Wide Sargasso Sea About the Author-Jean Rhys Rhys had a great deal in common with the character

of Antoinette Cosway, and her personal experiences likely shaped the events depicted in her fiction. Perhaps most notably, Rhys's greatgrandfather was a slave-owner who acquired a Dominican sugar plantation in the nineteenth century, but after the Emancipation Act was passed his estate fell on hard times. Subsequent riots led to the looting of the house, which was eventually burned by arsonists. Rhys visited her family's ancestral abode in 1936 and was extremely affected by the experience. She purportedly had the idea for Wide Sargasso Sea not long thereafter. Like Antoinette, as a white girl in a chiefly black community, Rhys grew up feeling alienated and alone in the Caribbean.Although her novels and short stories met with moderate success, Jean Rhys disappeared completely from the public eye between the years of 1939 and 1957, and was widely believed to be dead. Creole identity and a drifting life: Jean Rhys was born in Dominica in 1890, the daughter of a Welsh doctor and a white Creole mother. She came to England when she was sixteen and then drifted into a series of jobs - chorus girl, mannequin, artist's model - after her father died. Start to write in her thirties: She began to write when the first of her three marriages broke up. She was in her thirties by then, and living in Paris, where she was encouraged by Ford Madox Ford, who also discovered D. H. Lawrence. Characters a self-reflection of Rhys? Her first four novels are said to portray the same woman (with different names and minor details) at different stages of life, all drifting, unhappy, unstable, but with clear self-knowledge and understanding of others. Her style "Rhys often wrote about women-- in various stages of their lives -- living hand to mouth in London or Paris. The women are always on the economic edge, needing money, receiving cash and clothes from men, drinking, sitting in cafes, and endlessly walking. The books are very spare, stark, unsentimental, and wonderful."

Commentaries But she pushed me away, not roughly but calmly, coldly, without a word, as if she had decided once and for all that I was useless to her... Oh, let me alone, she would say, let me alone, and after I knew that she talked aloud to herself I was a little afraid of her. (18) In this quote, not only Antoinette realizes that she is not wanted by Annette, her mother, but also Antoinette becomes afraid of Annette. This shows that Antoinette was never loved by anyone during her childhood. There also is a sense of foreshadowing when Antoinette observes her mother talking aloud to herself, of which she becomes scared. This foreshadows, perhaps, Annettes madness for when there is a mad woman, people, especially children, become scare of the person. (hardhearted, selfish, uncaring)

"Her [Annettes] songs were not like Jamaican songs, and she was not like the other women. She was much blacker No other negro woman wore black, or tied her handkerchief Martinique fashion" (18-19) This quotation shows that Annette did not belong in Jamaica. Antoinette continues through her observation of how Annette was different from other women around. This connects with the idea that Annette and Antoinette was never welcomed by neither ex-slaves nor white ex-slaveowners. They were always lonely for they had no friends and were, perhaps, the outsiders. (outsider, outcast, strange, alien) "I searched for a long time before i could believe that she had taken my dress. not my underclothes, she never wore any but my dress, starched, ironed, clean that morning." (pg. 22) keep them then, you cheating nigger (22) "All that evening my mother didnt speak to me or look at me and I thought, She is ashamed of me, what Tia said is true." (24) This is another quotation that shows the indifference of Annette towards her daughter. (coldhearted, uncaring, selfish) "Better. Better, better than people." -pg.25 but Annette is such a pretty woman. And what a dancer. Reminds me of that song light as cotton blossom on the something breeze, or is it air? I forget. (pg 26) He an effort to fly down but his clipped wings failed him and he fell screeching. He was all on fire. (39) Our parrot was called Coco, a green parrot. He didn't talk very well, he could say Qui est la? Qui est la? And answer himself Che Coco, Che Coco. After Mr. Mason clipped his wings he grew very bad tempered. . I opened my eyes, everybody was looking up and pointing at Coco on the glacis railings with his feathers alight. He made an effort to fly down but his clipped wings failed him and he fell screeching. He was all on fire. (41) We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking glass. (pg. 41) "Why you bring that child to make trouble troubletrouble? Trouble enough without that." (pg. 44) "They are safe. How can they know what it can be like outside?" Pg. 54 All benevolent.All slave-owners.All resting in peace. When we came out of the church I took her hand. It was cold as ice in the hot sun. (70)

