Cruelty and Insanity in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

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Cruelty and Insanity in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea provides unique insight into the gradual

deterioration of the human mind and spirit. On examining Antoinette

and her mother Annette, the reader gains a new perspective of

insanity. One realizes that these two women are mentally perturbed as

a result of numerous external factors that are beyond their control.

The cruelty of life and people drive Annette and her daughter to

lunacy. Neither mother nor daughter have a genetic predisposition to

madness, and their downfall is an inevitable result of the actions of

those around them and the unbearable nature of their living situation.

Antoinette's condition owes its beginnings to the solitude of her

childhood, thus the cold, unfeeling treatment she receives from her

husband does not create her mental instability, only exacerbates it.

At the beginning of the novel, it becomes apparent that solitude is a

primary cause of theCosway women?s insanity. Antoinette?s narration

reveals that her mother is not accepted by other white people in

Jamaica because she originated from Martinique, and the Jamaican

ladies in particular ?never approved? of her mother ?because she

pretty like pretty self?. Her only friend, Mr. Luttrell, commits

suicide after he tires of waiting for monetary compensation for the

loss of his slaves. Annette is left with no one of her colour or class

to associate with. In describing her childhood, Antoinette only speaks

of one friend, a Negro girl named Tia, but this was an ephemeral

friendship. Antoinette had no one belonging to her age group or class

that she could associate with. For the most part, the young girl is

very isolated and alone, quite like her mother. Utter lon...

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...umstances of the

lives that Annette and her daughter lead in Coulibri serve as the

foundation for their insanity. The reader cannot attribute their

downfall to a genetic trait, but must instead understand that the

process of going insane would not have started if their life at the

beginning of the novel was not so lonely and miserable. Fate is cruel

to these two individuals, and the cruelty of the Negroes is the only

human cruelty inflicted on Annette and Antoinette at Coulibri, thus

their lunacy begins as a result of both sources. Antoinette?s

childhood leaves her with emotional scars and prohibits proper mental

and personal growth, thus she marries her husband with these already

established problems, and her husband?s actions only serve to develop

the existing unstable tendencies.

Work Cited

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: Norton, 1982.

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