Hi Everyone:
The turnout was a little lower than usual yesterday, partly due to sports “impact training” (I must find out what this is -- sounds serious), but things went very well nevertheless. It was immediately apparent that students responded very positively to Wide Sargasso Sea, which I wasn’t entirely expecting. I had expected that the reserved tone of the narrative and the foggy, ambiguous nature of some of the novel’s central scenes would have frustrated some students, but in fact many appreciated this. The novel’s tone, in particular, came up several times and was described in varied ways, some of them contradictory: intimate, cold, reserved, intense, disturbing, indirect, unreliable, and personal. The speaks, I think, of the amazing control that Rhys has over her language, for these many registers of tone point to essential themes in the book.
Particular scenes really stood out for students. The intense ambiguity of the scene in which Rochester has an intimate moment with Amelie seemed like a vortex that pulled in most of the novel’s concerns: issues of race, class, control, gender roles, nature and the supernatural, and coming of age. Other scenes cast their shadows of mystery as well, e.g. what was happening between Antoinette’s mom and her “caretakers,” why did Tia reappear in Antoinette’s mind at the very end of the novel, who was the woman that Antoinette (now Bertha) would see in Mr. Rochester’s house when she was walking around (Jane Eyre? Herself in a mirror?), and why does Antoinette feel drawn to her natural surroundings when she associates them with pain (“better than people,” she says)?
I pointed out that issues such as class, race, control, gender roles, nature and maturation are not themes in themselves. If one were to ask “what about class is this book dramatizing?” then this may be a step to a solid thesis and theme. I asked the students to choose one of these issues and try to make a statement about it in relation to the book, keeping in mind the question “what about this issue is essential to the novel.” This exercise did not go over too well, which may be attributed to early morning exhaustion, but I sense that this skill in general (making bold assertions about the reading) should be a focus for our class. Maybe we should call this “impact training.”
Lastly, I went over the final project attached to our summer work, which is a literary web project. I will post the full instructions on the blog in just a moment. Essentially, this is a creative piece which asks you to present the skeletal elements of an essay in the form of a web (thesis, evidence and interpretation). Students will informally present these during the 2nd - 3rd weeks of school.
If you were not able to attend, please remember to attach comments in the comment section. We will kicking off the year with Jane Eyre, which is an enormous but amazing book, so if you want to begin early then power up the forklift and pick up a copy somewhere soon, although brand new copies should be arriving for the beginning of school.
Thanks, and email me with any questions, Mr. Telles.
I felt that the issue of control played a large part in the novel and also shadowed and tied in many of the other issues such as race, class, and gender roles. The part of control that is essential to the novel is control over other people. Mr. Rochester is overly obsessed with control over things that he has trouble predicting such as his wife after he finds out about her family history. He also seems to feel he wants control over his servants because he does not know what to expect form them as he is new to the culture of the islands and the ways of the people. Many of the actions he takes are fueled by his want for control. For example he knows his sexual encounter with Amelie will further break down his wife and increase his control over her. HIs control over her is an example of the unequal gender-roles, just like Antoinette's mother did not respect her wishes, Mr. Rochester does not listen to his wife. In terms of race, control and attitude are more complicated because Mr. Rochester is against slavery but still he looks down on them and uses them as tools in his mission for control like he did with Amelie, thus controlling them.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty I could hardly get through the book, and had little success in identifying themes throughout the book. What I did find meaning in, however, was the shift in styles when changing narrators. Through Part One Rhys was writing from Antoinette's perspective, and thus focusing more so on storytelling and emotion descriptions. It seemed that all of Part One was dedicated to helping the reader understand and empathize with the confusion and conflict that raged within Antoinette, and additionally to foreshadowing her instability throughout Part Two. The scene in which the townspeople come to burn her estate seemed particularly personalized, for the depiction of such a traumatic event would hold entirely different values were it told from an adult's perspective rather than a child's.
ReplyDeletePart Two, told from Mr. Rochester's perspective, leaves the reader with an entirely different attitude towards Antoinette. The writing becomes more precise and methodical, aimed towards an answer of sorts. We absorb an outside examination of Antoinette, one that fails to take into account all of the personal details that we observed in part one. Of course this is planned to help us understand Mr. Rochester's own bewilderment at Antoinette's behavior, but the shift in style still helps differentiate.
By Part Three all I wanted to do was put the book down, but I did manage to pick up on a new, unfamiliar feeling in the text. The narration from Antoinette as an older woman is a bit disturbing, lending insight into her confusion but also leading to unmet expectations. Due to Part Two’s outside description of Part One’s personal narrative, it feels odd to be put back into a personal narrative without any outside reference to follow. I guess that’s what Jane Eyre is for.
