The Narrative Voice in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhy - Book Report/Review Example

Insert your names here Insert the names of your professor here Insert unit/course name and code here Insert submission date here Splitting the Narrative Voice Wide Sargasso Sea The work is about postcolonial fiction that captures the pathos of a community undergoing bitter and deep change. The author, Jean Rhys has chosen to relate the essence of different conflict in different voices. As a postmodern novel, the author exemplifies the literary ideals of a given period. As a matter of fact, the author’s use of varied narrative voices is regarded as one of the most outstanding aspects of the book and it promotes a beautifully expository stylistic device which is capable of revealing the personal perspective of central characters. Such voices become Rhys’ narrative foundation and it is connected to the people and their natural environment. This is uniquely presented despite superficial nature of the different skin colours in the novel---which is nonetheless condemnatory. The adoption of varied narration in such expression is part of the universal clash between some opposites such as male and female characters in the text. This is the point of departure in this essay; critically assessing the splitting the narrative voice in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and its bearing upon the theme of oppression. To begin with, the author has managed to bring a patchwork of different first-persona narratives, such directed to Antoinette Rochester or Grace Poole. To contextualize this statement, the activities as they happened when Antoinette was young (the narration is in Part I) is a clear indication of an author who makes attempts to explicitly convey the theme of oppression. This has been accentuated due to voices are expressed from multifaceted gossipy points of view such as Amélie, Daniel and Christophine among others. Interestingly, in all these voices, the author does not give readers the actual truth instead, splitting of such voices show the omniscient or impartial observer thus making it difficult to follow the spiral of events. Christophine has been used to justify split of voice and justification of theme of oppression. The point in this case is that the character of Christophine has been constructed to show how various voices suggest different levels of oppression in the text. This is accentuated when Antoinette narrates about Christophine. Her significance as an influence has been brought out by the attention she receives in Antoinette’s memories. For instance, her manner, appearance and personality are carefully constructed by the child, Antoinette. This has been conceptualized by the Gossip and fragments of dialogue that has been retold by Antoinette which helps in building the suffering people like Christophine went through. It is due to such oppression as expressed in gossipy voices that girls of the bayside are afraid of Christophine. Another split of voice in this case is the point of view Rochester has towards Christophine. This particular point of view has been expressed in his narration in Part II. Rochester sees Christophine as a servant at Gradbois but the lady (Christophine) becomes implicated in the web of suspicions that has been spun by the letter written by Daaniel Cosway. The theme of oppression as justified by this voice is when the letter is subjected to Rochester’s implacable hostility once there is suspicion that Christophine is using obeah practices on him (Rochester). The author explicitly brings the aspect of oppression through the black servants and the wider black community. It is also through this group that there is splitting of the narrative voice. The author in this case has decided to split voices in the justification of the theme of oppression. This has been achieved through two items; reported speech and dialogue. Their distinctive culture and personality of their particular island background has been shown in their way of speech. Myrah and Geofrey, for instance, have adopted the usage of biblical phrases, a marker for their given religious affiliations. The fact that the wider black community is apparently silent in the novel depicts the level of social oppression they undergo and as such the use of reported speeches as a split of voice used by the author justifies the thesis statement. Another split of voice is expressed through different letters in the text. Rhys has made an important connection between Annette, Antoinette and the larger Parrot Coco family. To cotextualise this statement, Antoinette is remembering that the “parrot was called Coco, a green parrot. He did not talk very well…after Mr. Mason clipped his wings he grew very bad tempered…” (Rhys 41). The choice of voice in this case is just a recollection that mirrors the oppression Mr. Mason and Annette are going through and in particular, after Annette’s marriage to Mr. Mason. A voice such as “…you have lived alone far too long, Annette. You think of enmity which is not existing” (Rhys 32) justifies the oppression the character is going through the voice. Still on marital oppression, the racist and colonial attitude carried by Rochester has been applied to sexual possession in yet another split in voice. The author has used the voice of Rochester and as such there is increasingly disjoined and suspicious narrative voice which attains two critical roles; that there was serious oppression as expressed by the colonialists and racists. Secondly, there are patriarchal and colonizing inclinations in that particular voice that portray women as incomplete being. Scholars such as Winterhalter have argued that such split in the voice achieves only one thing; relentless need for men to achieve categorical sexual exclusiveness which urges the wildness of Rochester’s narration (Winterhalter 223). Bringing the aspect of the letter as a split of the voice used by the author, the letter that arrives from Daniel Cosway carries with it a voice that further fractures Rochester’s marriage to Antoinette. Vital (19) has argued that this particular change in voice is essential in projecting the theme of oppression in the sense that it makes men project their anxieties and in so doing, turn women into someone altogether, different in their minds. Fear and loathing is another form of oppression that has been vividly expressed through the use of different narrative voices and to begin with is the narrative voice from Rochester that never disguises the apprehension and unease he feels as he travels