Wide sargasso sea essay

Wide sargasso sea essay

When Wide Sargasso Sea is discussed, there is usually an emphasis on how the novel addresses colonialism, and this is certainly valid. More importantly, however, Jean Rhys’s novel accomplishes a task difficult at best; it actually adds dimension to a literary classic, and primarily through the expanding of the mysterious character never explored by Bronte, the mad Bertha The Wide Sargasso Sea text is set in the aftermath following the Emancipation of slavery in in Britain and colonizes, specifically the text is based on the Windward Islands of the Sargasso Sea. The narrative follows the heroine Antoinette, a white creole girl Wide Sargasso Sea literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea

Free Wide Sargasso Sea Essays and Papers | Help Me

Paper Types. You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work. It is difficult to imagine a more daring ambition in literature than to create a prequel to a classic. Readers and critics are likely to view any such effort as arrogant because there is the implication that the wide sargasso sea essay work relies on the classic to give stature to itself, wide sargasso sea essay.

The impact of these effects may also be seen through how Rhys employs one device: fire. While there are minimal wide sargasso sea essay to fire early in the novel, the burning of the family home is of the utmost importance. There is an impending sense of danger as Antoinette returns to the new home, and as her mother and Mason increasingly argue. Annette has the awareness of actual danger, which Mason dismisses as superstition or unjustified fear.

It is a scene of wide sargasso sea essay tension, and it literally explodes through the fury of the bay people taking their revenge on the Cosways for their presumptions. The villagers are clutching flaming sticks, and the fire makes a daytime of the evening.

The consequences are extreme; Pierre dies and Antoinette suffers from a fever for months. Then, and crucially, the existence at Coulibri is ended, just as the burning brings Annette to a deeper level of mental illness.

This aside, however, the fire of Coulibri marks a moment of revolution in the Jamaican town, and one reinforcing the most insidious effects of colonialism. The advent of Mason and the restoration of Coulibri are then unacceptable to the natives. It is a glaring return of foreign and white supremacy, and it must be destroyed. Then, and importantly, the natives exacting this vengeance on the family internalize the subjugation they have long suffered under.

They voice their rage as the house burns, and in a specific way:. Look the white niggers! A long history of colonial oppression is exploding in flames, a new oppressor is driven out, and the insults are based on the insults the natives have traditionally heard directed at themselves. The burning of the estate has another meaning, equally important, and also reflecting the failure of colonialism to respect native culture and feeling.

Annette tries to enter the burning house to retrieve, wide sargasso sea essay, not her jewels, but Coco, the parrot.

The Englishman, the foreigner, cannot begin to comprehend such an ambition, but it is fully reflective of the lives of the women he now believes he controls. Annette values only the bird, which reinforces her ties to the culture she wide sargasso sea essay always known, and its death is likely a factor in her increasing mental illness, wide sargasso sea essay. It is important that the loss she identifies belongs mainly to the garden, emphasizing the relationship between the native and the natural environment, wide sargasso sea essay.

When all of this is considered, then, it becomes evident that fire, as set by the bay people to destroy the estate, is far more than even an act of mob rage. Fire plays a more subtle role in the entire second section, in which Rochester narrates his experiences with Antoinette.

There are repeated references to burning candles and their significance lies in the trajectory of the events as recalled by him.

What is crucial here are his conversations with Antoinette herself, wide sargasso sea essay, who is remarkably honest. This in turn leads to the most important use of fire with the candles, wide sargasso sea essay. The effect achieved by Rhys here is then striking and necessary in understanding Antoinette. Having revealed her deepest fears to her husband, she is able wide sargasso sea essay reclaim herself as a Jamaican girl; the lighting of the candles, throwing shadows on the walls and transforming her again into a beauty, is like the voodoo attributed to Christophine.

Following her story, in fact, wide sargasso sea essay, the lighting of the candles may be interpreted as a kind of celebration. Since their marriage, she has been haunted by her past and how she can possibly give herself fully to the Englishman. She wide sargasso sea essay, however, done what her mother failed to do. She has revealed her truth to her husband, and she lights the candles to mark the dramatic turning point in their relationship.

If the candles are a relatively minor use of flame, they nonetheless have great meaning relative to the scene and the context.

In these small flames, Antoinette is once again a girl connected to the spiritual world of Jamaica, as she also presents herself in their light as herself to her husband. She presents mystery as truth because it is the truth she knows, but he can only perceive danger and further mystery. In the small candle flames, then, it is seen that there is no coming together for Rochester and Wide sargasso sea essay, as they also foreshadow what fire will mean wide sargasso sea essay him later.

Certainly, fire takes on enormous meaning as Antoinette resumes the story in her own words. From the beginning of the third section of the novel, fire becomes something of a character in the narrative. The cell in which she is locked is damp and cold, and Grace Poole makes up the fire.

There is here the sense that, wide sargasso sea essay, as with the candles, this is a primal part of her being and a thing she can understand. The meaning of this is reinforced by the strangeness of England itself as often felt by her; it is described as virtually unreal, a distant and cold land of cold men, only heard about in stories.

With a fire burning in her room, however, Antoinette can once again gain a sense of herself. Then, wide sargasso sea essay, when Grace engages her in a dialogue as to the stabbing of Richard, Antoinette is strong enough to be defiant.

