Let Your Hair Down and fall to the ground

So Lydia, Pauline, and I did a panel presentation on this theme in Song of Solomon, but I felt the need to expand on the topic a little more. The article we read talked about the role of hair and how it tends to drag certain characters down as it dictates how they choose to live their lives. This article primarily contrasts Pilate and Hagar, and how they affect Milkman, the central character in the narrative. Ever since their breakup, Hagar makes it her own quest to find out the reason behind Milkman’s sudden dislike of her. Once she sees his arms around a mystery woman with “silky copper-colored hair” (127), she assumes that her hair was the only problem in their relationship. She asks her mother and grandmother, “Why don’t he like my hair?” (315), convinced that Milkman will only date women who have “silky hair the color of a penny” (315). Both Pilate and Reba try to convince her that there is no way for Milkman to not like her hair, but to no avail, for Hagar has let her hair define her and decide how she will live her life. She baths, brushes her hair, and sets out to buy new clothes and makeup, to create a new person, one who could re-attract Milkman.

This contrasts with Hagar’s grandmother, Pilate, who freed herself from the chains of hair a while back. When she was younger and struggling dealing with her deformity, she turned to secrecy as she hid her navel-less stomach from the world, even from a lover whom she bore a child with. Finally, when she realizes that enough is enough and decides to embrace the fact that she has no navel, and that there’s nothing she can change about it, she decides to chop off all of her hair. Her hair signified the secret part of her life that was only weighing her down. Instead of hiding behind her hair, she cuts it off, freeing her body and becoming truly open to the world. After this moment, Pilate decides to keep her hair short, habitually having Reba cut it when it gets too long. It seems as though Reba follows the steps of Pilate, not bothered by their family’s difference from others, but this isn’t the same with Hagar. Before Milkman was born, when Ruth visits Pilate to ask her how she should deal with Macon II, she walks in on Reba cutting Pilate’s hair while Hagar sits on the floor. Ruth describes Hagar as being “four or five years old then. Chubby, with four long braids, two like horns over each ear, two like tails at the back of her neck” (131). Even before she meets Milkman, Ruth can see these devil-like qualities in Hagar and her hair. Morrison does a great job using this scene to foreshadow Hagar’s downward spiral into darkness and desperation.

In order to attain the love she desires from Milkman, Hagar decides to let her hair control her as she changes her whole look to fit, what she assumes as, Milkman’s view as an attractive woman. She conforms to the white American ideal of beauty in hope of receiving love and affection. Unlike her grandmother, who confidently defies societal norms in almost every aspect of her life, Hagar becomes obsessed with emulating this mystery “silky copper-colored” (127) haired woman, shielding her true self away from the world.

Now, at the end of the novel, it is apparent that Milkman is a changed man; significantly different from the man who broke up with Hagar. He comes to a realization as he helps Pilate burry her father’s bones in his hometown. Once Guitar shoots Pilate, and she is dying in Milkman’s arms, Milkman has a revelation. “Now he knew why he loved her so. WIthout ever leaving the ground, she could fly” (336). Milkman realizes that, even though she doesn’t follow the typical norm of american beauty, Pilate embodies strength, confidence, and comfortability, traits that he appreciates and, in the end, loves. Milkman realizes that he doesn’t find the fake white American beauty ideal very attractive and that he much more appreciates the authentic, african american hairstyle, one that only strong characters are able to proudly wear and not feel ashamed. Milkman sees that he is in love (not necessarily in a sexual manner) with Pilate and her ability to stay strong and true to herself, even if she is being ridiculed and ostracized by those around her. But even as a changed man with this realization, if Hagar were still alive, I don’t think Milkman would take her back because of her character that is vastly different from Pilate’s. She is so conscious of what others around her think that she doesn’t take the time to take pride in her own self. This sort of weak character reminds Milkman of his mother, who he also isn’t very fond of either (or is at least indifferent too).

In the end, Pilate is able to take control of her hair by cutting it off, while Hagar lets her hair define her. Even as she buys countless products to hide her apparent flaws and insecurities, as she walks home, the rain washes away all the lies and shows the devil that has been festering beneath all these years. If Milkman had had the time to sit down and talk with Hagar as a changed man, her downward spiral may not have been so drastic. But as Milkman flies away on his own quest and find his true, future self, he leaves a stagnant Hagar in the mud, as she tries to fly, but just can’t seem get her feet off the ground.

Crazy BIG Thing Called Love

As we are reading through Milkman’s and Hagar’s relationship, one can’t help but see direct parallels to Rochester’s and Antoinette’s relationship in Wide Sargasso Sea. The term “crazy love” is very much applicable in these situations as we see both females driven to insanity by the affection they have for their partners. Antoinette’s insanity came from constantly being rejected by Rochester. He claims to never have loved her from the start as he constantly shoves her love and affection away. Antoinette tries seemingly everything to win Rochester over, but he sees her as an animal and disgrace to him. In the end, he takes her forcefully back to England, where he locks her in his attic and tries to forget about her. He lets her crazy love fester until she passes the point of saving as she finally bursts and sets the house on fire, cleansing with flames.

