a white Englishman and the family are once again wealthy, and linked to colonialism. Anette grows even more desperate to escape, aware of the tensions and dangers that lurk beneath the surface of the community post Emancipation Act. Unfortunately Mr Mason, Annette's new husband, mistakes the deep-rooted anger and unrest of the community for "laziness". "Be reasonable Anette. You were the widow of a slave-owner, a daughter of a slave-owner, and you had been living here alone with two children, for nearly five years when we met. Things were at their worst then but you were never molestered, never harmed" (15). Rhys suggests that Mr Mason, as well as all the character represents, is naive in his awareness and acknowledgement of the humanitarian and sociopolitical issues that dominate their community.
It is here that the underlining tensions in the plot reach an explosive point; physically in the shape of the character's house on the estate burning down, and metaphorically in the way that it shapes Antoinette hereafter. Carole Angier discuss' the affects suffering can have on the oppressed, specifically in relation to WSS; "suffering often corrupts... people are turned cruel by cruelty, unjust by injustice; oppressed people are dangerous people, oppressively aggrieved and vengeful..." (2013: 525). The community have reached boiling point and rebel against Mr Mason and Antoinette's family, in doing so Antoinette's brother is killed and Anette is taken to a mental institution. In the chaos Antoinette sustains a head injury, and when she wakes in the next part of the novel, weeks have passed and the protagonists sense of self has changed. Angier's essay suggests that trauma can be viewed in cycles; actions of oppression can lead to acts of violence. Angier's response to WSS specifically, highlights the affects trauma and oppression can have on individuals and communities; a central topic that runs throughout WSS, as well as in postcolonial literature as a whole. The aim is not to justify the actions of wronged people, it is however to present a way of understanding actions that are made. Leading the reader to "condemn society" more so than whomever has individually acted out. This concept is relevant both in terms of the people of Coulibri, as well as individual characters; Antoinette and Anette, for example. Equally, these two characters work as their own cycle; mirroring one another – another sealing of Antoinette's fate.
The use of cycles continues throughout Wide Sargasso Sea; the novel is a metatext that not only address' the version that has already been written, but also the theme of reading. The act of reading, as well as the variation in individuals interpretations, is visible throughout the novel. It's also relevant to point out that both reading and literature are referenced throughout Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, which could be another reason Rhys sought to include this theme. In Part Two of the novel Antoinette and her husband both read the same book but present different opinions about it to one another, as well as to the reader. This theme is integral in supporting one of the major concepts addressed in WSS, "There is always the other side, always". Deborah Kimmey reads WSS as a metatext, "Wide Sargasso Sea makes a strong case that reading is a critical site for contesting ideological discourses and for creating a subversive counter-discourse" (2005: 115), postcolonial writing tends to question European culture and discourses as they play the privileged binary against colonised countries. The theme of reading encourages the reader to ask questions whilst they work through the text, a concept similar in intention to that of Angier’s; the importance of context and understanding individuals’s actions.
As Wide Sargasso Sea is a metatext, we can presume that the reader is likely to begin reading the novel already aware of the protagonists end. By the time the reader reaches the end of WSS, a question the reader might ask is whether it is possible or not for Antoinette to have ever been constructed with agency, or whether or not we are merely looking for a coherent reading. This is, in part, because Jane Eyre is a modern and generally coherent text. Both of the novel's protagonists oppose each other in the sense that although Eyre is a self-conscious character, what she says matches her feelings and actions; her character grows throughout and she is proven to have agency. Whereas Antoinette does not have agency at any point in WSS, apart from the very end, but even then we are aware that after Wide Sargasso Sea draws to a close, Bertha goes on to take her own life in Bronte's novel. Kimmey suggests this end is a kindness to Antoinette, that Rhys is attempting to transform Antoinette's fate and her legacy, saving her as best anyone can.
"But only the self-justification is here, showing us Antoinette inhumanely abused in her family, her society and her search for love. The rest, the revenge and the self-pity, are both left to another book... Antoinette is still alive on the last page of Wide Sargasso Sea." (531)
Throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, we see a focus on Antoinette's identity crisis. One way in which Rhys does so is through the literary theory of hybridity; “ the white creole’s interest in knowing her identity has a didactic function. In her search, the white creole teaches the readers about the multidimensional representation of truth about the self" (Mzoughi, 2016:93). The character of Antoinette is never given the luxury of comfort in her identity, her creole heritage pulls her into the void between cultures; neither one ever fully accepting her. Hybridity is the feeling of belonging to multiple cultures, and none, simultaneously. This concept is encoded with histories of conflict, violence and oppression. Margaret K. Bass defines it well,
" ...with the creation of a new culture comes a mandatory relinquishing of the old... one offshoot of this merging and rending is a hand of cultural schizophrenia or a feeling of belonging to two worlds, and another is a feeling of rootlessness - a feeling of belonging to no world at all." (Ryan-Ranson, 1993: 128).
Unfortunately it is the latter of these two processes that seems to consume Antoinette, she feels marooned and without agency throughout the novel. However, we do see other factors contribute to Antoinette's lack of identity and eventually lead to her madness; isolation, abandonment and the abuse she receives throughout her life, are just three examples. But these factors could still all be traced back to Antoinette's displacement.
Rhys has created a realistic trail of abuse that flows through the heart of Wide Sargasso Sea. In doing so, Rhys has given depth to the character of Antoinette and unfurled conversations regarding colonialism, identity and oppression. By focusing on a range of postcolonial theories such as Othering, hybridity and identities throughout the text, the reader is able to understand a greater amount of context from that time period. Bertha's fate in Jane Eyre cannot be changed, and nor is Rhys attempting to do so. Antoinette's context however is revealed, and contemporary readers are invited to ask questions about their history through Rhys's literature. Both Bertha and Antoinette are trapped by oppression, isolation and abuse, within their texts and by their colonial roots. Rhys’ gift to Antoinette is a moment of agency, the luxury of a past and a new depth to her character. WSS still educates readers about societal issues sixty years after publication, many of the issues raised are still very much relevant in society today, even more so as conversations around immigration, identity and trauma continue to develop.
Bibliography
Angier, C. (2013) Jean Rhys: Life and work. London: Faber Finds, Faber and Faber.
James Birx, H. (Ed) (2006) Encyclopaedia or Anthology, Volume 1. China: Sage Publications.
Mzoughi, I. (2016) The White Creole in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea:
A Woman in Passage Human and Social Studies, Volume 5, pp 88-110.
Rhys, J. (1968) Wide Sargasso Sea (twentieth century classics). 27th edn. London: Penguin Books.
Rhys, J. and Smith, A. (2000) Wide Sargasso Sea (Penguin modern classics). London: Penguin Classics.
Ryan-Ranson, H. (1993) Imagination, emblems and expressions: Essays on Latin American, Caribbean, and continental culture and identity. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling green state University popular press.