P-203 Assignment

  P-203 Assignment

Racism in Wide Sargasso Sea

Name- Kishan Jadav

Paper- The Postcolonial Studies

Roll no-10

Enrollment no-3069206420200008

Email id- jadavkishan55555@gmail.com

Batch-2020-22 (MA Sem-III)

Submitted to- S. B. Gardi Department of English,

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Introductio :

The racism in Wide Sargasso Sea is used as a way of offering a partial explanation for Bertha's subsequent descent into madness. Bertha's madness can be attributed to a number of factors but racism is undoubtedly one of the most important. As a white Creole, Bertha isn't fully accepted by colonial white society nor by the indigenous Black population. This leads to a crisis of personal identity that almost certainly contributes to her subsequent decline into insanity. what is Racism?

What is Racism?

The dogma in which a certain race of people feel superiority from another race based solely on physical differences.Racism includes picking on people who are from a different country too. Racism is felt by lots of different groups.For example, Jewish people have been persecuted - this is called anti-SemitismThe UK is full of people who follow lots of different faiths and religions. Most of the time they all get along and people are free to live the way they want to.However, some groups are targeted because of their beliefs, and because of events that people blame them for - even if this is incorrect.For example, Islamophobia is when Muslims are the victims of attacks just because of their religion.

Racism is mainly thought of as a illogical doctrine in which not only values and physical appearance are discriminated and generalized but intelligence and culture as well. Racism has been part of every society since the beginning of agriculture, and maybe even before.

Science :-

Science hasnt worked much on really disproving the theories that racism has proposed. In some cases, science has even helped racist ideals, such as the case of physiognomy. One of the most frequently asked questions about racism is if certain races have a higher IQ level than others. Science has proven that in some cases this is true, but only because of education levels. For example, in a WW1 test given to draftees, known as the Alpha and Beta tests, African Americans from the cities scored higher than whites from rural areas.

 IQ scores :-

The IQ test, however, was not a viable measure. Tested many subjects that were important for white communities, but not important for blacks. Only test certain cultural settings.

The Bell Curve :-

Herrnstein and Murray. Shows different IQ levels from around the world. Racist book, lead to racist points of view in many Americans, because both authors were very important people in the United States.

Genes :-

Blacks have genes that are better suited for running. Better in sports. Genes can define that people from certain races are better than others from another race. can be most simply understood as someone behaving differently to another person based on the colour of their skin or culture. Some people are picked on because they look different or speak a different language. Some people wear certain styles of clothing because of their religion and may get bullied because of this.

Race and Gender issues in Wide Sargasso Sea :-

Wide Sargasso Sea is a novel written by Jean Rhys is a novel that is written with special purpose as to describe the earlier life of Bertha Mason of Jane Eyre, whose original name is Antoinette in the novel. It shows her life from the very beginning of her life, how she is married to Rochester and how her psyche gets worse and worse. The entire process is described here and the reasons responsible for that are also described at lengths. 

The title of the novel is very important. The Sargasso Sea is a large area where there is a huge attention of seaweeds (sea plants) in the North Atlantic Sea. Just like these weeds, the characters here also are tangled in the web of emotions and ideas- they seem to be drowning each other. Thus, the title of the novel is actually the showcase of what it actually is.

Race and Gender Issues :

Antoinette was a Creole girl and Rochester was an English white man. So there is clearly a difference between them in terms of race and gender as well. The novelist shows us that Antoinette is a weak character mainly because of her being female and black. Rhys finds herself caught up in two different cultures and is not sure about her own identity that she reflects in her heroine. Like Rhys, Antoinette is a sensitive and lonely young Creole girl whgrows up with neither her mother’s love nor her peers’ companionship. In a school as a young woman, Antoinette becomes increasingly lost in thought and isolated, showing the early signs of her inherited emotional vulnerability. Moreover, Antoinette’s passion contributes to her melancholy and implied madness. Her arranged marriage to an unsympathetic and controlling English gentleman worsen her condition and pushes her to fits of violence. Eventually her husband brings her to England and locks her in his attic, assigning a servant woman to watch over her. Fearful, Antoinette awakes from a vivid dream and sets out to burn down the house.

"She never blinks at all it seems to me. Long, sad, dark alien eyes. Creole of pure English descent she may be, but they are not English or European either” (40).

