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Antoinette's Insanity

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Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea follows the story of Antoinette Mason, who is widely known to mirror the character of Jane Eyre. In this novel, Antoinette, a white women with European descent born in West Indies during the post-emancipation era, struggles to fit into her surrounding and discover a sense of self. While most literary critics view Antoinette’s story as an example of someone who breaks free from society’s shackles that bind her and restrict her freedom, I believe this is a story of woman’s fall into the realms of insanity due to male superiority. Although this novel is successful in providing a backstory and painting a picture of an otherwise minor character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the protagonist herself may have failed …show more content…

However, due to the fact that there is no other way to define Annette, and because Annette focuses all her attention on her physically and mentally challenged son (almost completely ignoring Antoinette), it leaves Antoinette devoid from her own reflection. Fayad continues her critique, commenting on Tia’s role in hindering Antoinette’s quest for her identity. She asserts the claim that Antoinette breaks her special bond with Tia “permanently by labeling her as other” (Fayad, 229). However, I see this scene in a slightly different light. Antoinette must cross the racial barriers in order to assimilate into the environment, and find her true identity. Being rejected by the white society due to her Jamaican side and French mother, Antoinette never considered herself to be a part of the white elites, and always wanted to be associated with the freed slaves. However, the blacks rejected her due to the fact that she was a part of a slaveholding family. She finds solace in her only childhood friend, Tia, who constantly belittles her, calling her “white cockroach” and “white nigger” (Rhys 14). I …show more content…

During their stay in the Caribbean following their marriage, Antoinette gets a sense of belonging. When she encounters the gigantic rats, she attempts to find a reflection of her within them. “I saw two enormous rats, as big as cats, on the sill, staring at me...But I was not frightened...I could see myself in the looking-glass the other side of the room” (Rhys 49). She associates the rats as part of her identity - as part of Jamaica. She identifies herself with this place. She’s afraid of not being able to see her reflection in the looking-glass anymore. She states, “...the rats were not there but I felt very frightened” (Rhys 49). When she isn’t able to see the rats, it’s as if she isn’t able to see herself. She is unable to identify who she is, and feels threatened. Meanwhile, Rochester constantly feels threatened by this place, and wonders why Antoinette likes to be here. Mona Fayad claims that “Rochester feels himself outside the protection of this order...by the reminder that white man is not the sole master of this world” (Fayad 231). The idea of white superiority and social norms plays a significant role in Rochester’s feelings towards this island, which he associates with women. Rochester is unable to dominate or express his superiority here, and feels extremely

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