Jean Rhys

In a traditional novel, the author composes the story to describe fictional character and events usually in the form of a sequence. On the other hand, Jean Rhys subverts traditional literary structure by having multiple characters narrate the story. Rhys wrote the novel to include racial, gender and cultural identity to help the reader understand what it meant to be a ‘Jamaican mad women’ rather than just a mad woman. She uses the three factors to give the story meaning. By having more than one narrator as well as racial, gender, and cultural identity, it sets an impact on the story to give it more originality. “ In Wide Sargasso Sea, the young blacks call Antoinette “ white cockroach” and “white nigger,” epithets for Euro-Creole woman…

In Wide Sargasso Sea, the main protagonist, Antoinette, is portrayed as weak and dependent on men, causing her to lose all financial stability and independence eventually leading to her downfall. Throughout the course of the novel, Antoinette is unable to overcome the oppression of her gender and marriage with Rochester, leaving her powerless. Upon looking through a feminist lens, author Jean Rhys condemns the text by emphasizing the difficulties women faced when attempting to attain success in…

supernatural in their plot development by way of ensuing action. The supernatural is something “belonging to a realm or system that transcends nature, as that of divine, magical, or ghostly being,” as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary. William Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys utilize the supernatural in their works, Macbeth, Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, respectively. No matter the gain or loss of power, the supernatural induces people to reach a brink of madness. The…

The interactions encountered by both others and yourself results in the psychological and moral development as you mature from your youth. The book Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is considered a coming of age novel as the protagonist, Antoinette Cosway, grows up only to find herself broken and abused as she faces oppression. The moment in the novel that catalyzes many more events that lead to the destruction of her childhood is when her house Coulibri, is set on fire by a mob, which kills her…

Antoinette Cosway, the protagonist of Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, is depicted as a lunatic in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. However, in contrast to Charlotte Brontë’s interpretation of Antoinette, Jean Rhys goes out of her way to prove that Antoinette's physical surroundings are what make her act the way she does, thus allowing others to perceive her as a madwoman. It is clear that isolation from society, a loveless marriage, and being forced to leave Jamaica in favor of living in a foreign…

Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson,” illustrates the unequal distribution of wealth in America which causes the protagonist, Sylvia, to lose her innocence and reevaluate the social class spectrum she lives in. Miss Moore, who is the only person with a college degree in the area, wants to teach Sylvia and the other children a life-changing lesson in an outing to a toy store. From the group of children, Sylvia shows she is a naïve and stubborn child who does not value anyone’s opinion.…

Despite the looming threat of insanity and isolation, Antoinette continually resists the labels being forced on her by the self-concerned Rochester, asserting herself and her beliefs throughout her life and the development of her “madness”. Antoinette’s steadfast morals and sense of personal worth appear very early in her relationship with Rochester. She continually persists against the actions being forced upon her around her arranged nuptials and finally coming light in a grand first clash…

Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys discusses White-Black relations during a crucial changing point in the West Indies. According to Maria Olaussen, the Wide Sargasso Sea showed that racism was still alive during the setting 's time, although the Emancipation Act, otherwise known as the Abolition of Slavery Act, had already been put in place (65). In my own opinion, I believe that Rhys showed racism with her characters throughout her work of the Wide Sargasso Sea. In Wide Sargasso Sea racism between the…

Jean Rhys is notorious for her horror series of stories and novels. Many of her stories were inspired from the emotionally, dark, social encounters she derived from witnessing less than pleasant experiences in the Caribbean during the remnants of slavery. Her short story ‘Used to Live Here Once’ gives testament to her fantasy of death, melancholy and helpless despair. The story gives a personal viewpoint of how she perceived life after death, through the eyes of a lost and lonely young woman,…

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a prominent post-modern novel, and rather progressive at that. Taking Bronte’s crazy woman in the attic from Jane Eyre, Rhys proceeds to attack some ideas Bronte illustrated and highlight some ideas Bronte left out entirely. One of Rhys’ most tangible ideas that is rather representative of post-modern authors and that of this novel is the idea of truth and whether or not there are absolutes "truths". In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys demonstrates that there are no…