Rochester further ostracizes himself from Antoinette by pointing out the significant differences between their cultures. By describing Antoinette’s eyes as alien, Rochester reveals the discomfort he feels when he is around her. He notes that she might be descended from pure English blood but she will never be completely English. This quote highlights how internal racism can lead to further division within communities.

Antoinette as a miserable woman character :-

Rhys often wrote about women, in various stages of their lives, living hand to mouth in London or Paris. The women are always on the economic edge, needing money, receiving cash and clothes from men, drinking, sitting in cafes, and endlessly walking. The books are very spare, bare, unsentimental, and wonderful. Here, in this novel, no outside narration, no other point of view interrupts Jean’s vision, and Antoinette seems to offer a model of progress for all women. 

Antoinette’s story is intertwined with the cultural and familial history. Narration in Wide Sargasso Sea is divided between the Creole woman, Antoinette, and the English man, Rochester, but Rhys seems careful to include voices other than the two central narrators, which helps offer insight into the narrator’s often partiality vision.

Rhys’ unsure Self-Identity reflected in Antoinette :

Rhys here describes her heroine with the unsure identity as she also is suffering of. Once in an interview, the reporter asks the questions about her identity, the conversation was like following: Reporter, “Do you consider yourself a West Indian?” She hesitates and answers, “It was such a long time ago when I left.” Reporter, “So you don’t think of yourself as a West Indian writer? Again she nodded, but said nothing. The Reporter asks again, “What about English? Do you consider yourself as an English writer?”, “No! I’m not, I’m not! I’m not even English.” She shouts. Rhys finds herself caught up in two different cultures and is not sure about her own identity that she reflects in her heroine. Like Rhys, Antoinette is a sensitive and lonely young Creole girl who grows up with neither her mother’s love nor her peers’ companionship. In a school as a young woman, Antoinette becomes increasingly lost in thought and isolated, showing the early signs of her inherited emotional vulnerability. 

Rochester as a new type of Colonizer :

Rochester as a new type of Colonizer We all know that the British had colonized many countries and the Caribbean is one of them. But here the character of Rochester is shown as a different and new type of Colonizer who had colonized a Creole Antoinette. So, here we findvan oppressor who neither respects Creoles nor the black ones. Rochester's dominated identity is reflected in Antoinette’s capture and his domination over her.

By the end of Part 2 of the novel, where he is leaving Caribbean and going to England with Antoinette, he utters that : 

“ I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain….she had left me thirsty..”

These lines mean that he does not love the Caribbean people and their lifestyle and therefore he is willing to go to England and to satisfy the thirst that he had. 

Is Rochester responsible for Antoinette's Madness?

Many Critics believe that Antoinette’s husband Rochester is responsible for Antoinette's madness. Rochester is the nameless creator and, as a white man, his authority and freedom allow him to present identity to others . For instance, he decides to rename his wife, calling her Bertha in an attempt to distance her from her crazy mother, who full name was Antoinette.

He continues to fragment her identity, he creates the new name of Marionetta, a cruel joke that reflects Antoinette's doll-like flexibility. He ultimately refashions Antoinette into a wild madwoman and treats her as a ghost. By refusing his companion and her local traditions, he over- stressed his own English rule over the Caribbean land and citizens. Thus , it is clear that Rochester is the one who caused the madness of Antoinette.

Conclusion :

It is debated that Antoinette is insane prior to her marriage with Rochester and it is not Rochester who has caused the madness but here we would like to argu that even though Antoinette is a bit of a lost personality, she would not have became totally mad if her husband could have take a bit care of her. Thus, it is clear that Rochester is the one who caused the madness of Antoinette.

Citation :

Rhys, Jean, Wide Sargasso Sea, Deutsch Andre UK, Norton, US, 1966 

Rhys, Jean. 1969 Wide Sargasso Sea, Harmondsworth. Spivak, Gayatri 

Chakravorty. 1988

Racism in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, https://ijsi.in/pdf-viewer/?id=755.

The Spivak Reader. London: Routledge... 1985

 “Jean Rhys.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Rhys.

"Three Women's Texts and a Critique of Imperialism." Critical Inquiry, 12.1 24361. 

Jstor.Web.<http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1343469?uid-3739192&uid-2

129&ui

d=2&uid=70&uid-4&sid=21103404664593.SwieSwietlik, Malgorzata. 2005