Talk:Wide Sargasso Sea

Too little info

This as it stands adds only a few dozen words to what is already at Jean Rhys. This should be a redirect, and the list of novel titles at Jean Rhys should be briefly annotated. These entries gain from having some context. --Wetman 13:09, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

TIME List

In the article, under "Awards," it says that TIME named the novel one of the 100 best novels of all time. I clicked on the link, and the list only includes English-language novels written from 1923 to the present... I'll edit it.

Unformatted text removed from article

Notes and Quotes Wide Sargasso Sea

Antoinette’s Character:We see that Antoinette is constantly scared and insecure and constantly needs to feel safe. In the beginning she says “my father, visitors, horses, feeling safe in bed-all belonged to the past”. “A soft black cloak to cover me, hide me, keep me safe. But not any longer. Not any more.” Indeed in the beginning she had a stick with nails under her bed when she was young because she thought it would keep her safe. Things first started changing when she went to the convent. bShe also has many scary dreams at night most of them being foreboding and she is considered to be a very mysterious child which can be seen in the fact that already from the first chapter she has 2 dreams very much alike all of them very scary and all of them showing to her what is yet to come. Moreover we see that throughout the three parts she gets dreams telling her about her future. Particularly in her last dream she sees she has to burn Thornfield to find herself and she proceeds with doing so in the end. She is also very introverted which can be seen in the fact that she constantly thinks to herself and very rarely reveals her thoughts to others “It was covered with green moss soft as velvet and I never wanted to move again.” Moreover she is very proud because she says “I would have died sooner than run”. Her pride is seen again when she stops talking to Edward when he sleeps with Amelie. However she does give it up at some point seeing that she does go to Christophine and ask for an obeah potion because she is desperate to make Edward love her. Antoinette is a very calm person which can be seen by her reaction when she new she was going to get mocked or pushed around on her way to the convent. Yet she never panics and maintains a very cool and calm attitude. However we do see that she loses her cool when Edward sleeps with Amelie next to her room however it must be pointed out that her reaction is nothing out of the ordinary. Antoinette really loves her mother despite the fact that she keeps pushing her away and only pays attention to Pierre which can be seen in the fact that she felt safe when she was close to her “A soft black cloak to cover me, hide me, keep me safe. But not any longer. Not any more.” This can be seen in the fact that when she is in the convent she is very sad and misses her mother “and my mother, whom I must forget and pray for as though she were dead, though she is living, liked to dress in white”. She only leads a normal life for a short while, when she is in the convent and when she is friends with Tia. Her feelings about Edward are very mixed. She does love him and trusts him she is very confused and constantly fears he might hurt her. We see she constantly falls into streams of consciousness especially towards the end which shows that maybe Daniel was rights concerning the fact that she may suffer from some form of hereditary madness. However we do see that she has a form of logic considering that she waits till Grace Poole snores to take the keys and leave the attic. This is what makes us come to the conclusion that she was probably driven to madness because Edward didn’t love her. Antoinette above all is characterized by a great love for the West Indies. She really admires nature and appreciates the beauty of the place. She feels that Granbois is her refuge and that if everything gets lost she will still have it until Edward ruins it for her by breaking her heart. Antoinette has been deeply scared from her childhood and the experiences she went through at that time. She is part of two cultures black and white and can’t be at ease or comfortable with either. This can be seen by the fact that she gets bullied by black people when she is young but still she cant understand the way Edward behaves and how he has learned to hide his feelings. In the end we see Antoinette has lost herself and no longer knows who she is “who am I?”

Christophine’s Character: Throughout the novel Christophine is the only friend Antoinette has. She really loves and cares for her. This is illustrated very clearly in the conversation she has with Edward in Part II were she begs him to leave Antoinette behind so that she can take care of her. She is involved in some kind of black magic “obeah” as it’s called in the book which adds to the whole mystery created around her character. She is very calm and always treats others well whether she likes them or not even when referring to Edward he says that he has a good heart which is objectively true.

