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.
Though very accurate in the means and ends of the characterization of Antoinette, I believe the relevance of her interactions, or better put, conflicts with herself is glossed over. That said, the conflicts and relations mentioned do give a clear outline of the character herself, and thus, the conflict's of the book.
ReplyDeleteDevyani, nice work! I really like how you made everything clear to read and you summarized each point - it made a concise and easy to read post and so I was able to understand all the points you were saying. I like how you briefly explained each one of her relationships because I think that her relationships with all these different people from different cultures are essential in her characterization, specifically how they show and represent how she is torn between these two different identities and how that is a major contributor to her slow mental deterioration. I really like the quote you had in the beginning because it effectively summarizes a lot of the points we discussed and goes against typical gender norms. Do you think characterizing Antoinette as such is beneficial in order to explain her character towards the end of the novel? Specifically, how does this characterization set her apart from Okonkwo or Said in the other novels?
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose to approach the question by focusing particularly on the setting and her interaction with other characters but maybe add more on how her relationship with her mother leads to relationship with other e.g Christophine and how this contributes to her mental state (being emotionally shutdown). Maybe also add more specific references from the text regarding to their impact on her character being an outsider. I liked your point on gender norms, maybe elaborate more on it with regards to her identity.
ReplyDeleteWell done on your post, enjoyable read!