I believe that Jean Rhys wrote “Wide Sargasso Sea” due to a great dislike for the main characters in Jane Eyre and took great pleasure in turning them into “villains.” Which good for her as it inspired her greatest work. I’m glad that I read the book, but I’m not going to list it with my favorites by any means.
I believe that Ms. Rhys shared the same since of isolation, loneliness, and the inability to connect with others as Antoinette (the main character) did. Ms. Rhys’ upbringing was much like Antoinette’s, which I believe is her main reason for not liking the characters in Jane Eyre…I on the other hand love Jane Eyre and the bulk of the characters found within the story. So I’ll reread Jane Eyre and forget about Wide Sargasso Sea! (How mature of me.)
Can’t wait to hear your responses…
January 15, 2010 at 12:18 am |
I liked it – But it was my pick wasn’t it so no surprise that I liked it. I liked that it dealt with that feeling of isolation and lack of identity. I felt so sad, when Antoinette spoke of her little brother, that Mr. Mason was going to take him to London to be cured. “And how will you like that I thought as I kissed him, How willyou like being made exactly like other people?” and the sense of betrayal she felt with Tia who struck her took her clothing, and later struck her with the rock, Tia and Antoinette both bursting into tears…their identity is more clear – Tia is of the people and Antoinette is not.
I also liked all the Biblical references. “The tree of life grew there. But it had gone wild”. Notice that there was no tree of knowledge. And Antoinette’s search for happiness and knowledge -not necessarily coinciding. “But what about happiness, is there no happiness?” Her examination of what are sins – thought being included in sins. She leaves off praying and is happier and freer – but does not feel safe anymore. It reminds me of BNW.
I didn’t feel that Rhys turned the characters of Jane Eyre into villains. I saw Rochester as someone I disliked but he felt equally trapped. “I have sold my soul, or rather you have sold it for me”. His feeling that everything is foreign and “too”. “too red, too green, too high, too near”
Rochester and Antoinette struggle as their cultures and subsequently they themselves are in opposition. Rhys makes it clear that he does not accept her – he even chooses to call her Bertha. I no of no more clear way to tell someone that I don’t accept them.
What I didn’t like -Rhys heroines all seem so helpless. I hate women like that. However, it is absolutely in keeping with the time period she wrote about. He calls her a manequin and a doll – someone to be manipulated as he wished. And she gives him this power “tell me to die and I will die”.
Rochester is at his most dis-likeable “You hate me and I hate you – we will see who hates best”. and then he, who made her into a mannequin, dislikes her for this very trait. “no warmth, no sweetness, curiously indifferent voice”.
What I didn’t like about the book – Rhys seemed at the end to be tired of the book and tired of trying to find the right ending. It seems slapped together, abrupt, dis-jointed.
Here is my question to each of you…Why does she cry out Tia’s name when she jumps to her death???