Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea is a post-colonial novel which reveals the origins of Jane Eyre’s Bertha prior to and during her marriage to Mr. Rochester and her eventual breakdown. Beginning soon after the passing of the Emancipation Act of 1833, freeing Jamaican slaves, it explores the theme of race and freedom. We follow the life of Antionette, who eventually comes to be known as Bertha, before the events of Jane Eyre and her struggle with identity. Throughout we see her gentle rapport with black characters like Tia and Christophine and her struggle to fully connect with them, the result of being raised with a set of values based on white superiority. She is also a victim of marginalisation, with the white community turning their backs on her also because her family are poor Creoles and her mother is French. Although the narrator often changes, the main focus of the novel is on Antionette. The novel details how the dynamics of race in Jamaica are far more complicated than simply black vs. white, with socioeconomic status playing a factor (Sensel, ‘A postcolonial reading of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys’. Journal and Literature Education 11, 2014)
. The elite Jamaican whites look down upon Antionette and her family due as they are of French descent rather than coming from an established English family. The theme of race is apparent in all three parts of the book, with the novel being considered a response to racial stereotypes displayed in Jane Eyre.
As previously mentioned, the novel opens after the Emancipation Act is passed. This is not well received by whites, with it being said that they ‘closed ranks.’ We are introduced to Antionette, who is only a child, living with her mother Annette, and her mentally handicapped brother Pierre. The family have been isolated from society since their father’s death. Living on their run-down estate, Coulibri, they are significantly poorer than other whites in society. Antionette details how society has been shaken by the passing of the act with their neighbour and former slave owner Mr. Luttrell committing suicide. The theme of race is evident in the short-lived friendship between Antionette and Tia, a local black girl who steals Antionette’s dirty white dress. This event proves to Annette how poor and disrespected they are, prompting her to resolve this issue marrying Mr Mason, a well off Englishman. He reinvents their status and remodels Coulibri, angering ex-slaves in a near-by annex. Annette and her Aunt Cora foresee trouble and urge Mason to move the family out of the house but he ignores their plea. An angry mob burn downs Coulibri during the night with the family narrowly escaping. Pierre is badly burned, and Antionette is struck by fever. She awakes six weeks later to discover that Pierre has died and her mother has descended into a state of grief which makes her go mad.
When the novel begins the Emancipation Act has already been successfully passed. Antionette gives us a hint into how it has sent shockwaves through society, separating them further into racially based groups and causing more extreme tensions. Rhys implies that this movement has liberated black women, giving them a certain freedom, which white women in the Victorian days were never able to fully achieve (Greenty, An Examination of Blackness in Wide Sargasso Sea, p.3). Furthermore, she explains how racial dynamics in Jamaica were far more complicated than simply black versus white:
‘They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did’ (Rhys 2000 [1966], p.15)
Although Antionette herself is a white person, we see how distant she is from the rest of the white society. She feels she doesn’t belong. The Jamaican elite look down upon Antionette and her family due to their French heritage; the elites of society originate from English roots which is seen as more desirable. The family are significantly poorer than the other white Jamaicans, although far richer than the black community. Even when being shunned by white society, Antionette struggles whilst attempting to relate to the black community. They too shun her:
“I never looked at any strange negro. They hated us. They called us white cockroaches. Let sleeping dogs lie. One day a little girl followed me singing, "Go away white cockroach, go away, go away." (Rhys 2000 [1966], p. 20)
She describes the malevolence towards her after the act is passed. We know little information about Antionette’s father other than that he was once a slave owner which automatically presents the huge differences between Antionette and the black community, making it difficult for her to fit in with them. Antionette and her family receive open threats and, as “white cockroaches,” are exposed to the abuse of the area’s black community. The girl who gives Antionette this title is Tia, who Antionette tries to befriend. We see a degree of ignorance on Antionette’s part; her father was a slave owner which would make her a rather undesirable friend for a black girl. Furthermore, you can sense the underlying racism; Antionette feels that, as she is superior to her, Tia should be her friend, regardless of the past, and should ignore her feelings of anger about what people like Antionette put her community through. Nevertheless, Antionette identifies with Tia, as both are seen as less worthy than the elite white community.
“Then Tia would light a fire (fires always lit for her, sharp stones did not hurt her bare feet, I never saw her cry)” (Rhys 2000 [1966], p. 20)
Antionette describes Tia as worldly and at ease with nature compared to her, implying that black people are more primitive, and less civilised than their white counterparts. Antionette has been raised with this stereotypical view of black people having witnessed slavery first-hand, almost conditioning her into holding this view. But she is surrounded by different views, making her views on race conflicted. Her mother and Mr. Mason argue about the topic:
"You don't like, or even recognize the good in them," (Annette) she said, "and you won't believe in the other side."
"They're too damn lazy to be dangerous," said Mr. Mason. "I know that."
"They are more alive than you are, lazy or not, and they can be dangerous and cruel for reasons you wouldn't understand." (Rhys 2000 [1966], p. 28)
Annette understands that black people in poor neighbourhood are human and have value, a view not shared by the white elites. Mason propagates this racial stereotype, calling people of colour lazy and underestimating them as human beings. Although Annette tries to show Mason that they are capable of more than he believes, there are still racial undertones in what Annette is saying; she too believes that some of them are evil and menacing. The character of Mason is a driving force in how people of colour are represented in the novel, he believes in the racial stereotypes that define his view of black people. We see this after Mason redecorates Coulibri and the family are visited by an angry mob from the black community:
What is all this," [Mr. Mason] shouted. "What do you want?" A horrible noise swelled up, like animals howling, but worse. (Rhys, 2000 [1966], p.32)
This description is Antoinette’s. It is interesting to note that she later realises that some of the rioters were weeping sympathetically for her family, revealing her confused, contradictory views on race.
Part two is narrated by Mr. Rochester who is paranoid about how people of colour view him. He has a superiority complex, and tries to reinforce his authority. This becomes apparent on Antionette and Rochester’s honeymoon:
"Whatever the reason it is not a clean habit […] And she looks so lazy. She dawdles about."
"Again, you are mistaken. She seems slow, but every move she makes is right so it's quick in the end." (Rhys 2000 [1966], p.71)
Like Mason, Rochester deals in black stereotypes. This scene mirrors the earlier scene with Mason and Annette. Antionette, like her mother, sees the value in people of colour and sees them as fellow humans, even if these feelings sometime are motivated by fear and antipathy. She is almost an example for Rochester on how other races should be treated but he ignores her.
However Antionette changes for the worst in the novel’s latter stages, believing everything she is told by Rochester, becoming a product of the society around her. She is no longer as sympathetic towards people of colour, almost as if she’s resolved the conflict in her mind:
But how can she know the best thing for me to do, this ignorant, obstinate, old negro woman, who is not certain if there is such a place as England? (Rhys 2000 [1966], p.111)
Antionette shows her racism in this scene which has become so casual. The reader had hoped that she retained some form of sympathy but it becomes apparent now how much her racist attitudes have solidified. Potentially leading to her turning away Sandi Cosway. We eventually lose respect for her.
It has been suggested that the people of colour in Wide Sargasso Sea are simply crude stereotypes in that they are portrayed as unsophisticated, primitive, almost subhuman. However, it should be remembered that these portrayals are the views of the characters, not the author. People of colour are presented to the reader through the distorted world view of white and creole characters and this presentation shows how the black characters’ representation is based on stereotypes.