Wide Sargasso Sea

by Jean Rhys

Controversy in the development of

identity in Antoinette/Berthas character
About the book
Jean Rhys
Published in 1966
The condition of Jamaica in the
1830s after The Slavery Abolition
Act (1833)
Reflection of orthodox West Indies
culture & European modernism
Some autobiographical hints
 About the book (II)

Inspiration: Charlotte Brntes Jane

Eyre
Story of a Creole heiress
3 sections
First Person narrator.
Not chronological order
 Why postcolonial?
writing concerned with colonial perceptions
and experience, written mainly by
metropolitans, but also by creoles and
indigenes during colonial times [and] therefore
includes literature written in Britain as well as
in the rest of the Empire (Boehmer 2)
Negative effects of European colonisation on
the Caribbean.
Giving voice to the Other
Pointing at imperialistic and patriarchal
oppression
Two perspectives: coloniser and colonised
 Characters
Antoinette/Bertha (Cosway Mason Rochester)
The Husband/English gentleman/Mr.
Rochester
Anette (Cosway Mason)
Christophine Dubois
Aunt Cora
Mr. Mason
Richard Mason
Daniel Boyd/Cosway/Esau
Amlie
 Other characters
Pierre Cosway
Alexander Cosway
Mr. Luttrell
Sandi Cosway
Servants in Coulibri, Granbois and
England: Godfrey, Sass, Maillotte, Myra,
Hilda, Baptiste, Bertrand, Rose, Mrs. Eff,
Grace Poole, Leah
Summary
Culture as a source of identity

Cultural domination
Regulating behaviour (moral and
intellectual)
Opposing to multiculturality and
hybridity
What differentiates us from them
(Voicu 43)
The figure of The Other
 Antoinettes otherness

Fragmentary identity
Race and ethnicity
Gender
Post-colonised
Class and status
Identity crisis in Antoinette

Creation, oppression and

destruction
Double exile
Child-like vs. dangerous
caribbean woman(Loomba)
Traditional view
Lack of understanding from The
Husband (rumours)
Subject vs. Object
 Conclusion
Oppression and domination of a
colonial and patriarchal society
Abjection of Antoinettes identity
Antoinettes identity in relation to
others
Rhyss try to restore the identity of
the madwoman in the attic
 References
Boehmer, Elleke. Colonial and Postcolonial Literature: Migrant Metaphors.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Brnte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre.
Jawad Kadhim, Nibras. Double exile: Jean Rhyss Wide Sargasso Sea. Vol 22
(3), pp. 589-605
Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. New York: Routledge, 1998.
Maurel, Sylvie. The Other Stage: From Jane Eyre to Wide Sargasso Sea.
Bront Studies 34.2 , July 2009, 155-61.
Nurminen, Laura. Postcolonial Cultural Identity and the Caribbean White
Creole in Jean Rhyss Wide Sargasso Sea and Phyllis Shands The Orchid
House. Turku: University of Turku, 2012.
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea: Backgrounds, Criticism. Ed. Judith L. Raiskin.
New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.
Savory, Elaine. The Cambridge Introduction to Jean Rhys. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge UP, 2009.
Voicu, Cristina-Georgiana. Imagining the Black Atlantic: Trans/Racial Identity
in Jean Rhys Writings. In Biljana Mii Ili and Vesna Lopii (eds.), Identity
Issues: Literary and Linguistic Landscapes. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge
Scholars Publishing, 2010, pp. 59-71