Race subverted In Wide Sargasso Sea
The novel Wide Sargasso sea written by Rhys Jean was clearly showed the conflict between different ethnicity people. It took place on Jamaica where a town has a strong social hierarchy and mixed with black ex-slaves and white owner. During that time, Jamaica just passed the abolition of slavery act and the enmity was very highlighted between black and white. However, not everyone in the town was considered either black or white, some of them like the protagonist Antoinette and her family were classified into “other” because of their race.
Antoinette and her family who had special birth background were highly rejected by the town. Black people hated them because they were slave owner before the abolition of slavery act, they suffered from black communities’ hostility and it thus Antoinette had a fearful psychological about the outside world. For example, she “never looked at any strange negro” since they hate them, and black people would call them “white cockroaches” and asked them “to go away”(p13). Black people “jeer at” her mother and she(p10). Antoinette was rejected by black people but also excluded by white people who had same racial with her. She emphasized that at the beginning of part one, “when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. But they were not in their ranks”(p9) which highlighted that they were refused by white communities. The economy was another reason that white people excluded Antoinette’s family. They considered as “plenty white people in Jamaica”, but “real white people got gold money”(p14). Although her family was white ethnicity, they had a different economy class with other white people in the town. And it thus white people had estrangement with her family. From Antoinette’s viewpoint, “black nigger better than white nigger” which stressed that black people were better than she in the town(p14). Black and white, those two race were always in antagonistic in the novel. However, Antoinette who belonged to white ethnicity was encounter adverse from both ethnicity, they were distinguished as “other” in the town since they could not assimilate into those two ethnicity. Their encountered from the town also influenced by their social position. The rejection from society made her life in Jamaica full of threat and oppression. Such as, “the people from the town hate” Antoinette and her family(p19). Even the children, they were also rejected and ridiculed at her. When she decided to leaves her mother, she met a white boy and black girl that mock on her(p29). Throughout it, we could see that she have lower social status and marked as alternative people in town since both ethnicity people did not accept her.
Overall, the special birth background caused Antoinette to reject by the society and encountered many enmities from both black and white ethnicity. But for her, rejection not only from different ethnicity but also from different economy class since her family had a different financial condition with other white people in the town. She marked as “other” because of that rejection from both different and same ethnicity with her.
A beauty of Hair
When people talk about beauty, they might definitely think about a person’s appearance. Beauty would have a deep impression in one’s mind. Like the protagonist on the novel Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette who have a deep impression from her mother’s hair. The role of beauty is a significant theme throughout the novel Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys.
Annette who was Antoinette’s mother, her beauty have great influence on Antoinette’s child life. At the beginning of part one, she mentioned her mother and throughout the description, we could see her admired on her mother’s beauty. She said, “the Jamaican ladies had never approved of my mother, ‘because of she pretty like pretty self’”(p9). Which highlighted the beauty of her mother and she felt proud with it. In addition, Annette’s hair was mentioned all around the novel. And it could consider as a symbol of Antoinette’s childhood. Because of her special birth background, everyone from the town was rejected her. Thus Antoinette felt fearful about the outside world. Annette’s hair had special meaning for Antoinette because it gave her security. For example, she said, “Once I made excuses to be near her when she brushed her hair, a soft black cloak to cover me, hide me, keep me safe”(p13). Her mother’s hair could represent beauty and the spirit and it gave her a feeling of safety and peace. However, when their house destroyed by the fire. Antoinette realized that “she had gone” and she also recognized her mother’s hair was burnt “one plait much shorter than the other”(p28). The description from here made audiences felt like Antoinette’s childhood was fragmentary as her mother’s hair burning. When she decided to leave her mother and go to the convent, she met Helene, a sister in the convent who also had beautiful hair. Antoinette said she “want mine to look like your” (p32) which showed that she desired beauty. In the novel, the hair not only represented beauty but also represented a feeling of graceful and noble or even relieved. Those representative were Antoinette’s desire in her childhood and is formed by the rejection encounter from the town.
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