1/25/2019 2 Comments Jean RhysAuthors Name: Jean Rhys
Dates Alive: 1890-1979 Location: British West Indies Major Works: ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ and ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ Major Themes: The complexity of racial identity- Whites born in England are distinguished from the white creoles, descendants of Europeans who have lived in the West Indies for generations. Complicating the social structure even more is the population of the black ex-slaves (some were also from Martinique) There is a large mixed-race population, as white slave owners were notorious for raping and impregnating female slaves. Even though they are all white, each character in the story has different roots that set them apart from others. Novel Choice Plot Summary: Antoinette and her family do not fit in with the white people in Spanish town. According to Christophine, the Jamaican ladies do not approve of Antoinette’s mother, Annette, because she comes from Martinique (which was a French colony, whereas Jamaica was an English colony.) Analysis of Main Character: Antoinette- She is the daughter of ex-slave owners who live on a run down plantation called Coulibri Estate. Left to her own devices as a child, she finds that the world can be both peaceful and terrifying. In the first part of the book, we see a delicate girl who finds refuge in her isolated life. She is an exile within her own family and a “white cockroach” to her servants. How did author's life influence writing in the Novel? Rhys’ mother’s family were Creoles, born and naturalised in the West Indies. However, Creoles were not English. They were born and bred on an island in the Caribbean noted for its vivid tropical beauty, mountains and dense rain forest but also for violent hurricanes, heat and poverty. They were a small group; even in Jean Rhys’ childhood the ratio was around 300 whites to a total population of 30,000, most of whom were black. White people spoke English, black people spoke patois, a dialect with connections to French. The effects of this divided society on cultural identity and a sense of belonging is one of the themes of Wide Sargasso Sea. Jean Rhys explores it in relation to Antoinette, her native-born Creole heroine and the newly arrived English planter, bent on the economic exploitation of his new estates, who becomes her husband. Works Cited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Rhys By: Isabella W.
2 Comments
Shay kerlew
1/31/2019 10:14:33 am
You mention how there are many characters from many different backgrounds and roots, do you think there is a specific reason for such a wide diversity among the characters? Who was the author trying to target in terms of the readers?
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isabella
2/3/2019 01:49:28 pm
I think the author was trying to portray things that she witnessed in her own life, being from that island.
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