Every time we look out the window or go on a road trip, we notice the beautiful scenery that surrounds us, the composition of nature. And we often wonder how a mountain has taken this shape, or how these trees seem to line up to create and seamlessly endless path. Nature has its way of telling it's own history, a story of it's past, and the past of everything that surrounds it. In the postcolonial novel Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys, the Caribbean landscape is used as an agent to be interpreted by two different characters, Antoinette and Rochester, in this prequel. Each of them will have a very different opinion of the environment, and will provide an implicit analysis of it. Their assessment will differ on three different levels, which I will be discussing; the landscape will evoke a different sense of place, a different sense of history, and provide them with a different sense of identity. .
In the opening of part two of the novel, Rochester describes the scenes that he sees, and reports to us what Antoinette says, which will show us how each one feels about their belonging in the Caribbean. "Everything is too much [ ] Too much blue, too much purple, too much green. The flowers too red, the mountains too high, the hills too near. And the woman is a stranger."(59) This quote is by Rochester, and it inevitably shows us that he sees it as if it were a dream. Even his wife is unrecognizable for him. He feels as though he should never belong in such a place. It is very different from what he is used to in England. Its as if this location in the Windward Islands is completely uncivilized. He tires to find similarities between England and this savage land, to be able to seek metal refuge somewhere, and not to be completely isolated. For example he compares the red tropical land to parts of England. Unsuccessfully though, because after that, he feels that the orders of nature have "an intoxicating freshness as if all this has never been breathed before"(61).
Wide Sargasso Sea Set in Jamaica during the 1930's, Wide Sargasso Sea is the story of Antoinette Bertha Cosway, a beautiful Creole heiress living on a decaying plantation. ... Wide Sargasso Sea ends in England, where Antoinette is trapped in her husband's attic. ...
In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys has written a prequel to Jane Eyre. ... For Wide Sargasso Sea, it is narrated by different point of views, the reader cannot be certain which characters are good or bad, it allows the readers to form an opinion toward characters by themselves like modern world view. ... Lastly, it discusses about how convincing Wide Sargasso Sea is as a prequel story for Jane Eyre. ... In Wide Sargasso Sea, there is no power of women to rise above the oppression of her gender. ...
Although both Charlotte Bronte"'"s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhyse"'"s Wide Sargasso Sea ultimately deal the same people, they have almost opposite views of their characteristics and the stories behind them. ... As we read about Bertha in Wide Sargasso Sea, we see that this is not necessarily true. ... Reading Wide Sargasso Sea, Bertha tells us what really happened that night. ...
I found that Wide Sargasso Sea was easier to read and understand. ... I think that Rhys, the author of Wide Sargasso Sea, chose to re-tell Jane Eyre in the way that she did because it gives us an interesting perspective on a character who is not known at all in Jane Eyre. ... In Wide Sargasso Sea, we step into her life and find out what really happened and her point of view on the events leading up to the fire. ... In Wide Sargasso Sea, she is described very differently. ...
The Massacre of a Young Soul There's a whisper beneath the text of "Wide Sargasso Sea. ... "Wide Sargasso Sea" is not merely a creation of the history of Bertha Rochester; moreover it addresses the social injustices of woman, slavery, and colonialism. Rhys intertwines a strong message within this story and uses the soft essence of a whisper to reveal the dynamic struggle of how the intertwining of lives and people of different culture and different domain can strangle a person as surely as the seaweed that floats in the deep shadows of the wide sea. ... Luttrell who "swam out to se...
The novel "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys is the story of Antoinette Cosway's life. She is a Creole girl growing up on a decaying plantation in Jamaica. When she gets older, she is married to the second son of a noble English family and he takes her with him to England, away from the place whe...
Jean Rhys" novel Wide Sargasso Sea is a text that explores the concept of madness. It does this from many angles, including exploring the following questions: What is madness? Who gets to define madness? What does madness depend on? The characters that will be analysed in order to understand the...
Yet the quest for freedom entails winning over possession, something that is portrayed in Wide Sargasso Sea and The Awakening. ... In the same aspect, Antoinette was also faced with this daunting task in Wide Sargasso Sea. ... On the other hand, the reader is also shown Antoinette's inner mental conflicts in Wide Sargasso Sea. ... Because the power of possession is undoubtedly a major part of both The Awakening and Wide Sargasso Sea, the desire for freedom is also a significant factor in this. ... As for Edna, she frees herself by drowning herself in the sea. ...