Annette’s Character: She is very miserable an introverted like Antoinette which can be seen in the fact that she spends a lot of time in her room by herself. She loves Pierre and rejects Antoinette which is shown by the fact that when Pierre dies she goes mad and when her daughter goes to visit her she pushes her away. She understands and appreciates blacks which can be seen in the way she supports them when she has fights with Mr. Mason. She has spent her entire life with them and thus doesn’t treat them condescendingly like the English imperialists do. We never really find out what happens to Annette until the very end of the book when we see she became an alcoholic, this shows us that Mr. Masons neglect really did affect her and that she probably wouldn’t have gone mad had Mr. Mason taken care of her and had her keepers not abused her. Aunt Cora’s Character: Throughout the novel aunt Cora is the only family member Antoinette gets close to. Aunt Cora handles the incident with the black people burning Coulibri very calmly and rationally and handles the situation in such a way so that they all get saved. This shows how calm and rational Aunt Cora is.

Mr. Mason’s Character: Mr. Mason like all English colonialists wants everything under his control which explains why he is so captivated by Annette because he simply can’t control her. This also explains why he clipped the parrot’s wings. He neglects Annette when she gets mad and hires to random people to take care of her and doesn’t visit her much, although he cares for her he doesn’t like seeing her in such a state which shows that he is like Richard selfish.

Edward’s Character: Like Mr. Mason he also likes to control things, which is why he hates Granbois. Because it is placed in an uncontrollable environment he feels out of place in an environment where “the rain fell more heavily, huge drops”. However the more he falls for Antoinette the more he starts to admire the beauty of the place he is in despite the fact that it is the antithesis of England. He is also very arrogant which can be seen in the way he bosses everyone about and condescend the servants. This is very clearly illustrated in the scene were he steps on the wreath that the people at Granbois made to wish him and Antoinette a happy life together. He always gives out the impression that he is cold when he is uncomfortable or when he wants to hide his feelings. For example when he talks to Christophine about Antoinette’s condition we see his thoughts and the pain he feels but he never puts these thoughts across to Christophine because that was the way he had been brought up. He has to face a difficult relationship with his father seeing that his father favors his brother. That is the reason for which he marries Antoinette to prove to his father he can make his own living and is worthy of being his son. This is illustrated in the letters he writes to him in which he has a very cold and detached tone and at no point does he reveal his feelings of unhappiness. Towards the end however we see he hates his father and blames him for his bad luck “All I get is curses and get-outs from that damn devil my father”. He is very selfish and possessive which is illustrated in the fact that he won’t let Christophine keep Antoinette and take care of her. This is very effectively illustrated where he says “My Lunatic” and “My mad girl”. This is also illustrated in the fact that whenever he talks about pain for ruining his relationship he always refers to his personal pain and never that Antoinette feels. We see many relevant aspects in the relationship between Mr. Mason and Annette and Edward and Antoinette seeing that both mother and daughter go mad due to neglect. Moreover their attitude towards the blacks and the civilization there is equally condescending and shows a great amount of arrogance. He does care for Antoinette which is illustrated in the fact that he doesn’t abandon her when she is mad. At some point he even admits to loving her. Even in the end we see he remembers all their past conversasions. He is also very proud which is illustrated in the fact that he sleeps with Amelie the minute Daniel insinuates Antoinette may be cheating on him with Sandi. Moreover whenever someone shows pity for him he immediately gets offended. He is very pompous because he doesn’t believe he could be wrong and even when Christophine confirms what Antoinette has been saying he refuses to understand. We also see he is very closed minded because the minute he listens about Antoinette’s possible madness and cheating he closes his ears to everything Antoinette has to say. The climax of his possessiveness and willingness to control his environment is seen when he starts calling Antoinette Bertha and thus in a way strips her from her identity and her true self simply because he liked the name Bertha. Daniel’s Character: He is very bitter, which is a result of his father’s rejection and the fact that he wasn’t recognized. He hates Antoinette which is illustrated in the fact that now that she is finally happy he wants to ruin it. He is illiterate which can be seen in the way the letter is written. He also twists facts so that they favor him. For example in the letter he mentions Antoinette’s mother being mad but he never explains the full story that made her become mad.

