The document discusses Jean Rhys' novel Wide Sargasso Sea and how it serves as a prequel and justification for the character of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre. It analyzes how Rhys uses the metaphor of the Sargasso Sea to represent the complex situations and relationships between characters of different cultures and backgrounds. In particular, it examines the dysfunctional and misunderstood marriages between Creole women and British men in the novel, and how this reflects the tensions between European and West Indian societies in the 19th century.

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“The Sargasso Sea lies between Europe and the West Indies and it is difficult to navigate, like
the human situations in the novel.” Discuss.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, being a response to canonical text, Jane Eyre, provides
a backstory to the mad character Bertha Mason found in the latter novel, and justifies why the
character would have descended into madness. The main character of Wide Sargasso Sea,
Antoinette Mason, née Cosway is a Creole White residing in Coulibri Estate with her mother, the
latter of whom was the wife of a Slave Owner, and who is thus hated by local Blacks in the
island. The daughter, Antoinette, like her mother, Annette, becomes mad in response to harsh
familial and societal situations. Rhys attempts to justify this madness through the presentation of
pressures felt from not only being hated by Blacks in the society, but also being disowned by
their White counterparts in England. Annette and her mother have the unfortunate triad
representation of being White, West Indian and Female. The unnamed male character,
Antoinette’s husband, represents the Metropolis, and Male. In a letter to a one Francis Wyndham
on March 29th 1958, it is reported that Jean Rhys writes: “I have no title yet. “The First Mrs
Rochester” is not right. Nor, of course is “Creole”. That has a different meaning now. I hope I’ll
get one soon, for titles mean a lot to me. Almost half the battle. I thought of “Sargasso Sea” or
“Wide Sargasso Sea” but nobody knew what I meant.” (136) The terms “Sargasso Sea” or “Wide
Sargasso Sea” may not mean much to the average individual who hears it, so it is commendable
to note how Rhys manipulates the concept of the Sargasso Sea into creating very deep and
complex characters within their various situations, in her text. Notably, (Wide) Sargasso Sea is
an effective metaphor that portrays the levels of disparity and animosity between differing
cultures and ideologies, and which presents individual’s complex emotional and psychological
state.
The Sargasso Seas which lies between Europe and the West Indies has been denounced
though oral tradition and fictional tales as a dark, mysterious, unknown and unfortunate space
creating disaster for those who venture into it. Similarly, Rhys seems to associate some level of
danger with the union between Creole born women, and British men. In a letter to a Diana Athill,
Rhys explains how having a union between daughters of West Indian Planters and British men
was not only common, but successful, however given the loss of financial benefits after the

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Slave Trade dissipated, the irregularity of these unions came to the forefront. (144) The writer
first attempts to establish this irregularity with the portrayal of Annette’s and her second
husband’s marriage. Mr. Mason is a British man, who seems to represent the seeming all-
knowingness and arrogance of the British. The irony, of course is established with the fact that
Mason has not had sufficient experiences in the West Indies to understand the dynamics of racial
and cultural differences, yet he passes judgments and makes comments as if he were well-
informed.
On page eighteen, Antoinette gives an account of her stepfather’s rejection of the
explanation as to why Aunt Cora could not have helped Annette as the latter descended into
poverty. As a Creole White child, Antoinette could easily explain that firstly, Aunt Cora’s
husband being English born did not like Antoinette’s mother because she was Creole born White.
Antoinette could also explain that even in the instance that Aunt Cora wanted to help; she was
female and thus rendered powerless to even attempt autonomic decisions. Mr. Mason dismissed
such explanations as “nonsense”. What Antoinette relays next (“None of you understand about
us, I thought”), is symbolic as it highlights the disparity between the values and understandings
of the West Indies born individual and the European born individual. Mr. Mason, ignoring his
wife’s plea for safely, makes the declaration that Blacks are “too damn lazy to be dangerous”.
(Rhys 19) His irrefutable postulation would be quickly destroyed with the Black uprising against
the household. The consequences of this uprising are the death of Pierre and the dissipation of
trust which are symbolic of the abnormality that is Annette’s and Mr. Mason’s marriage. Annette
accuses her husband as being a “cruel stupid fool”. Fool may suitably apply to his character.
Hadn’t he said on page nineteen, “I don’t understand at all”? He doesn’t understand his wife, and
so in extension doesn’t understand the West Indies. His ignorance and his inability to
acknowledge the existence of differences between himself and his wife allows a detrimental end
to an already unusual union.
The concept of ill-matched unions between differing cultures is further explored in
Antoinette’s and her British husband’s marriage. As Rhys further expounds in her letter to Diana
Athill, she wanted the bride-groom “young, unwilling, rather suspicious and ready to believe the
worst, not liking the tropics at all…” (144) These are indeed the character attitudes attributed to
the unnamed bridegroom of Antoinette. There is much tension in this union, resistance on either