'What would?' She did not answer that, then one night whispered, 'If I could die. Now, when I am happy. Would you do that? You wouldn't have to kill me. Say die and I will die. You don't believe me? Then try, try, say die and watch me die' (Pg. 84, Characterization) Reality might disconcert her, bewilder her, hurt her, but it would not be reality. It would be only a mistake, a misfortune, a wrong path taken, her fixed ideas would never change. (p. 85) Die then. Sleep. It is all that I can give you....(86) It was a beautiful place wild, untouched, above all untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret loveliness. And it kept its secret. I'd find myself thinking, 'What I see is nothing I want what it hides that is not nothing'. [p.87] So between you I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all (93) How old was I when I learned to hide what I felt? A very small boy. (93) Why you ask me, if when I answer you say no? Why you come up here if when I tell you the truth, you say no? (p. 99) This quotation is from the dialogue between Antoinette and Christophine. It is when Antoinette came to Christophines house for advice, and Christophine tells her to leave Rochester. This reveals her logic of life, her fearless, and her independence. Thus, this quotation almost works as a foil to Antoinette, because at this point, Antoinette refuses to see the truth and is very dependent and fragile. All women, all colours, nothing but fools. Three children I have. One living in this world, each one a different father, but no husband, I thank my God. I keep my money. I dont give it to no worthless man. (p. 99~100) This dialogue by Christophine shows her feelings toward man. She uses strong words to reveal her thoughts about husband shows that she is a very independent and strong woman. I have been too unhappy, I thought, it cannot last, being so unhappy, it would kill you.(100) How can one discover the truth, I thought, and that thought led me nowhere. No one would tell me the truth. Not my father nor Richard Mason, certainly not the girl I had married. I stood still, so sure I was being watched that I looked over my shoulder. Nothing but the trees and the green light under the trees. A track was just visible and I went on, glancing from side to side and sometimes quickly behind me. This was why I stubbed my foot on a stone and nearly fell. The stone I had tripped on was not a boulder but part of a paved road. There had been a paved road through this forest. The track led to a large clear space. Here were the ruins of a stone house and round the ruins rose trees that had grown to an incredible height. At the back of the ruins a wild orange tree covered with fruit, the leaves a dark green. A beautiful place. (104) "Disgust and rage." Pg.114

but she-she didnt want me. she pushed me away and cried when i went to see her. they told me i made her worse. (121) 'Don't laugh like that, Bertha.' 'My name is not Bertha; why do you call me Bertha?' 'Because it is a name I'm particularly fond of. I think of you as Bertha.' Pg. 122 I wish to stay here in the dark...where I belong (123) 'He has no right to that name,' she said quickly. 'His real name, if he has one, is Daniel Boyd. He hates all white people, but he hates me the most. He tells lies about us and he is sure that you will believe him and not listen to the other side.' 'Is there another side?' I said, 'There is always the other side, always.' (128) Bertha is not my name. You are trying to make me into someone else, calling me by another name. (133) "But you don't love. all you want is to break her up. and it help you break her up." (pg. 139) I know that girl. She will never ask you for love again, she will die first. But I Christophine I beg you. She love you so much. She thirsty for you.Wait, and perhaps you can love her again. A little, like she say. A little.Like you can love. (p. 142) In the book, there is a clear evidence of Christophine dislike toward Rochester. However, the fact that Christophine approached Rochester to beg for his love toward Antoinette reveals her loyalty. Shes mad but mine, mine. What will I care for Gods or devils or for Fate itself.(150) "Save me from destruction, ruin, and desolation." (151) "She was only a ghost. A ghost in the grey daylight.nothing left but hopelessness." pg.154 My hate is colder, stronger, and youll have no hate to warm yourself. You will have nothing. (pg 154) But he never came(161) Long ago when I was a child and very lonely I tried to kiss her. But the glass was between us hard, cold and misted over with my breath. Now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I?" pg.162 There is no looking-glass here and I don't know what I am like now. (162) Time has no meaning. But something you can touch and hold like my red dress, that has a meaning. Where is it? (166)

Then I heard a clock ticking and it was made of gold. Gold is the idol they worship. (169) I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain. I hated the sunsets of whatever colour, I hated its beauty and its magic and the secret I would never know. I hated its indifference and the cruelty which was part of its loveliness. Above all I hated her. For she belonged to the magic and the loveliness. She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it. [p. 172]