Setting: The place where they live is very isolated and the next door house was thought to be haunted “Mr. Luttrels house was left empty, shutters banging in the wind. Soon the black people said it was haunted, they wouldn’t go near it. And no one came near us.” Coulibri is a hauntingly beautiful place which is however overgrown and neglected due to the current state of poverty in which Antoinette’s family is in. The whole atmosphere is very hostile because the black people constantly jeer at them, poison their horses and never go near them. There are unbridgeable gaps in society between whites, blacks and Creoles. Their house however was very beautiful and Antoinette really loved it “our garden was large and beautiful as the garden in the Bible-the tree of life grew there but it had gone wild.” There is also very exotic vegetation and the setting has many colours making it extremely overpowering “It was a bell shaped mass of white, mauve, deep purples, wonderful to see. The scent was very sweet and strong I never went near it.” “Deep and dark green under the trees, brown green if it had rained but a bright sparkling green in the sun.” Towards the end of part one there are certain incidents that show us the tension is very close to the surface “It was then I heard the bamboos creak again and a sound like a whisper.” Moreover we see how close to the surface the tension is when Annette tells Mr. Mason not to discuss racial issues in front of the servants because they cannot be trusted, “I shouldn’t discuss that if I were you. Myra is listening. Colours are one of the most prevailing visual imageries throughout the novel seeing that Rhys constantly plays with the blues, the greens, the reds and the intense passionate colours found in the West Indies. There is a form of Supernatural in the atmosphere, the fact that Christophine is obeah, the fact that moths are so big and the fact that people are so superstitious there adds to the eeriness of the atmosphere. Narrative Technique

The fact that the first part is narrated by Antoinette as a child is very effective because we see the racial tension, Coulibri, her relationship with her mother from the eyes of a child and we see exactly how much her childhood scared her. The author creates a very eerie and isolated atmosphere by saying things like “Mr. Luttrell’s house was left empty shutters banging in the wind. The use of the local dialect, patois, makes the scene described feel even more real and creates aural imagery. Antoinette’s foreboding dreams add to the whole mysterious atmosphere of the novel by showing the reader some things about what will happen in the future. The scene that the black people set fire to the house is very well narrated seeing that tension keeps rising and Annette keeps begging Mr. Mason to leave Coulibri and the more he declines the more the tension is rising. It reaches a climax where it says that “its bad luck to see a parrot die.” Moreover the fact that time keeps passing and the story is told in bits and pieces makes it look more as if it’s a person reminiscing his childhood. Indeed we see that even in Edwards narration parts are being skipped thus not only increasing the feeling of memories this novel creates but also increasing suspense and leaving things open to interpretation. For example it is never clarified whether or not Antoinette had a relationship with Sandi. The above fact is also enhanced by the use of gossip as the main source of the readers’ information. For instance most things about Antoinette's past we learn them from the letter Daniel sent to Edward which isn’t a reliable source of information seeing that Daniel always tries to twist facts to his benefit. There is a great deal of foreshadowing in this novel which adds to the mysterious atmosphere Rhys creates having incorporated characters like Christophine in it that are supposedly involved with black magic. The fact that we have three narrators: Antoinette, Edward and Grace Poole helps us sympathize with both Antoinette and Edward and view the facts that pushed Antoinette to madness from multiple angles.

Rewster 23:32, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

WSS and Jane Eyre

Would it improve this article to include a short description of the differences between Brontë's Jane Eyre and Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea? (e.g. Rhys changes the time period of Bertha/Antoinette's marriage to the Englishman by approximately 20 years, to post Emancipation) BellyOption 13:47, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Reformatted Character, Setting and Narrative Technique, but overall article a little too chatty.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.32.196.27 (talk • contribs) 19:37, 22 April 2007

I concur. --SydSid (talk) 23:32, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The comparison of dates is incorrect. Jane Eyre is not set in 1810 - she receives a copy of Marmion which was not available in a fairly-priced version until the release of the 1825 folio. This article refers to her receiving "a book published in 1805" - Marmion wasn't even begun until 1806. So I'm removing that paragraph until some better proof of the chronology difference is shown. Reynardo (talk) 09:23, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

copyedit

The summary and character sections look a lot like being copied from somewhere[1] last Sunday, but possibly just from a self-made term paper. Apart from wikifying, could the (apparantly Belize) author re-read his writing under an encyclopadia perspective? I find it a bit hard to read (more commas and paragraphs might just do it, depending on how they would like it)...--Flammingo^Hey 13:08, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Re-entered deleted text from up in the talk page under appropriate captions. Will do more serious editing when I have time.--206.27.244.160 21:08, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't see how reinstating the information above adds to the encyclopedic value of the article; it is horribly written, redundant, and greatly takes away from whatever merit this article may have. I echo the sentiment above that it reads like a book report and recommend deleting it entirely and starting afresh, preferably with references and citations, some of which I know are easy to find. I'll make the cut and begin research if people agree, but suggestions are welcome. María (habla conmigo) 20:06, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree that the sections about characters and narrative technique (still, after quite a bit of editing) look like a book report and should be removed. I'm not convinced that the article needs a description of each character and their motivations at all. If they must exist, as María says, it should not be hard to find references and citations. Telsa (talk) 17:01, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