She does recall the incident but she has other concerns. She demands that Grace tell her where it is, as she believes having worn it would have made her identity known to Mason. The color of fire is alive to her, so the dress represents her true being.

Essentially, the dress is the fire, so Antoinette is the fire. Moreover, the motif has dual meaning; the fire is her true nature as warm and alive, but it is also the destructive force she has known in her past, and which must live again soon. The stage is then set for the culmination, and one which will burn as powerfully as that which destroyed her life as a girl.

Candles in her hand, wide sargasso sea essay, Antoinette then begins the dream sequence that is not wide sargasso sea essay a dream. There is a woman who haunts this house as a ghost, wide sargasso sea essay, and she is intent on finding her, just as she is disturbed by the presence of Jane Eyre, whom she does not know.

Surrounded by whispers, her mind slips and reality is displaced. Confused and frightened, she turns to see the ghost, who is herself in a mirror, and with wild, streaming hair. Antoinette is aware of Christophine and other shades of her life from the past, but the burning is also felt by her. She wakes up screaming in her bed but, when Grace dozes, takes the key and a candle, now ready to do in life what she has lived in her dreams.

Thornfield burns as everything she has dreamed becomes the reality. Alternately coherent and mad, Antoinette focuses on red, as her dress reflects the literal fire in her room and in her dreams. This is a fire that powerfully calls to her, and the contrast with the actual setting is strong.

To begin with, there is the blatant symbolism of the clash of cultures and environments, which goes to the wrong of colonialism. Then, the fire also represents the inescapable madness overtaking Antoinette. Fire is destructive and uncontrollable unless checked, and this echoes how her mind is beyond saving. She finally reveals to him everything she knows and understands about herself, but he is dismissive; he can see only a trap and impending madness.

Lastly, there is the inescapable element of the fire as reflecting the trauma of her past and empowering Antoinette as nothing else can. She knows that fire creates great change so there is an aspect of destiny here; as fire consumed one world through the hatred of others, she herself can set the same force in motion and bring change, even if the consequences cannot be known.

Wide sargasso sea essay a sense, this is the only weapon Antoinette has, and fate has equipped her with the knowledge of it. Wide sargasso sea essay Wide Sargasso Sea is discussed, there is usually an emphasis on how the novel addresses colonialism, and this is certainly valid. In bringing the woman to her Jamaican girlhood, Rhys is enabled to employ a specific motif to underscore the major developments of the story.

The burning of the Jamaican estate has multiple meanings, and perhaps the most strong is the reflection of the hateful legacies of colonialism. American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Term Paper Example.

Need a professionally written Custom Essay? Right now, you can get a professionally written essay in any discipline with a. We're now sending you a link to download your e-book, please check your e-mail. Thank you! You can receive the notifications now. It's pleasure to stay in touch! Wide sargasso sea essay all. Paper Types Movie Review Essay Admission Essay Annotated Bibliography Application Essay Article Critique Article Review Article Writing Assessment Book Review Business Plan Business Proposal Capstone Project Case Study Coursework Cover Letter Creative Essay Dissertation Dissertation - Abstract Dissertation - Conclusion Dissertation - Discussion Dissertation - Hypothesis Dissertation - Introduction Dissertation - Literature Dissertation - Methodology Dissertation - Results GCSE Coursework Grant Proposal Interview Lab Report Marketing Plan Multiple Choice Quiz Quiz Personal Statement Poem Power Point Presentation Power Point Presentation With Speaker Notes Questionnaire Reaction Paper Research Paper Research Proposal Speech SWOT analysis Term Paper Thesis Paper Online Quiz Resume Outline Literature Review Movie Analysis Statistics problem Math Problem Article.

Get a Free E-Book! Wide Sargasso Sea, Essay Example. Pages: 11 Words: Essay, wide sargasso sea essay. This Essay was written by one of our professional writers. Need a custom Essay written for you? HIRE A WRITER! Introduction It is difficult to imagine a more daring ambition in literature than to create a prequel to a classic.

Analysis While there are minimal references to fire early in the novel, the burning of the family home is of the utmost importance. Conclusion When Wide Sargasso Wide sargasso sea essay is discussed, there is usually an emphasis on how the novel addresses colonialism, and this is certainly valid. Rhys, wide sargasso sea essay, Jean.

Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: W. Stuck with your Essay? Get in touch with one of our experts for instant help! Messenger Live chat. Tags: High School Literature, wide sargasso sea essay. American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Term Paper Example Term Paper. George Washington, Essay Example Essay. Get instant essay writing help!

Book Review - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

, time: 3:51

Wide Sargasso Sea, Essay Example | blogger.com

When Wide Sargasso Sea is discussed, there is usually an emphasis on how the novel addresses colonialism, and this is certainly valid. More importantly, however, Jean Rhys’s novel accomplishes a task difficult at best; it actually adds dimension to a literary classic, and primarily through the expanding of the mysterious character never explored by Bronte, the mad Bertha The Wide Sargasso Sea text is set in the aftermath following the Emancipation of slavery in in Britain and colonizes, specifically the text is based on the Windward Islands of the Sargasso Sea. The narrative follows the heroine Antoinette, a white creole girl Jane Eyre Wide Sargasso Sea Essay Words | 7 Pages. Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea haunts the narrative of Jane Eyre through the construction and recognition of the uncanny. Rhys incorporates the uncanny within her rewriting of Jane Eyre through the utilization of narrative devices and ambiguous representations of physical spaces