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Postcolonial view on the novel wide sargasso sea
Postcolonial view on the novel wide sargasso sea
Comparison between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea
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Jean Rhys' Use of Conflicting Narratives of Antoinette and Rochester in "Wide Sargasso Sea"
There are many techniques Jean Rhys uses to bring across the point
that the narrators are unreliable and the truth twisted, it is an
interesting and effective idea as it makes the reader feel confused on
who to trust and really involves them in the book, they become party
to the secrets.
Rhys’ book is so complex as it is obviously linked to the Classic
book- ‘Jane Eyre’; this is classic English literature and therefore is
always in our minds during WSS. Those that have read ‘Jane Eyre’
normally like to trust Jane as she is a heroine who we have sympathy
for; we are introduced to her from when she is young so we know and
understand her and how she behaves. Also in ‘Jane Eyre’, Mr.Rochester
comes across very innocent, you believe he is trustworthy and that he
loves Jane, you want them to be happy together- when he reveals his
'mad wife' to Jane you feel sympathy for him as he is in such a bad
situation, you also feel sympathy for Jane; you feel resentful towards
Bertha as she ruined what Jane and Rochester could have had; it is
easy to feel like this as you don’t know her, as you do in WSS.
Bertha, in ‘Jane Eyre’, gets locked up in a luxury place; it seems she
has her own 'quarters' unlike in WSS. When you read WSS I felt less
sympathy for Mr.Rochester because you don’t really get the impression
that he loves Antoinette and that he is only marrying her for money.
Another factor that creates contrast between these novels is it is set
in a midst of strange confusing things (WSS) and a completely
different culture, which is chaotic and primitive, this makes us more
misplaced. Whereas in ‘Jane Eyre’ the culture is...
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Jane. However I think eh main reason why I find Antoinette more
credible is because we here from her from the start, when she is
young. When we are first introduced to Rochester’s narrative we are
lost in the switch from part to part so we don’t get so in-depth with
him, Antoinette starts the novel so we trust her account; it’s the
first we hear. I generally feel more sympathy for her two as she was
never favoured or appreciated as a young child, rejected by her
mother, father, only friend Tia (who steals her dress), when she is
finally accepted by Richard Mason (stepfather) it is to sell her off
to Mr. Rochester who then accepts her but late rejects her by-
sleeping with her slave whilst she can hear them. She has little power
as a woman and so has to live with these changes made by others. This
is why I feel sympathy for Antoinette over Rochester.
Everyone views the world with his or her own sense of gender, equality, and mind. Woman today view the world as a one-sided standard where equality does not exist for them. They believe that men have taken away their chances of happiness and opportunity because there are men and we are woman. Even though both men and women share equal hardships some women believe that men still have the final say in their lives. In Scott Russell Sanders essay “The Men We Carry in Our Minds” he believes that women have life made essay in his mind but woman must work just as hard as men for jobs, believe that everything should be given to them just because to who they know and what they do, and that men will always ruin the world and that women are the more dominate
Since the beginning of time, women have been treated as inferiors by men. Due the supposedly weak anatomy their body, they have always been seen as weak and fragile, a description that can’t be farther from the true. Women have been proven to withstand a large amount of pain and have a stronger emotional stability. Just like racism, gender deferment has been less with the progression of time but it’s still a factor that is present in the everyday life of modern society. We can see this in the fields of work like science where it is rare to find a women scientist and how the technological world is mostly ruled by powerful male figures. Women have been oppressed since the beginning of time and have fought for their rights bravely and consistently, women went from not even being able to speak their own thoughts unless their husbands said so and being an incubator for male heirs to being inspirations to many people and fighting for what it’s right. We, as a society, have progressed in that way through the ages, even though, some women are still being oppressed daily on various parts of the world, it is something that we must overcome and we will, because this world is a better place with more smart, educated and outgoing
...hoice of pursuing any field of interest in my studies, as I would have been very limited in my choices as a woman. For these and many other opportunities, I am thankful for the changes that have taken place. Unfortunately, I feel we have lost a great deal in the process. I think we often confuse the desire to have equal rights with the view that gender differentiation is an oppressive concept that should be abolished. The feminists of today do little more than dissolve the family unit, confuse relationships, and weaken a woman's role in society. In reality, men and women are very different and instead of trying to completely erase the differences between us, we should embrace them. By acknowledging our separate identities, rather than ignoring them, we would be better able to work together and improve society as a whole.
