The Importance of Truth in Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea

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The Importance of Truth in Wide Sargasso Sea

In Wide Sargasso Sea " Rhys presents a white Creole family living in a Caribbean Island (Jamaica), which is a lush and insecure world for them, after the liberation of the slaves. The husband had once been a slaveholder, the mother is a confused and crazy lady and Antoinette, the daughter, is a child in an atmosphere of fear, recrimination and bitter anger. She becomes increasingly isolated-this isolation is broken by her scheming stepbrother, who signs Antoinette's inheritance over to the naive Mr. Rochester. The book's account of Antoinette's marriage to Mr. Rochester is a study in sexual manipulation and cultural misunderstanding. There is also foreshadowing, irony, and symbolism throughout Wide Sargasso Sea.

In Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette's family is shattered when the ex-slaves torched their home. Her brother died in the fire and that caused her mother to go insane, then her husband left her, which even made her situation worse. Under the care of her aunt, she attended a convent. The convent became her refuge and sunshine, a place where she wished for happiness. "I thought at first, is there no happiness? There must be. Oh happiness of course, happiness, well." (Rhys 34) After all, Antoinette never was a very happy child. Her parents never really gave her love, her father was too busy drinking himself to death and her mother was too busy doing her own thing.

After her stepfather's death, her stepbrother decided to marry her off to this Englishman, Mr. Rochester, which she knew nothing about. Mr. Rochester did not marry Antoinette for love or because he fancied her. He married her to claim her fortune. Mr. Rochester seemed to marry Antoinette for money, or perhaps ...

... middle of paper ...

...uld be to disclose everything about herself and her past that she would think Mr. Rochester wanted to know before he would want to marry her. But she might think that it's in the past, so it's not really important to let him know every little detail, just the basics or maybe she wanted to give her version of the truth . For example, when Mr. Rochester asked Antoinette what happened to her mother. She told him that her mother died in the fire. Me and Mr. Rochester might look at her and call her a liar because her mother did not die in the fire, she died years later. But to Antoinette her mother did die in the fire, because from the day of the fire her mother changed. she was not the same person, she was now a mad woman. So as you can see this novel is based on truth. But what is the truth?

Work Cited:

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. London: Penguin, 1997.

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