This essay deals with the language in Wide Sargasso Sea, the linguistic features and the thesis that the work can be identified as a Caribbean work of literature.
Wide Sargasso Sea is a postcolonial novel published in 1966 written by Jean Rhys. It is a prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre from 1847 and tells the story of Antoinette
Cosway, a white Creole. It begins with Antoinette’s youth in the Caribbean and then her unhappy marriage with an English nobleman, who is never named in the novel, but supposed to be Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester. This nobleman forces her to accompany him to England and to change her name. It is in England as well, where he declares her mad and where she finds herself without a sense of belonging as she is neither
…show more content…
While the first two parts are full of lush descriptions of the Caribbean, in the last part, England is not described much. That is mainly the case because in this part the story is predominantly told from Antoinette point of view and she is already locked up in the attic of
Thornfield Hall after she had been declared mad.
Nazli 2
Main focus of this essay is the use of language in Wide Sargasso Sea. The language is kept quite simple, but every word is weighted with enormous significance, starting with the first line “They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. But we were not in their ranks” (Rhys 1). These two sentences already give the hint that trouble is occurring in this novel and that the community the story is set in, is marked by racial issues.
The next lines give away that the narrator’s family does not belong to the group of white people, and, as the novel goes on, they also do not belong to the group of black people – they are Creoles.
In Wide Sargasso Sea, language is not just used as a medium for communication, but is also a marker for social rank and class as well as race and ethnicity. Also gossip is a powerful tool of language in this novel. In the form of gossip or lies, fear and mistrust
…show more content…
The linguistic variety and richness of the Caribbean is reflected in Wide Sargasso Sea in the speech of servants, black workers and white Creoles, as well as in place names and songs. This is also seen with Christophine. “She had a quiet voice and a quiet laugh (when she did laugh), and though she could speak good English if she wanted to, and French as well as patois, she took care to talk as they talked.” (5). Here, Christophine shows an awareness of how language marks a person's place in society. Even though she can speak good English, she knows that to assimilate with the black Jamaicans, she has to speak English in the same way they do. Her speaking patois also gives an exotic notion to the
The black characters in the novel are all victims of this “separate but equal” mentality; the younger characters yearn for real equality and the older characters have settled in to their lives by accepting their “fate.” The existing structures of society in Bayonne, Louisiana prevent black characters such as Grant Wiggins and Vivian from ever breaking out of their social class; both are forced to remain in their lives as teachers of young black children who will also grow up to live limited lives. Wiggins says of his classroom, “I’m the teacher... and I
-There is a lot of racism in the book because of the time period it takes place in
Amy talked about how people don’t understand her mother English and the main reason why they don’t understand her English is cause her tongue. “Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking Chinese.” (Tan pg.1)
He displays them in such a way, attempting to draw attention and outrage by discussing real-world problems. In this novel, the injustice of the economic system is exploited, and the poor treatment of migrant workers is addressed constantly. The faulty treatment of the mentally unstable is also a common theme, present via Lennie’s continuous abuse, and lack of understanding towards his illness from others. Racism is also apparent when the sole African American character, Crooks, is visited or discussed by any of the other characters. He is isolated based only on his race, and referred to using profanities, and never by his name. These themes help make the book a powerful novel, and illustrate how an author can harness the power of his writing to help draw attention to controversial issues present in
Throughout the novel many problems occur. Some of the main problems are racial and equality issues. Events in this book show how prejudice and intolerance can ruin numerous friendships and change lives.
In the beginning chapters of the book, we get a glimpse of the typical home and community of an African American during segregation. Many Africans Americans were too adjusted to the way of living, that they felt
Throughout the novel it is apparent that everyday instances of racism occur, causing people of color to feel outcasted. There are two very obvious occasions where this happened. In the first instance two African American woman are in a workspace of primarily all white co-workers. When a woman they worked with got these two names mixed up, it was stated that she had a “fifty-fifty chance of getting it right” insinuating that these two women are the only black ones working here. Later, the woman who had the mix-up with the names wrote an apology note; however, in the note she stated it was “our mistake” and seemingly put part of the blame on the to women. This is a primary example of how African Americans can be thrown against a white background making them seem different than everyone else.
The author uses language as a tool to show the characters’ status in society as black or white. Various language techniques are used to display the classes of society. The words “blanker” (used by blacks to describe whites) and “dagger” (used
At the plantation, NED, an angry White Man, whips NINA, a Black former slave. Black Raven and Captain Early arrive with the dead men. Nina is devastated. One of dead men is her husband.
their life. On the ship there were a few white people, but most of the people on the ship
The characters who were apart of the African community are forced to accept themselves as the “outsiders”, which has been told to them by the upper class white community. Morrison shows how these stereotypes tormented the brains of many, sometimes to the point of losing their minds. The black community was taunted by the white people, and Morrison made the focus of the novel a young group of little girls who are just realizing the horrors of the world.
Antoinette’s madness is a very important part of the novel as it leads her to the life that Brontë created for her in Jane Eyre. Antoinette has suffered so much throughout her life that Bertha becomes a way for her to disconnect from everything and disappear for a while. Considering the life she lived as a child and how she was treated not just by the other people on the island but her own mother it is easy to see why this other personality has surfaced. This shows just how much of an impact other people and events can have on a
The second part of the novel marks the beginning of the marriage between Antoinette and the English gentleman (normally identified as Rochester from Jane Eyre; he will be referred to as such for the remainder of the essay). The Marriage contract itself, interestingly, is negotiated and put into action by a series of men: Rochester's father and brother, Antoinette's stepfather and, subsequently, her step-brother, Richard Mason. When Antoinette herself puts up a half-hearted resistance to the marriage, both Rochester and Richard Mason step in to push the contract along. Already, Rhys, within the marriage, establishes action as a male characteristic and inertia as female.
The book’s character’s main problem is finding individuality in racism. For the duration of the book, the narrator is constantly fighting racism and stereotypes. Ellison put many examples in the book to help show the character’s fight to be seen equal. Ellison shows that, through the character himself, that you can not tell people who to be. However, Ellison throws curves at the narrator that challenges
Rhys integrates the two characters and their racism so her readers will feel more connected with both. In the paper “Race, Creole, and National Identities in Rhys’ Wide Sargasso