I did some preliminary clean-up, removing the lengthy character descriptions and other uncited material. When I get the book in front of me, I plan to add a detailed (but not too detailed, heh) plot description and other information from available journal articles. Please, anyone pitch in if they can. María (críticame) 12:58, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

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Preceded by in infobox

The {{Infobox book}} documentation says that the "preceded_by" parameter in the infobox should specify "Title of prior book in series..." The lead section of this article says that Wide Sargasso Sea "serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre..." So, though written more than a century later, it's a prequel, which is probably why someone set up the infobox that way. But in my opinion, this is more confusing than informative. Though Wide Sargasso Sea is a prequel, it's not really in a series of books with Jayne Eyre. So, I think the infobox should not say that it's preceded by Jayne Eyre. What do other editors think? — Mudwater ^(Talk) 21:06, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

Agreed. It's not in the same series. MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:14, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

@MichaelMaggs: Thanks. I haven't edited many articles about books. Thinking about this further, the guideline in the infobox documentation says that "preceded by" should specify "title of prior book in series", but it doesn't define what a series is. It appears that there's an established practice where sometimes the series is a group of closely related books that might have been written by different authors -- for example, The Clue of the Broken Locket -- and sometimes it's a group of unrelated books written by the same author -- for example, David Copperfield. Right? I'm asking more in general now, as neither of these uses would make Jane Eyre a "preceded by" of Wide Sargasso Sea. — Mudwater ^(Talk) 12:02, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

You're right that the infobox documentation isn't very clear. Also, it seems that for some authors such as Agatha Christie, common practice is to use the fields to list all novels by date, regardless whether they are part of a series or not. I'm pretty sure I've seen lengthy discussions about this in the past, but they seem to have resulted neither in a change to the documentation nor to the variety of usage to which editors put these fields in practice. MichaelMaggs (talk) 13:35, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

@MichaelMaggs: Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to go ahead and update the article now. If anyone objects, which I think they won't, they can chime in here. — Mudwater ^(Talk) 17:01, 23 October 2021 (UTC)

This is an interesting topic. I agree with the decision not to use a "series" link here. I think it's challenging to define when two books are "in a series" and when they are merely related. The Wizard of Oz books clearly make "a series" despite changing authors, while I don't think Alec: A Novel and Maurice (novel) make a series. Maybe "a series" is, a set of books in the same 'world' (eg, same characters/settings), either by one author, or by a set of authors who shared writing in close succession / wrote for the 'same' audience. I don't think unrelated works by one author should be a series-- publication order is already discoverable from a list of the author's works, and for books like Autobiography of Red and Red Doc it's useful to "jump" across the author's career to the next related book. I'm not familiar with past discussions, though. ~ L 🌸 (talk) 02:54, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

My two cents: I think it's a series when the author (or authors) intend it to be a series and have stated so on the cover of the book or in public interviews etc. Laurier (talk) 07:00, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

I think that Preceded by should always be used for books by one author, my view. When people write books they feel are based on the same characters as a famous novel like Jane Eyre, then that could be mentioned in the article somewhere. Giving a new author such a tie to Charlotte Brontë makes no sense to me. On the other hand, I do see the feature as useful for all the articles on books by Agatha Christie and the shorter list of novels by Charles Dickens, as well as for named series of books, like The Cadfael Chronicles series by Ellis Peters, starting with A Morbid Taste for Bones and all featuring the character Brother Cadfael in the 1100s in Shrewsbury, as one example. Another place where confusion arises is the situation of Anne Hillerman, the daughter of Tony Hillerman writing books using her father's characters, especially Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito. The article on Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman, gives her father's last book as Preceded by, in the info box. My own view is that her books start something new, as she is not her father, she is another author. There are so many views on what Preceded by does mean or should mean, I guess. -- Prairieplant (talk) 07:35, 24 October 2021 (UTC)