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party’s side to understand the other side of things. The awkwardness of their union is brought out
at once in the perception our male character has of his wife, Antoinette different and apart from
European White. He notes “long, sad, dark alien eyes….they are not English or European…”
(Rhys 39). He makes reference to her as “stranger” on page forty one, and even makes
comparisons- visioning her being almost as beautiful as an English woman rather than accepting
her beauty as is. That Antoinette’s husband expresses his wife mocking of England is highly
symbolic. They share conflicting perceptions of London. Antoinette expresses her concern of it
being “cold dark dream” (Rhys 47) as her friend once told her. Her husband believes contrarily
and retaliates that he feels the same about her island of residence. Each attempts to outdo each
other in praise or recognition only of their birthplace. Notably, there are many things the couple
don’t see eye-to-eye with. Antoinette’s husband does not understand that it is pride why the
Blacks allow their dresses to drag on the floor, as his wife explains to him. He doesn’t
understand why his wife hugs the Blacks and or even why she speaks the “debased French patois”
like the West Indians. (Rhys 39) Though these differences are simple, the multiplicity of these
allows separation even within a union.
One should notice that Rhys does not only showcase conflicts found in interpersonal
settings; she also shows the disjuncture caused by conflicting cultures and values in the wider
society. The West Indies in the 19th century of which is the text is set is characterized by high
animosity and tension between Black and White, representative of West Indies and Europe,
respectively. Early in Part One of the text, the distinctions are relayed to readers. Antoinette, the
narrator properly identifies groups of individuals as “the white people” and the “black people.”
Antoinette says: “I never looked at any strange negro. They hated us. They called us white
cockroaches.” (Rhys 13) Animosity is bred so heavily that Annette’s horse is poisoned by the
Blacks, and an uprising is made against their household. It is symbolic too that Antoinette’s
childhood friend, Tia, participates in the movement against the Mason family by slapping
Antoinette in the head with a stone. Even in childlike innocence, the pervasiveness and gravity of
cultural animosity dominates, and there has to be some amount of taking sides. Tia has sided
with her Black counterparts as Antoinette would have been expected to side with Whites.
Antoinette expresses how the society would not have acknowledge such unusual friendship
between them.

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The distinction made by Antoinette between “the white people” and “the black people”
innocently, of which neither our main character identifies with, suggests that Antoinette has
somewhat of a identify crisis. On one hand, an individual may- having been violently cast aside
by society as an outsider- internalize this marginalization and experience an identity crisis where
he/she cannot fit into the Group. On the other hand, the crisis may originate in reverse order
where innately the individual has personality disorders or problems which rid him/her of
possibility of syncing with members of society. Both analyses seem to apply to Antoinette. A
character Daniel Cosway/Boyd associates the latter analysis with Antoinette who he believes is
born crazy like her mother. Taking into account the entirely of the tale, the former analysis may
also apply. Evelyn O’Callaghan however doesn’t see an either-or scenario; she combines the two
explanations. She argues that “the conflict between other/self that precipitates her “madness” is
the conflict between man (the domineering exploiters and tamer of nature); but it is also the
conflict between the hostile world of society (white and black) and the increasingly alienated
individual, who fits in with neither group.” (103) Antoinette may have possessed some traits of
psychological disorder, but her experiences allowed the manifestations of such abnormal
behaviour.
Regardless of the take on the matter, what is understandably correct is that Antoinette’s
psyche is ever changing throughout her life. As a child she is hopeful for many things: love from
her mother, friendship from a Black friend, Tia, and overall amicability with society. Her
experiences negatively affect her psyche as she becomes closed off for wants of attention from
her mother, feeling isolated at school, and subjecting herself to desires, sexual or otherwise, of
her husband, who mistreats her. The fluctuations in Antoinette’s mental state suggest
vulnerability, and a lack of surety regarding her identity. Her husband acknowledges that she
possesses a “pleading expression”. (Rhys 141) And she does plead. She goes to Christophine for
magic drink to restore passion within her husband as had existed before. That she even gives
total power to her husband (“Say die and I will die”) (Rhys 55) to dictate whether or not she
deserved life resonates a sense of complete loss as to the control of who she is as an individual.
Evelyn O’Callaghan reads this as “a progression from personality disorder through depression to
psychosis” (91)

