Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys’ 1966 novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, is another retelling of the cult classic, Jayne Eyre by Charlotte Bronte that uses intertextuality to create a voice for the marginalized character of Bertha in Bronte’s book. In Bronte, Bertha was depicted as Mr.Rochester described her, as a violent mad-woman unreachable to anyone, forcing her husband to keep her in the attic. Describing her more animal than human and attributing her more masculine features, Bertha is portrayed as the threatening obstacle for Jayne and Mr.Rochester to overcome and as someone who may be “lucky” at the time, as Mr.Rochester keeps her on his estate instead of the more common instance, sending her to an insane asylum. In Rhys’ revision, the story of Antoinette Mason, known to Mr.Rochester as Bertha, is showcased, revealing her life prior to marriage and moving to England, and the forces contributing to her mental state at the end Bronte’s novel. Through the book, it is revealed that Antoinette, a Creole teenager, comes from the Caribbean island Jamaica and the book takes place after the end of segregation, and Antoinette’s family kept slaves on a family owned plantation.
Living in between two worlds, a creole teenager not accepted by white European society or by Black Jamaican society, Antoinette’s unique experience as a woman of mixed ancestry is revealed to be a contributing factor to her mental instability as she virtually has no self-confidence or self-esteem before being sold off for her dowry to Mr.Rochester, who relates his family had financial issues as of late. After a short and lustftul period with Mr.Rochester, him and Antoinette are on their way to England, foreign from the island nation Antoinette calls home in terms of geography, climate, social norms/expectations of women, and communication. Feeling alone very quickly, Antoinette struggles to find empathy from Mr.Rochester, who simply ignores her depressive state and continues calling her “Bertha”, a made up name used by Mr.Rochester, and eventually realizes she is alone, trapped, misunderstood, and forced into the raging woman described in Bronte’s novel. In Rhys’ novel however, she is no longer a monstrous beast, but a woman crying out for help when no one is listening, outcast to the attic and kept only for her financial reasons to Mr.Rochester after we learn her story and the awful treatment of her by those around her. This book sheds light on a classic novel beloved by many for its feminist themes by analyzing a female character outside of the breadth of feminist thought at the time. With first-wave feminism only representing the interests and struggles of upper class white women, women of colour and of lower class status’ struggles and aims were not considered in the feminist movement, possibly contributing to the dehumanization of Bertha into a kind of “Anti-Woman” in comparison to Jayne in Bronte’s novel. Rhys novel in comparison, showcases the intersectionality between race, culture, class, financial standing, and feminism, demonstrating the complete erasing of Antoinette’s unique experiences leading to her mental breakdown and suicide at the end of the novel. I chose this book because I think it is retelling of a story through an underrepresented character and speaks to man marginalized groups of people in our country today. Being a diverse and multicultural country, it’s important that writers, and readers, of the Canadian Multicultural Diaspora to create novels that push back against the traditional European style of novel that writes the marginalized voices out of history. By creating these stories, marginalized groups can reclaim the metanarrative of “history” and change the European perception of colonialism that writes out the rich and vibrant cultures of the oppressed out of history learned in school textbooks and mass media culture of the West. This novel forced me to think critically of my own bias when reading and understand how a reading can be hurtful to marginalized groups of people when false, damaging, and racist stereotypes are perpetuated through novels, movies, and media by the dominating culture.