Sadly, after reading through this book twice, I still understand very little of what is happening. I see the racial tensions, and the progressions to insanity, but I don't understand why anything is happening. Additionally, the language includes a large vocabulary of words I don't understand, either from lack of use or from being in a different language. Moreover, I found the character introduction rather abrupt, and did not understand the motives of many characters. This book left me both confused and disappointed and I have little to say about what the author was conveying.
ReplyDeleteThe central idea of "Wide Sargasso Sea" is truly loneliness. Antoinette betrayed, ignored, and her whole life she is forced to move from home to home. The control factor in the book is to demonstrate Antoinette's lack of control. The racial tension is to compliment the degree of Antoinette's loneliness. The staple moment of this tension is when Antoinette feels scared and alone, and runs toward her childhood friend Tia, only to be betrayed as Tia throws a rock towards her face. Tia appears again at the end because she was the last person Antoinette saw before she began to fall towards insanity. Antoinette's insanity is slow but complete. Additionally, the reason that things are described in contradictory terms, such as sweet and bitter, shrill and happy, is that this is what loneliness is for Antoinette. Antoinette never had a home, and the only thing constant in her life was loneliness. It is bittersweet, knowing it's there but being unable to change it. Loneliness can be refreshing and at the same time it can be unbearable. The feeling Antoinette is most at home with is one with a mix of happiness and dread, and so she projects that unto the world she describes.
DeleteThe book dealt with the issue of maturation through the growth and development of Antoinette, the main character. She grew up knowing, a majority of the townspeople hated her and family because of racial tension, so she spent most of her days alone without a friend. After her townspeople burned her house, and her brother ,and when her only friend Tia threw a rock at her, she was forced to quickly mature and see the hatred in the world in full light. Her mother showed her little affection through out her life, because of her mother's fragile mental state, and after the fire her mother, who she needed the most, became completely mentally unstable. During a time when she needed to be near her family, she was sent to a convent, where happiness was a considered a non-essential part of life, and she was not able to speak to anyone about her experiences. In the convent she was made to fit a mold of what was expected of her, and she was not able to mature on her own with a set of values. Therefore as an married adult, she was not able to process her emotions normally, and didn't know how to live happily.
ReplyDeleteI became particularly fascinated with Rochester’s lack of interest in Antoinette mixed with his overwhelmingly powerful lust for her throughout Part Two. My main interest in their relationship came with the end of Part Two. Rochester enters the Coulibri Estate an esteemed Englishman, his stature quickly becomes reduced by the black-servants, who clearly hold power over their white inhabitants, and his surroundings, but he seems to regain his esteem and indignation as him and Antoinette leave the estate. He despises Antoinette and openly admits it, he sees her as a crazy person, as an unpredictable madwoman, but he regains his stature in his own way by stating his dominance over her, something he hasn’t possessed for so long at the estate. It is human nature to be attracted to control and dominance and a loss of control is often associated with a loss of self, which I believe Rochester experienced while he was at the estate. He regained this control the only way he could, by asserting his ownership of his wife, which led to the eventual imprisonment of Antoinette aka “Bertha” in the attic.
ReplyDeleteRochester’s relationship with Amelie was very confusing. Did he love her or did he lust for her like he did Antoinette? What was the present he gave her? It would make sense if it were a gift of money because money seems to have so much pull in this book and if he cared about her as his gaiety suggests, then that would be a way of showing his affection for her. Also Rochester seemed to think of himself as more prestigious than the black servants when he first arrived at the estate but this seemed to diminish during his moment of intimacy with Amelie. He thought she looked “darker, her lips thicker” the next morning, yet he gives her the gift anyways. Their relationship was playful but inappropriate during that time period due to age and color.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, Wide Sargasso Sea was not my favorite book, partly because I feel like we already examined themes like racial tension, women, money, and insanity in the other books this summer. It was a struggle for me to realize what about this book was the main message or theme that I could take away that was different or somehow more interesting than the previous books.
