Outline: Wide Sargasso Sea

Outline

Prompt:

Discuss the portrayal of insanity in Wide Sargasso sea

Thesis

Through the use of character interactions, and personal development throughout the novel, Jean Rhys portrays Insanity as a tool of oppression to highlight the patriarcy exposure to the colonizer to the purpose of developing women in the context of time and environment.

Topic sentence 1: Rhys characterizes insanity is a product of the various forms of oppression and seclusion Antoinette faces throughout her life.

Examples:

• Mr. Mason and Annette's wedding:

Women gossiping at the wedding- Does not understand their ways, does not fit in with the women’s conversation- her’s extends beyond (considered male territory)

Identity crisis: not able to link in with the societal role of women

• Changing of the estate: When it becomes “clean”

It changes her background- which is a reflection of her identity

• Education in the covenant: Taught how to be a house: colonizer oppression/patriarchal exposure)

Based on how to be perfect English wife: Resists it, disdainful but still learns it (numbed in a sense)

Acts as a drone: does what she is told without thought

• Forced marriage: Example of patriarchal oppression

Topic Sentence 2: Rhys demonstrates the idea of insanity as a product of oppression and seclusion in Anette as well, not only to reinforce the idea, but to lend it a certain universality.

Examples:

• Her marriage to Mr. Mason.

She assumes a passive role in every sphere after this event. Though it is unclear what role she used to play, she is forced to marry a twofold oppressor to provide for her family. In doing this, she loses all power and trades her identity for another.

• No say in decision

She constantly tells Mr. Mason that they need to leave. That it is dangerous to stay. And yet, despite her obsession with this, and her superior local knowledge, Mr. Mason refuses to do so.

• Death Of Pierre and Coco

This is what finally “drives her over the edge”. She begins to say, “I told you I told, But did you listen? NO. To hell with all of you.” This is a perfectly acceptable and normal reaction to the loss of loved ones, yet she is treated as insane for asserting her view, of finally telling off the man that got her child killed.

Topic 3: Power and legitimacy carried through with sanity
Examples:
- Rochester mental state in comparision to Antoinettes:
- Seen as sane due to the fact he fits in the society- hence controls power
- Seen as insane: vice versa

Antoinette Charecterization

Jean Rhys characterizes Antoinette through the settings, and interactions she has with her surroundings in Part 1.

"Jean rhys enables us to sympathize with the mental and emotional decline of a human being:"
- Jean rhys does this by creating a character who is extremely different from the female gender norms in the 19-20th century.

Narration: Antoinette
- She describes her surroundings in a manner where she finds solace in her Caribbean surroundings- a a sense of security as opposed to part 3 of the novel.
- Describes her surroundings with intricate language- going in to detail in purpose to show the reader she appreciates the environment she is growing in.
- Describes her lifestyle as conflicting- not able to identify with just her creole or her European background.
- Due to this inability to accept hybridity she tries to associate herself with the blacks, but is unsure on the relationship she should have with them
- Her surroundings create that struggle with her hybridity.

Relationships:
- This can be seen with her relationship with Tia- where she does not know whether to be portrayed as a superior or as a friends
-"white nigger"- Tia creates Antoinettes struggle with hybridity.
- An intimate relationship with her half-brother shows that even through she does understand her European relationship she tries desperately to fit in with her creole identity.
- A soft relationship with Christophine is almost relative of a mother daughter relationship. Christophine introduces Antoinette to the black culture in hopes that she will be able to embrace it.
-Christophine is the very embodiment of the natural world, and Antoinette being able to embrace it shows that the background she was raised tends to have a stronger hold.
- Mr. Mason's view that women are best under the care of Englishmen does not settle with Antoinette as she is sent to marry Mr. Rochester.

She is perceived as an outsider due to her inability to manage her hybridity. This tension creates and further initiates supporting characters to provide an conflicting view for her. Considering the context of the time period and the expected role of women it can clearly be seen that another reason that Antoinette is considered an outsider because she goes against the norms, challenging her surroundings and the people around her.