into the world of Antoinette’s Caribbean life. In this particular narrative voice, there is an indication that his (Rochester’s) willingness believe the untruthful letter from Daniel Cosway is not a testament to persuasive power from Cosway but it is an indication of the deep rooted problems and challenges he has gone through especially his marriage. Such sufferings are so deep that they make him overly eager to accept any form of justice for it. According to Aizenberg (59), this particular narration as it comes from Rochester explains oppression from the perspective that most characters from the text are unable to escape from the discriminative opinions such as the one Hilda faces. The way the author makes Rochester narrate in this case brings fright about wilderness and the frightening islanders. In fact, Cosway’s letter gives a clue about Rochester’s mental imbalance. Rhys has intentionally structured Wide Sargasso Sea upon a series of narration in which women are denied their rights and oppressed while the entire country (England) is symbolized in such voices as masculine and the island paradise of the Caribbean aligns as feminine. This is well represented through the narration or the voices of Rochester and Antoinette who seem to be a beneficiary and a victim of gender oppression respectively. Indeed the polarized gender structure as narrated by Antoinette becomes so oppositional in the text that regardless of other fundamental conflicts, it is ingrained sexism from Rochester that effectively destroys Antoinette. Adding this to Daniel Cosway’s voice that Antoinette is actually less than pure woman the oppression is so prevalent that Rochester feels “she thirsts for someone---not me anymore” (Rhys 165). This sequence of voices as used by the author makes this essay compare Wide Sargasso Sea with Jane Eyre. That while the death of Bertha in Jane Eyre is marginal as her own existence, with the intention of clearing the way for Rochester’s and Jane’s marriage, in Wide Sargasso Sea the death of Antoinette is a salvation from oppression not only from colonial relationship with Rochester but such voices make the case worse. Basically, the exotic excess Rochester manages to record in his narrative tends to spill over into and in fact infect the innocence of the English body. Rochester therefore has one big aim, attempting to manage the danger to English cultural identity that has introduced by a degenerate past. There is also evidence of first person narration which makes readers share their inner feelings and thoughts. One of the effects of this particular step is to make readers become less critical about this particular split of voices or hide oppressions as expressed in the text. For instance, as her tale proceeds, she talks about cousin Sandi occasionally and as such hides the oppressive antics expressed to Sandi. Both Daniel Cosway and Amélie first persona narrations hint at how the oppressions have been concealed by the colonial regime. However, this is apparent in Part III where Antoinette reveals that she and Sandi were oppressed in their quest for love. First person narration has been exemplified in the same part (Part III) where there is a short section in italics as told by new narrator, Grace Poole. In fact, audience unaware of Jane Eyre may not immediately understand her as the jailer/guardian of Bertha Mason. Though this part is short, the author has split this particular voice to bring the extent to which the oppression is prevalent in the society, particularly as expressed by Grace and account of her thoughts. Second narration from Antoinette conceptualizes such oppression even further. After the narration of Grace, there is reversion of the writings from italic to roman where the voice coming from this point is Antoinette’s belief for freedom from such oppressions. Adamson (72) argues that the inclusion of this voice brings about the stream of consciousness so as to represent, through an interior monologue, the flow of female thoughts, perceptions and memories in her head this is clear in as much as Antoinette’s mother is not given her own person narration. In real essence, there is no ideal and justified place for voices that have been highlighted. In every natural space and location some hostile spirit has been discerned, if only because the psyche of the character seeks it out. The integration of the voices as they emanate from Rochester and Antoinette in Wide Sargasso Sea are essentially neutral and the interplay between Rochester and Antoinette and the environment illuminates the very same oppression and the terrible power of disturbed minds they are facing. Conclusion Splitting the narrative voice in Wide Sargasso Sea makes the text an astute novel that blends well with the post-colonial fiction that encapsulates a number of complexes and myriad of oppressions different characters faced. Jean Rhys succeeds in presenting these voices within a context of disarming honesty and startling beauty. When looking at the way the author has developed such voices, there is one single argument; how different voices air their oppressions. This theme has been brought out differently including the metaphorical connections between nature and man, more so in the conjunction with ethnicity and natural imagery, the changing nature of love and fragility of marriage. Through voices such as Amélie, the theme of oppression is given a different perspective and in this case Rhys creates within the book a disturbing duality that leaves a taste of lasting irresolution. It is tempting to believe that this work encapsulates the inherent compulsion of nature to avoid control, both on the human soul and the wild. Works Cited Adamson, Joni, and Scott Slovic. “Guest Editors’ Introduction the Shoulders We Stand On: An Introduction to Ethnicity and Ecocriticism.” Spec. issue of MELUS Ethnicity and Ecocriticism 34.2 (2009): 5-24. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. . Aizenberg, Edna. “‘I Walked with a Zombie’: The Pleasures and Perils of Postcolonial Hybridity.” World Literature Today 73.3 (1999): 461-66. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. . Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992. Print. Vital, Anthony. “Toward an African Ecocriticism: Postcolonialism, Ecology and ‘Life & Times of Michael K.’” Research in African Literatures 39.1 (2008): 87-106. JSTOR. Web. 20 Oct. 2012. . Winterhalter, Teresa. “Narrative Technique and the Rage for Order in ‘Wide Sargasso Sea.’” Narrative 2.3 (1994): 214-29. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. . Read More