fact that a person is a woman is still shown to be a disadvantage when
Since the beginning of time, gender has played a big role in how one acts and how one is looked upon in society. From a young age children are taught to be either feminine or masculine. Why is it that gender plays a big role in the characteristics that one beholds? For centuries in many countries it has been installed in individual’s heads that they have to live by certain stereotypes. Women have been taught to be feeble to men and depend on them for social and economical happiness. While men have been taught to be mucho characters that have take care of their homes and be the superior individual to a woman. For the individuals who dare to be different and choose to form their own identity whether man or woman, they are out casted and secluded from their community. These stereotypes that people have been taught to live upon have been a huge burden on women because they are the ones who have been taught to be the inferior individual. Women have struggled to obtain their own identities and become independent, but as time has evolved women have developed and are able to be independent. Surprisingly it is being accepted.
of man, women have been given more freedoms yet they still are not equal to their male
...ositions in the government, large corporations, even in certain religions. Women have made large and permanent advances that are milestones in this country. Though much needs to be done in other parts of the world – even within the United States – progress is inevitable. Sooner of later, one way or another, change will come.
loss of his slaves. Annette is left with no one of her colour or class
The further they become saturated with the male dominated life, the harder it is for women to become open to their own identity formation and needs. It is instilled in women from an early age that it is expected that they learn how to cook and clean, manage household bills, raise children, and be able to manage a home. With increasing number of women having to work to help support the family, they must also learn how to divide their time between career, family, and a husband.
I grew up in a household where I was constantly reminded of the difference between the role of the male and the female in the society. The role of the male is to earn a good income and provide for his family whiles the role of the female is to take care of duties such as clean up after the family and take care of things such as cooking and helping the children with their homework. For the last twenty years, which is my whole life, this is how things happened in our household, but it is slowly but surely fading away and the reason for this, is because of the changes in the environment. Back in the day when my parents were younger they were forced to accept that that is the way
advances for women in our society, they still are not viewed the same as men.
After the fire at Coulibri, Antoinette endures a rough time in her life, for her mother rejects her and Pierre dies. Antoinette’s mind is full of fear, sadness and instability. This trauma is clearly shown in the convent that she attends for the remainder of her adolescence. Upon entry, Antoinette takes immediate note and puts extra emphasis on describing the stones in the school. Taking note of the “cool stoneflagged room” (Rhys, 28) and providing this as the initial description suggests that she is at first uncomfortable. Having just been aggressively confronted by two residents of the island Antoinette is shaken (Rhys, 27). In order to further convey Antoinette’s distrustful mind, Rhys describes the uninviting and cold stones of the convent thus allowing the reader to more deeply
Every dog we see is a ‘he’, every stick figure a ‘he’, humans thought of as simply ‘mankind’. There are exceptions, though. Boats, cars, bikes and ships always seem to be ‘she’, but this is hardly exciting once we realise that they are all objects, and possessions of (usually) men, at that. Anyway, the cumulative effect of all this is that we are socialising generation after generation to view the world, and the women in it, from the point of view of men. As a result, only men are seen as full and complete human beings, not women. Women are objectified - this means we are denied agency, and are seen from the outside, our own consciousness, our thoughts and feelings, utterly overlooked. (Goh-Mah,
To be able to discuss adequately how the master narratives of Bronte and Rhys’ time are revised, one must first understand what those master narratives were and what the social mood of the time was. From there one will be able to discuss how they were revised, and if in fact they were revised at all.
The differences between women and men are not solely biological. Our society’s culture has established a set of unwritten cultural laws of how each gender should act, or in other words society has ascribed a stereotype. Men’s gender identity has been one of masculinity, and masculinity is defined as referring to a man or things described as manly. What does manly mean though? Is a male manly if he is “Mr. Fix-it”, or the jock, or if he sits on the couch on Sunday watching football? This latter statement is a stereotype of men, that has been around for decades, and is current as well, but starting with the 1960’s a man’s role started to change, despite the stereotype not changing to accommodate it. For the past 40 years one can see how men have taken on roles stereotypically ascribed to women, such roles including being the “stay-at-home mom”, which we can find an excellent example of in the 1980’s film “Mr.