Creole Identities and Racial/Gender Relations

in

Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

NY: Norton, 1966 (Norton edition 1982)

Jean Rhys’s Life: (1890 -1979)

• • •

• creole identity and a drifting life

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. She also drifted in several cities, mostly in Vienna and Paris.

Three marriages.

Jean Rhys’s Work

• • • Start to write in her thirties; Discovered by Ford Madox Ford 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.

• -- a self-reflection of Rhys?

Rhys’s Work (2)

• • A break after Good Morning, Midnight, 1966: made a sensational reappearance with

Wide Sargasso Sea

Rhys’s Self-Identity

“ Do you consider yourself a West Indian?

She shrugged. ‘It was such a long time ago when I left.’ “So you don’t think of yourself as a West Indian writer?” Again she shrugged, but said nothing. “What about English? Do you consider yourself an English writer?” “No! I’m not, I’m not! I’m not even English.”

Rhys’s Self-Identity (2)

“ What about a French writer?” I asked. Again she shrugged and said nothing. “You have no desire to go back to Dominca?” “Sometimes,” she said. David Plante “Jean Rhys: A Remembrance.” 275-76 Qut in Gregg.p. 1

Rhys’s Self-Identity (3)

• • “ I don’t belong anywhere but

I get very worked up about the West Indies

. I still care. . . .” After reading a critique of Wide Sargarso Sea. . ., Rhys complains. . . :” Again I am in danger of really becoming a recruit. . .I think

being

born in

the West Indies is an influence very strong but

. . . “ (Gregg 2 underline added)

Rhys on Jane Erye

“ The creole in Charlotte Bronte’s novel is a lay figure -- repulsive which does not matter, and

not once alive

which does. . . . For me . . . she must be right

on stage.

She must be at least plausible with a past, the reason why Mr. Rochester treats her so abominably and feels justified, and the reason why he thinks she is mad and why of course she goes mad, even the reason why she tries to set everything on fire, and eventually succeeds. . . “ (Gregg 82)

Rhys on Antoinette’s historical background

I. Shift of dates

: •

Jane Eyre

-- towards the end of the novel reads a book published in 1808 • • • Bertha confined in the attic in the first decade of the 19th century.

WSS

’s time frame shifted to 1830’s onwards: Emancipation Act 1833 • Antoinette -- a child in the 1840’s

II. “more than one Antoinette

” then.

Jean Rhys: Major Themes

• •

Post-Emancipation Racial relationships

-- among the black Caribbean, the Creoles, and the English. •

Gender relationships

-- “halfway house”(p. 96); marriage and inheritance Their influence on – Annette and then Antoinette, – Antoinette relationship with Tia, – Antoinette and Rochester – The madness?

WSS: Settings

•

Part I:

Coulibri estate, near Spanish Town (Martinique), Jamaica: Part II: Granbois, Dominica,

Part III: “Great House” England;

Wide Sargasso Sea: Major

• •

Characters

Characers:

Christophine

,

Tia

, Amelie, Antoinette, later Bertha Cosway Mason Rochester. The

Cosway

s Mr. Cosway, Pierre Daniel Father The

Mason

s Richard E.

Rochester

Aunt Cora •

Annette Antoinette

Creole Identities and Racial/Gender Relations

in

Wide Sargasso Sea

• • •

Backgrounds on Race:

I.

white masters, New & Old:

Mr. Luttrells p. 17; death of Mr. Lutrell p. 26 (New masters after the Emancipation of slaves) [Mr. Mason -- p. 32; p. 35]

II. White against creole:

Cora’s husband 30 e.g. p. 17; Aunt

III. Black against creole:

cockcroaches” p. 23 poor “white

Backgrounds (II)

• • •

Background on Gender revealed through letters and conversation: about the Cosways: p. 28-29; Daniel Cosway’s letter pp. 96-99 about Mason’s marriage: 29-30 Gender: Rochester’s Marriage and Inheritance: p. 70; 114

•

Questions: How do these racial problems influence Annette and Antoinette?

1.

Annette--What does she want?

P. 18

Why is she aloof from Antoinette? pp. 20;

22; 26-27; 2. Antoinette --

How is she different from her mother? How does she survive? What do her dreams mean?

Creole Identities and Race Relations

Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

in

• Female Creole Identities Annette – the horse; p. 18/ 10 – her son; p. 19/ 11 – her views of Godfry and Sass p. 22/ 12 – gay and a good dancer 29; – Annette vs. Mr. Mason -- p. 32/ 19 ; p. 35/ 20 – Coco p. 41/ 22 – What happened to her afterwards? P. 130- 134/ 78

•

Creole Identities and Race Relations

Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

in

Antoinette – the garden 19/ 10 – reaction to the death of the horse – need of her mother p. 22/; rejection by her p. 26; 27 – refuge in nature p. 23/ 13 ; solitude 28 / 16 – her dreams p. 26/ 15 ; pp. 59-60 – the second refuge in

the convent

p. 53; 55; 57 – death impulse p. 92

•

Questions II: Relationships Antoinette and Christophine? And Conflicts between Antoinette and Tia?

• Antoinette with the other Jamaicans – the way to the convent pp. 48 – Sandi • Antoinette and Christophine pp. 20-21; 31

Creole Identities and Race Relations

Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

in

• Antoinette and Tia – p. 23 – their betting p. 24 – the black’s invasion p. 45

Part II: Causes for the conflicts

•

between Rochester and Antoinette:

1.

Race

: different cultural backgrounds: --her limited understanding of the world - • • -- p. 55; ”Is it true,' she said, `that England is like a dream?” p. 89; blanks in his mind 76 2.

Gender

: Rochester's motivation for getting married “not yet” p. 77; p. 89, 90; not love her, 93 3.

Race+ Gender

madness : the letter from Daniel Rochester's suspicion of Antoinette’s

Part II: Causes for the conflicts between Rochester and Antoinette (2)

• • •

Gender:

5. Rochester's self-centeredness and possessiveness: p. 94; the priest's ruined house--Pere Lilievre--Pere Labat - self-centered 103

Race+ Gender:

6. Antoinette's temperament--sense of doom and insecurity

Race+ Gender:

7. Antoinette’s seeking for help from Christophine