ReplyDeleteI finally came to the conclusion that Part Three, where it is back to Antoinette's narration and she is going insane in the attic, is where the book ties to together and the ideas of illusion, fantasy, and control by using Antoinette’s insanity. The choice of going back to Antoinette’s perspective was smart because we already are familiar with her sense of loneliness, confusion, and passion for things going on around her from Part One. Switching to Rochester’s point of view was almost a tease, to make you look at Antoinette in the other perspective. Eventually I became confused whether I should empathize her or despise her, based on her actions and opinions in Part One and Two. When she is going crazy in the attic, longing for freedom and her old life at Coulibri, the themes in Wide Sargasso Sea finally make sense. Antoinette’s road to insanity started at the very beginning with the racial tensions, the tension between a woman and a man demonstrated by her mother’s marriage, and her anger and confusion at her town for attacking her estate. These events led to her loneliness and confusion throughout the entire book and when Rochester came into play, only to try to exert control over her, he pushed her further into insanity. This is why her mind reverts back to the red dress and Tia, because they remind her of her previous life. Coulibri was almost a fantasy place, where things didn’t make sense and her life was almost dreamlike. I think that the element of fantasy was secretly woven into this book as a way to get the reader to maybe see a point of her insanity. The descriptions of the setting lead us to understanding her insanity and almost accepting the bewildering events that were happening. Something I’ve noticed however is how authors love to use insanity as a way of a truth telling mechanism. Just as the veteran in Invisible man, sometimes the insane people are the only characters who are able to forgo the social pressures and explain truly the feelings of despair and loneliness that we as humans all feel at some point. I think Antoinette needed to become crazy so she could demonstrate the themes of racial tensions, tensions between the woman and the man, money, and control more clearly.
I believed the book was fantastic just as a read. Not looking too deeply into it, I could see the way the book psychologically played around. The end of the book specifically got me, with the dreams of the house burning down, and then waking up to set it on fire. Racial inequality was huge, as was sexism, and the deep depression that the main character, Antoinette, was feeling resulted from those kinds of rejection. Her mother didn't want her around (though she was a bit off her rocker) and neither did her close childhood friend, who just so happened to be black, called her crazy, and threw a rock at her head as Antoinette's childhood home burned in the background. An intense and very bothersome book (especially her husband sleeping with the other girl- the maid) I did like it as a read, but looking deeply into it was honestly quite creepy.
ReplyDeleteWide Sargasso Sea, a mysterious work by Jean Rhys combines the heavy atmosphere of the Caribbean islands with the heavy, dark feelings of the mid-nineteenth century. The novels power comes not only from the dramatic race and gender tensions between characters within, but also from the geographical and spiritual tensions amongst the islands. A large portion of act two is focused on the strong tensions between Rochester and the islands mountains, streams, forests and magical aura. Rochester spends long periods of times learning and dismissing the powers of the islands black magic or obeah. Rochester is both frightened and fascinated by the secrets of the island and the voodoo that takes place in mysterious enclaves among it. He wishes Christophine gone but also questions other natives about her magical past and talents. I see the magical themes in Wide Sargasso as a parallel to other tensions in the book, yet perhaps more powerful as a tool to provide readers with a link between Antoinette and the island, and Rochester and Antoinette.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this book quite a bit. I especially liked the length (which is why I may place it in line before Invisible Man for my favorite read of this summer). Watching how society can lead to the decay of one's mental state is quite incredible. Antoinette may have not been destined to be crazy like her mother, but her "husband" and the society she lived in sure made it inevitable for her to be mentally stable. Racism was very prevalent throughout the book, even towards Antoinette, who was called a "white-nigger" numerous times throughout the novel. You wouldn't expect the racism to be against white people, but surely enough that is what lead to her house being burned down (among other things). The differentiation between gender roles is also very apparent. Rochester is allowed to act however he pleases, gaining all of his so called "wife's" money, and treating her like complete dirt, cheating on her, and making her want to be crazy. He gave her no chance to live happily or healthily. Rochester aided in the deterioration of Antoinette's mental health, but blamed it all on her anyways. The obeah, voodoo, or whatever Christophine was into was actually a confusing aspect of the book for me. It just added to the mysteriousness of the islands, forest and foliage that surrounded the homes in the book. The flowers that would open at night, the vines and orange trees. Antoinette took comfort in nature. This may be why she ran out of the house in "England" at the end of the book to sit with nature. There were definitely some aspects of the book that were confusing, but it was a beautiful work of literature and oddly enough it was beautiful watching a woman slipping into her own role of insanity.
ReplyDeleteThis book was my favorite read of the summer by far. Throughout the novel Antoinette struggles with many different issues including race, social status, gender inequality and even an inner conflict concerning her own sanity. Jean Rhys entranced me with Antoinette's world of hatred and passion and left me with a sense of wanting once the book was over. The novel ends on a strange note leaving the reader hanging and also bringing the whole novel into a circle. The book truly begins with the fire at Antoinette's house and then ends with Antoinette descending the attic with the candle. I thought this was very symbolic in showing how everything has come full circle in the novel. Over all the entire novel was full of beautiful imagery and symbolism that shed light on the deeper issues discussed within the novel.
ReplyDelete