Wide Sargasso Sea- Part One: Childhood

Wide Sargasso Sea makes a fascinating read, after reading Jane Eyre especially. I believe fairly fervently that i would not have enjoyed the issues raised in WSS half as much if i had not already read JE!

The opening of the book very much seems to parallel JE. Rhys mirrors Brontes use of a matter of fact negative tone that very much sets up the mood of the rest of the book. However, where Bronte subdues herself, Rhys only becomes more intense. 'There was no hope in taking a walk that day' 'My father, visitors, feeling safe in bed- all belonged to the past'.



The overriding theme of the first chapter is most certainly the feeling of isolation. However, Antoinette has this on a new level compared to Jane. Not only is she isolated from friends or family, she is also on account of being a poor white Creole, isolated from her identity and her feeling of home. A theme that is brought up which seems far more central than it ever was in JE is that of control. Whereas it is implied in JE it is more apparent in WSS and there are several symbols that portray this which i will discuss in greater depth when i come to Motifs. Other Themes that crop up are the supernatural, naivety and innocence, prejudice and racism, intolerance of other cultures, class and wealth, God and the devil, light and dark.



Antoinettes character is developed very concisely in this section. Isolated during her childhood she becomes an extreme introvert and also a tad neurotic. She becomes very wary of strange or different people holding the view that they don't understand her or life in the Caribbean. As most things in her life are so very out of her control she latches onto the place where she lives as the only everlasting object in her life. Thus she distrusts people and instead immerses herself in the wildness of the landscape.

Many motifs seem to be introduced in this section. Most notably those of repeated use of colour for added emphasis and effect and that of control. Rhys plays around with the use of colour in her characters language, especially the language of the servants which throughout the book seems to be the voice of unutterable truths. 'look the black englishman! look the white niggers!' As well of the use of the colours black and white the colour red is also used copiously mirroring JE, the colour red once more being used to symbolise passion and love. The control appears in many symbols and metaphors. The most obvious and notable of these is the death of Coco the Parrot. As a bird he is a symbol of freedom, and yet Mr Mason has clipped his wings disabling him. So where he appears as if he could fly free if he tries all that happens is that he will consume himself and die in the attempt. This shows control as Coco is no longer even in control of his own survival. Coco is also,i believe, a metaphor for Antoinette who is disabled by her family, her 'wings clipped' by Mr Mason when he married her mother and thus assumed control over her. Antoinette is now at the mercy of Mr Mason who can just as easily leave her behind as Coco leaving her to stumble and crash through existence.

WSS has a most definite sense of place. I think that Place is a far more important feature than it was in JE, mainly as Antoinette attatches herself to her home in a way that Jane never does. In this they are opposites. Jane attatches herself to people and is neither here nor there about place; Antoinette attatches herself to her home and becomes neither here nor there about people or their emotions. Antoinette never truly expands or is ever able to connect with those who do not understanf Coulibri. Adversely Coulibri becomes her yard stick for measuring everywhere else despite the fact that the reader can see how abnormal a place it is to grow up. Antoinette consequently relates all wildness with positive connotations and the calm and orderly with negative connotations.


By the end of part one there are distinct parallels between JE and WSS that have been drawn, and yet there are already far more differences than similarities. Many of the events of childhood are similar and yet the two characters react in very different ways to them. One example of this is the outlook on religion; Jane attempts to model her character on the Bible and correct herself, whereas Antoinette sees only the hypocritical nature of religion and its parroting fashion of how the prayers for this and that do not chabge anything, and are only words with no meaning behind it. We see, by this point a definite branching of character. In childhood the two girls were as willful as each other, but Jane tries to submiss herself and go against her true nature where Antoinette embraces how and who she is.