Postcolonial Discourse in Wide Sargasso Sea Essay - 624 Words

Postcolonial Discourse in Wide Sargasso Sea In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys confronts the possibility of another side to Jane Eyre. The story of Bertha, the first Mrs Rochester, Wide Sargasso Sea is not only a brilliant deconstruction of Brontà «s legacy, but is also a damning history of colonialism in the Caribbean. The story is set just after the emancipation of the slaves, in that uneasy time when racial relations in the Caribbean were at their most strained. Antoinette (Rhys renames her and has Rochester impose the name of Bertha on her when their relationship dissolves) is descended from the plantation owners, and her father has had many children by negro women. She can be accepted neither by the negro community nor by the†¦show more content†¦His betrayal of her is set up before he recieves the information from Daniel Cosway. Rhys negotiates with Brontes text. As an already canonical text, the merging of Antoinettes fate into that of Berthas is inevitable, but Rhys allows us to interpret the fate of Antoinette differently by having the ending open. Antoinette dreams of the fire and leap to her death, but the novel ends with her resolution to act rather than a description of her death or an exact repetition of Brontes words. Thus the possibility of a different fate for Rhyss character is left intact. The more recent text can be said to have an influence on the earlier text and to extend its possibilities. The character of Christophine is important as a site of alternative power. Christophine forces Rochester to recognise her as the holder of judicial authority and she reduces him to mimicry of her words as he admits that her words echoed in his head. This is a reversal of the normal coloniser/colonised role where, according to Bhabha and Fanon, the colonised is a mere parrot who must come to terms with the master discourse of the metropolitan centre. The source of Christophines power is obeah (see Voodoo) and she is central to the narrative action, as Antoinette calls to her at the end of the novel to release her form the zombie-like state to which Rochester has reduced her. The desire to rewrite the master narratives of WesternShow MoreRelatedBeing the Meat in the Sandwich: Implications of the double colonisation of empire and patriarchy by the female characters in Wide Sargasso Sea2201 Words   |  9 PagesOne of the many ways that postcolonial literature accomplishes the task of challenging the hegemony of western imperialism is through the use of a ‘canonical counter-discourse,’ a strategy whereby ‘a post-colonial writer takes up a character or characters, or the basic assumptions of a canonical text [where a colonialist discourse is developed directly or indirectly], and unveils [its colonialist] assumptions, subverting the text for post-colonial purposes’. (Tiffin, 1987) Such a revolutionary literaryRead MoreLiving through the Narrative: Antoinette’s Search for Herself in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea1996 Words   |  8 PagesJean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) presents some of the complicated issues of postcolonial Caribbean society. Rhys’ protagonist, Antoinette Cosway, a white Creole in Jamaica, suffers racial antagonism, sexual exploitation and male suppression. She is a victim of a system, which not only dispossessed her from her class but also deprived her as an individual of any means of meaningful, independent survival and significance. However, Antoinette’s narrative perpetuates her agency and validates her questRead MoreOf mimicry and man1676 Words   |  7 PagesMan: The ambivalence of Colonial discourse’ Homi Bhabha explains the weaknesses of colonial discourse by suggesting that the techniques which ‘broadcast the dominance and impenetrability’ (Kumar-Das 1992:362) of the subject causes its weaknesses to arise. Bhabha makes a psychoanalytic analysis based on the work of Jacques Lacan and Frantz Fanon, among several authors. His definition of colonial mimicry takes the form of discussing the issues within colonial discourse whilst reflecting on his ownRead MoreWide Sargasso Sea Revisited: Elizabeth Nunez’s Bruised Hibiscus and Men Women Business 2035 Words   |  9 Pagescomplicated issues of female identity, oppression and quest for liberation in male centered postcolonial Caribbean society with strong resonances to Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea (1966). Nunez’s central characters Zuela and Rosa Appleton undergo a series of annihilation of their identities and exploitation and oppression from their husbands. By situating Rosa in a similar position as of Antoinette Cosway in Wide Sargasso Sea, Nunez creates yet another story of a Caribbean creole who suffers denial and becomesRead MoreRepresentation of the Other in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay4463 Words   |  18 Pagesnon-European subject within European frameworks which read his or her alterity as terror or lack’. (1995:83). It is important to note that meanings are constructed in and through systems of representation and they are mediated through dominant hegemonic discourses which can reproduce unequal social relations. Representation is a vital part of a process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture. It also produces cultural values and constructs identity. According to Hall,