Creole Identities and Creole Identities and Racial/Gender RelationsRacial/Gender Relations in in

Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea

NY: Norton, 1966 (Norton edition 1982)

Jean Rhys’s Life: (1890 -Jean Rhys’s Life: (1890 -19791979))

• creole identity and a drifting life• born in Dominica in 1890, the daughter of a

Welsh doctor and a white Creole mother.

• She came to England when she was sixteen and then drifted into a series of jobs - chorus girl, mannequin, artist's model - after her father died. She also drifted in several cities, mostly in Vienna and Paris.

• Three marriages.

Jean Rhys’s WorkJean Rhys’s Work

• Start to write in her thirties;• Discovered by Ford Madox Ford• Her first four novels are said to portray the

same woman (with different names and minor details) at different stages of life, all drifting, unhappy, unstable, but with clear self-knowledge and understanding of others.

• -- a self-reflection of Rhys?

Rhys’s Work (2)Rhys’s Work (2)

• A break after Good Morning, Midnight,

• 1966: made a sensational reappearance with Wide Sargasso Sea

Rhys’s Self-IdentityRhys’s Self-Identity

“Do you consider yourself a West Indian?She shrugged. ‘It was such a long time ago when I left.’

“So you don’t think of yourself as a West Indian writer?”

Again she shrugged, but said nothing.

“What about English? Do you consider yourself an English writer?”

“No! I’m not, I’m not! I’m not even English.”

Rhys’s Self-Identity (2)Rhys’s Self-Identity (2)

“What about a French writer?” I asked.

Again she shrugged and said nothing.

“You have no desire to go back to Dominca?”

“Sometimes,” she said.

David Plante “Jean Rhys: A Remembrance.” 275-76 Qut in Gregg.p. 1

Rhys’s Self-Identity (3)Rhys’s Self-Identity (3)

• “I don’t belong anywhere but I get very worked up about the West Indies. I still care. . . .”

• After reading a critique of Wide Sargarso Sea. . ., Rhys complains. . . :” Again I am in danger of really becoming a recruit. . .I think being born in the West Indies is an influence very strong but . . . “ (Gregg 2 underline added)

Rhys on Rhys on Jane EryeJane Erye

“The creole in Charlotte Bronte’s novel is a lay figure -- repulsive which does not matter, and not once alive which does. . . . For me . . . she must be right on stage. She must be at least plausible with a past, the reason why Mr. Rochester treats her so abominably and feels justified, and the reason why he thinks she is mad and why of course she goes mad, even the reason why she tries to set everything on fire, and eventually succeeds. . . “ (Gregg 82)

Rhys on Antoinette’s historical Rhys on Antoinette’s historical backgroundbackgroundI. Shift of dates: • Jane Eyre -- towards the end of the novel reads a

book published in 1808 • Bertha confined in the attic in the first decade of

the 19th century.• WSS’s time frame shifted to 1830’s onwards: • Emancipation Act 1833• Antoinette -- a child in the 1840’s

II. “more than one Antoinette” then.

Jean Rhys: Major ThemesJean Rhys: Major Themes• Post-Emancipation Racial relationships --

among the black Caribbean, the Creoles, and the English.

• Gender relationships -- “halfway house”(p. 96); marriage and inheritance

• Their influence on – Annette and then Antoinette,

– Antoinette relationship with Tia,

– Antoinette and Rochester

– The madness?

• Part I: (Martinique), Jamaica: Coulibri estate, near Spanish Town Part II: Granbois, Dominica,

Part III: “Great House” England;

WSS: SettingsWSS: Settings

• Characers: Christophine, Tia, Amelie, • Antoinette, later Bertha Cosway Mason

Rochester.

• Annette Antoinette

Father

E. Rochester

Wide Sargasso Sea: Major Wide Sargasso Sea: Major CharactersCharacters

The CoswaysMr. Cosway,

PierreDaniel

The MasonsRichard

Aunt Cora

Creole Identities and Racial/Gender Creole Identities and Racial/Gender

RelationsRelations in in Wide Sargasso SeaWide Sargasso SeaBackgrounds on Race: I. white masters, New & Old:

• Mr. Luttrells p. 17; death of Mr. Lutrell

• p. 26 (New masters after the Emancipation of slaves)

• [Mr. Mason -- p. 32; p. 35]

II. White against creole: e.g. p. 17; Aunt Cora’s husband 30

III. Black against creole: poor “white cockcroaches” p. 23

Backgrounds (II)Backgrounds (II)

Background on Gender revealed through letters and conversation:

• about the Cosways: p. 28-29; Daniel Cosway’s letter pp. 96-99

• about Mason’s marriage: 29-30

• Gender: Rochester’s Marriage and Inheritance: p. 70; 114

• Questions:

How do these racial problems influence Annette and Antoinette?

1. Annette--What does she want? P. 18

Why is she aloof from Antoinette? pp. 20; 22; 26-27;

2. Antoinette -- How is she different from her mother? How does she survive? What do her dreams mean?

Creole Identities and Race RelationsCreole Identities and Race Relations in inJean Rhys's Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso SeaWide Sargasso Sea

Female Creole Identities• Annette

– the horse; p. 18/10

– her son; p. 19/11

– her views of Godfry and Sass p. 22/12

– gay and a good dancer 29;

– Annette vs. Mr. Mason -- p. 32/19; p. 35/20

– Coco p. 41/22

– What happened to her afterwards? P. 130- 134/78

Creole Identities and Race RelationsCreole Identities and Race Relations in inJean Rhys's Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso SeaWide Sargasso Sea

• Antoinette – the garden 19/ 10– reaction to the death of the horse– need of her mother p. 22/; rejection by her p. 26;

27– refuge in nature p. 23/13; solitude 28 /16– her dreams p. 26/15; pp. 59-60– the second refuge in the convent p. 53; 55; 57– death impulse p. 92

• Questions II:

Relationships Antoinette and Christophine?

And Conflicts between Antoinette and Tia?

• Antoinette with the other Jamaicans

– the way to the convent pp. 48

– Sandi

• Antoinette and Christophine pp. 20-21; 31

Creole Identities and Race RelationsCreole Identities and Race Relations in inJean Rhys's Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso SeaWide Sargasso Sea

• Antoinette and Tia

– p. 23

– their betting p. 24

– the black’s invasion p. 45

Part II: Part II: Causes for the conflicts Causes for the conflicts between Rochester and Antoinette: between Rochester and Antoinette: • 1. Race: different cultural backgrounds:--her limited understanding of the world ---- p. 55; ”Is it true,' she said, `that England is

like a dream?” p. 89; blanks in his mind 76• 2. Gender: Rochester's motivation for

getting married “not yet” p. 77; p. 89, 90; not love her, 93

• 3. Race+ Gender: the letter from Daniel

Rochester's suspicion of Antoinette’s madness

Part II: Part II: Causes for the conflicts Causes for the conflicts between Rochester and Antoinette between Rochester and Antoinette (2)(2)• Gender: 5. Rochester's self-centeredness

and possessiveness: p. 94; the priest's ruined house--Pere Lilievre--Pere Labat -- self-centered 103

• Race+ Gender: 6. Antoinette's temperament--sense of doom and insecurity

• Race+ Gender: 7. Antoinette’s seeking for help from Christophine