Hey guys!
I thought the book, The Wide Sargasso Sea, was really interesting. It made me think about how my environment has affected my life, just as it did to Antoinette. Antoinette was characterized as mad because of her mother. Additionally, she was an outlier who was stuck between two cultures; the "black" culture and the "white" culture. Because she was stuck in this sort of limbo state, she found it harder to relate to anyone. This could potentially be the reason why she loses herself and succumbs to the Bertha Mason persona.
The question I asked myself while reading this story was, "Was going mad Antoinette's destiny, or was it simply a product of logical responses to events that occurred throughout her life?" I would argue that it was a product of logical responses that led her to become mad. I also believe Rochester played a huge role in this transformation.
Throughout her whole life, Antoinette has struggled to find her identity. Her friendship with Tia really confused her, as she sympathized her Tia's culture more than her own. Once her relationship with Tia was broken as a result of their fight, she was even more lost. Throughout all of this, everyone compared Antoinette to her mother. Since Antoinette could not really "find herself", she gradually turned into a version of her mother.
This process was accentuated when Rochester started calling her Bertha Mason, and locks her in his house. This stripped Antoinette of any attempt at creating her own persona. I think that since she had no other image to follow in, she HAD to immerse herself into her mother's persona. Everyone said that Antoinette would go mad just like her mother (because it was genetic). When Rochester locked her up, she probably succumbed to societies expectations for her, and became her mother!
Do you guys agree with this? Do you think Antoinette was a product of societal pressures or destiny? let me know!
This is very true. Antoinette has unfortunately been pushed around by societal pressures. Due to the insurmountable amount of tragic events happening in Antoinette's life, she is unable to focus on herself. She is never able to develop her character to the fullest. It's very sad, and it's one of the main aspects of the book that makes it so interesting but sad.
ReplyDeleteHey Arjun!
ReplyDeleteI think the novel is largely written to support the narrative that Antoinette's madness is a result of the societal pressures she is faced with, and this is for a lot of the reasons you have stated. Because of this, it's ironic that society still sees Antoinette as having gone her mother's way. It's kind of sad that this is how society will view her even if it's not what actually happened.
I also think it was social pressures that led Antoinette to her insanity as well as Rochester. He chose to believe that Antoinette was going to go mad and because he felt that society knew something that he didn't about his wife, he led himself to madness.
ReplyDelete