Wide Sargasso Sea Essay

Michelle Cliff’s short story Down the Shore conspicuously deals with a particularly personal and specific, deeply psychological experience, in order to ultimately sub-textually create a metaphor regarding a wider issue of highly social nature. More specifically, the development of the inter-dependent themes of trauma, exploitation, as well as female vulnerability, which all in the case in question pertain to one single character, also latently extend over to the wider social issue of colonialism and its entailing negative repercussions, in this case as it applies to the Caribbean and the British Empire. The story’s explicit personal factor is developed through the literary techniques of repetition, symbolism, metaphor, as well as slightly warped albeit telling references to a distinct emotional state, while its implicit social factor is suggested via the techniques of allusion, so as to ultimately create a generally greater, undergirding metaphor.

Rochester manipulated Antoinette in many ways, he manipulated her into marrying him, loving him, and trusting him. Rochester also alienates

In Small Island, Hortense is ridiculed in London by the host society for her aspirations despite being a Black woman. Hortense trained as a teacher in Jamaica and ‘was the talk of the college for several weeks.’ Hortense’s privileged upbringing is a reflection of her high hopes for England and the educational advantages she feels she will be entitled to in Britain. Although, Hortense is well-respected feelings of superiority often interject Hortense’s outlook on the opportunities available to her in Britain. Thus, she is alienated in the British educational system due to institutionalised racism and nowhere will hire her because she is black.

The effects of colonialism are intergenerational, this story exposes the raw feelings of victims of colonization and the internalization of racist ideologies that often occurs as a result of Caribbean history being wrongly painted. Conforming to the standards of society is often easier than bearing the challenges associated with being an outlier; however, conformity leads to resentment and hatred. Cynthia chooses to conform to society's standards of white supremacy, which results in her discarding her own body for the figure of a white woman. Unfortunately, Cynthia begins to form a deep hatred for herself and her culture which her parents and strangers are subjected to.

Rochester's first interaction was when Mr. Rochester fell off his horse and Jane helped him in the woods. This might foretell that Jane is going to help Mr. Rochester again when he has troubles and need help getting through them. Then we they meet at the house, he kind of ignored Jane and he was “left alone” and “did not take his eyes off from the group of the dog and child (Bronte 175), however after he asked Jane to sit down, he immediately started acting rude and impolite. Jane felt that this was completely normal, and if he did otherwise, she would be shocked. Then Mr. Rochester deems interested in Jane because of the way she answers all his questions.

In the short story “Blackness” by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator’s consciousness develops through a process of realization that she does not have to choose between the culture imposed on her and her authentic heritage. First, the narrator explains the metaphor “blackness” for the colonization her country that fills her own being and eventually becomes one with it. Unaware of her own nature, in isolation she is “all purpose and industry… as if [she] were the single survivor of a species” (472). Describing the annihilation of her culture, the narrator shows how “blackness” replaced her own culture with the ideology of the colonizers.

Both characters, venturing out of their gender roles, find ways to compliment and figure out who the other person really is, and, in the end, a burgeoning love fully blooms. When examining the gender roles of Mr. Rochester and Jane, both are a blend of each and life seems better when conventional gender roles are forgotten. In Rochester and Jane’s first meeting, the two begin to show their blended gender roles immediately. Rochester is first described as having a “dark face” with “stern features”, with a complexion that seems, “ireful and thwarted” (146).

Antoinette lacks an identity, not only in the hands of her husband who reduces her personality and changes her name, but also in the eyes of everybody else. She is a puppet, something that belongs to the hands that are holding it; she is what the people think she is and belongs to nowhere. She is trapped in her “own Sargasso Sea”, trapped between two worlds, Europe and Jamaica, but without belonging to any of them. She cannot form her personal identity, but on the contrary “Rhys suggests that so intimate a thing as personal and human identity might be determined by the politics of imperialism” (Chakravorty Spiva, 250), therefore, although Antoinette wishes to become English, it is something she cannot control because there are so many prejudices attached to her Creole condition.

The tactics he employs to get his way also provide insight into a major theme of the novel. The major motive for all of Mr. Rochester’s deception was to win Jane’s heart so he could marry her. He is shown to be very intuitive

In Jamaica Kincaid’s essay “On Seeing England for the First Time”, she clearly voices her animosity towards the one place her whole life surrounded as a child in hopes of persuading her audience into understanding that there is a fine line between dreams and realities. As an adult, Kincaid finally is able to travel to England to witness firsthand what all the hype was about and why her childhood and education happened to be based around the fantasy customs of this country. Noticing that every detail of her life revolved around England, from the way she ate her food to the naming of her family members, Kincaid found her hatred growing more and more. Coming from a British colony, the obsession with England drove Kincaid crazy to the point that she finally traveled there one day. She says, “The space between the idea of something and its reality is always wide and deep and dark” (37).

In the story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid illustrates the talk given to a young Antiguan girl about what is expected of her in order to make a point about the cultural pressures and unfair social boundaries that come with being a girl in the Caribbean. The author plays with word choice and sentence structure in a way that makes this unconventional writing style enjoyable and metaphorically resonant. Though it is possible to read this prose as a mother talking directly to her daughter and the daughter interjecting, it is actually indicative of a larger conversation between a Caribbean society and its young women; this can be most clearly seen in the discussion of Benna, of plant, animal, and human life, of promiscuity, and of manners. Benna is a musical genre similar to calypso; its lyrics often discussed British political scandals and had lewd double meanings. The daughter is instructed not to sing it in church, because the songs are about sexuality, politics and open rebellion - however, this instruction has a much larger societal meaning.

In Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, Morrison utilizes the racist incidents within the Bottom to illustrate the submissive, degrading, and foolish influence of racist America on African Americans, while still successfully capturing the dignity and sense of community of the African Americans, ultimately demonstrating the stupidity of racism. Morrison first depicts African Americans as wanting to conform and assimilate into the white American culture through Helene’s Wright behavior towards her daughter, Nel Wright. By disliking Nel’s physical appearance, Helene represents the discrimination many African Americans have against their heritage and roots; therefore, she submits to the racism. The stupidity also becomes apparent because of Morrison’s

and overlap are central to Wide Sargasso Sea. The multiple operations and their effects delicate and explicit, violent and hidden that engineer and structure these politics are foreground throughout the novel and account for Antoinette's identity and psychology, her own racism as well as her obedience. It is this background and mixed cultural heritage which shows Antionette along with the subjects of colonial politics. Despite of her background as the daughter of a business man it is the former slave Christophine, who cared for her mother and her, whom Antionette most consistently trusts and loves. Even though Antoinette's education and conditioning have taught her that it is her destiny to marry, to attach herself in love to the security and safety that being married to a white English man will make it certain .

The ocean… The sound of the waves applauding and hugging the shore. The internal sounds of the body out in the world’s biggest swimming pool. The echo of my sister’s laughter. The salty smell so strong that one can taste it dancing on ones taste buds.

Madness as Identity Fragmentation The main focus of this essay is to prove that the madness experienced by a few of the characters in Wide Sargasso Sea is not necessarily an inherent mental illness, but rather a consequence of the stress that colonialism, patriarchy and/or the consequence of existing between spaces has placed on the identity of each of the individuals. Madness in this sense is the fragmentation of an identity, something that both Antoinette and Rochester experience as they find themselves displaced in the world of Wide Sargasso Sea. Wide Sargasso Sea is a complex post-colonial feminist text. The story is deeply psychological, and offers insight into a story never told.