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This idea of displacement is not only felt by Annette and then Antoinette, but is also
faced by the unnamed male character, Antoinette’s husband, who is present in a land unfamiliar
to him. For much of his tale regarding his life with Antoinette in the West Indies, the uncertainty
felt is made concrete through the descriptions of the landscape of the West Indies. The
descriptions characterize the landscape as mysterious, luring and menacing: “…those hills would
close in on you.” (Rhys 41) “…the sea was a serene blue, deep and dark.” (Rhys 42) To him, the
land is so unfamiliar that he feels it is a dream. He describes a river as “a beautiful place-wild
untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret loveliness.” He feels overwhelmed: “Everything is
too much…too much blue, too much purple, too much green. The flowers too red, the mountains
too high, the hill too near.” Like his wife Antoinette, he too experiences severe psychological
trauma. From what vague information is given regarding the state of his relationship with his
father and brother back in England, we gather that he too pines for acceptance from a parental
figure. Like Antoinette, he does not receive it. He is tricked, like he tricks Antoinette, and is sent
to a faraway place to marry a woman who seemingly has ‘mad blood’. Similar to his wife who
descends into submission and madness, his psychological state moves from subtle resistance to
marriage and loneliness, to severe hate and possession: “…for I don’t want her and she’ll see no
other…”, “She’s made but mine, mine.” (Rhys 99) “You hate me and I hate you. We’ll see who
hates best.” (Rhys 102)
What truly makes analysis of human situations in the novel difficult is the use of the
“other side” motif that runs throughout the novel. There is the presentation of much contrasts,
juxtaposition, contradiction and clashes. The most obvious representation of the motif is the
division of the novel into varying point of views that tells the story from different vantage points.
Truth is relative. Antoinette’s story differs from her husband’s. Daniel Cosway’s/Boyd’s recount
of Antoinette’s mother’s descent to madness is different. Though they are not provided, the
introduction of the point of the “other side” may motivate readers to extend a thought to other
characters as we ponder what could be Annette’s side of the story. Or Christophine’s, or even
Aunt Cora, and Tia. Because truth differs with individual perception, contradictions are stark,
and clashes occur. There is notably the ongoing juxtaposition of the Sargasso Sea -with its
breadth, ambiguity and difficulty in being navigated through- to the human situations in the
novel, which are just as complex by sight and venture.

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The metaphor of Sargasso Sea manipulated by Jean Rhys is most suitable. Many things
become apparent. The physical distance of Europe and West India caused by the Sargasso Sea is
similar to the mental distance between English born and a Creole born individual. This distance
extends to the stark difference in the White individual and the Black individual even in close
proximity, as in, the same society. And most importantly, the Sargasso Sea becomes symbolic of
the psychological rift caused by the tangible presentations of clashing cultures and ideologies in
society, and its detrimental effect on individuals. Like the Sargasso Sea, human situations in
Wide Sargasso Sea are difficult to navigate owing to the complexities of the differing sides.

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Works Cited
O’Callaghan, Evelyn. “Interior Schisms Dramatised: The Treatment of the “Mad” Woman in the
Work of Some Female Caribbean Novelists”. Out of the Kumbla: Caribbean Women and
Literature. Ed. Carole Boyce Davies and Elaine Savory Fido. New Jersey: Africa World
Press, 1990. 89-109. Print.
Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. Ed. Judith L. Raiskin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
Inc., 1999. 9-112. Print.
---. “Selected Letters”. Wide Sargasso Sea. Ed. Judith L. Raiskin. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 1999. 132-145. Print.