Although there are some differences between Milkman’s and Hagar’s relationship and Antoinette’s and Rochester’s, at least the female roles tend to follow the same paths down the rabbit hole. In Milkman’s and Hagar’s case, the relationship was initially based off of love. MIlkman initially claims to being drawn to Hagar the first time he laid eyes on her, saying that “[he] had no need to see her face; he had already fallen in love with her behind” (43). After that day, Milkman and Hagar were in a, seemingly open, relationship for around twenty years. But, over time, as Hagar’s attraction seemed to have grown, Milkman’s disintegrated as he fell out of love with her. Surprisingly, the main reason he loses his attraction is not because they are related, but because it has become too easy. All his life, most things have come easy to Milkman. His job and his status have both just been given to him with ease. At first, his relationship with Hagar was a “challenge” because it seemed as though Hagar wasn’t as into him as he was to her. But over time, she realized how much she truly cared for him and wanted to be with him, while he realized that there are other fish in the sea that will provide a better chase for him in life. It’s a sad realization, but I can see if the relationship wasn’t doing anything for him, it’s best for him to try and move on so as not to live his life a lie. So, the thoughts behind the breakup isn’t the thing that bothers me in this situation, which I’m guessing is true for most people, it’s more how he chooses to execute his break up. He writes a “heartfelt” letter and shoves some cash for good luck, stating “thank you for all you have meant to me. For making me happy all these years” (99). In this letter, Milkman basically thanks Hagar for serving him for twenty-some years. Hagar has basically been laid off, like a worker, seemingly having outgrown her services. Milkman has decided to find someone else who can serve him better. It’s a sick thought that reflects badly on Milkman’s character.

This break up letter sends Hagar off the cliff of insanity as she makes it her end goal to kill Milkman (or so others believe). Although it may seem like Hagar’s end goal is the murder Milkman, it is quite the contrary. She just wants him back; she’d kill to have him back in her arms. Killing him is only a way she can see to hurt him, but she doesn’t want him dead because she wants him to love her once more. Her love for him has turned into an obsession as she sets out every month in search of Milkman and his love. People even noticed her as they state that, “Hagar ‘done took off after Milkman again’” (128). But Hagar’s actions are to no avail as, even when she has a knife raised, Milkman denies her and tells her to make it easier on both of them and kill herself. His words pierce harder than any knife ever could and Hagar assumably runs away again back to her house where she’ll probably plan her next murder plan. Milkman doesn’t seem to grasp the idea that he has driven this woman past insanity. It isn’t till Guitar asks him what the hell he did to this woman that has made her this way. Milkman doesn’t see the consequences of his actions because he’s never been punished for them. His life has been easy going, never told if what he’s doing is wrong or right, so he just assumes the latter, which ends up hurting those around him.

Another interesting similarity between Hagar’s and Antoinette’s situation is that they both have magical, motherly figures that they can turn to. Antoinette has Christophine, who has been her main motherly figure her entire life. When desperate times called for desperate measures, Antoinette turns to Christophine and her Obeah to save her marriage. She has Christophine make her a love potion that will bring back that apparent initial spark between her and Rochester. Little does she know, according to Rochester, there was no spark, and this magical act only brings the two even further apart and brings their marriage crashing down (as if it wasn’t already).

Similarly, Hagar has Pilate. Pilate seems to have some kind of her own obeah up her sleeve as she demonstrates by temporarily saving Ruth’s and Macon’s relationship. She conjures up this love potion that ends up bringing more action into the two’s marriage as Ruth finds herself later pregnant with Milkman. By doing this, Pilate helps Ruth to give birth to a son, an heir for the family, one whom Macon can truly bond with. But, up to this point, Hagar has yet to turn to Pilate and her magic to save her relationship with Milkman. This is seemingly because Hagar wants to distance herself from her family as much as possible. From the beginning, she shows her embarassment to be related to Pilate and Reba. Fortunately, Pilate doesn’t take offense to this as she only has the best for Hagar in mind.

In both of these novels, the men seem to be the catalysts of love’s insanity. Both men don’t take the time to see things from the other side and so they shoo away the women and try to move on. This action ends up driving both women past the point of insanity as both feel the need to behave frantically and irrationally in order to try and receive the love and attention they crave.

Battle of the Houses

The connection Milkman feels towards Pilate is obviously different from any other relationship he has with other characters in the book. Even upon initial sight, Milkman feels draw to Pilate and her mystic contrast from the Dead family. She represents Macon Dead II’s role; the head of the family. But, instead of being greedy and oppressive as Macon has proved to be, Pilate is more supportive and caring, less concerned with money and more focused on the security, openness, and protection of her family. Macon feels the need to be controlling in order to be strong, whereas Pilate is able to be strong without being oppressive and mean. Even though she is the mother of the family, to Milkman’s surprise, she is totally different from the mother of his family. Ruth tends to be a weak figure in the Dead family, whereas Pilate is a strong, fearless woman who is able to provide a open, loving, and sharing environment for her child and grandchild.

Before even meeting Pilate, Milkman seemed to have his own expectations of the woman and her household. Being raised in a family that emphasises the power of money and status, knowing that his aunt was poor, he expected her to appear and act as such. Since Milkman is of higher status than her, he also expected a little bit of jealousy or reverence for how well off he and his family is. But, this is so not the case. In fact, it’s almost the exact opposite. Pilate isn’t even the slightest impressed with who Milkman is. Milkman ends up feeling shameful because he believes that he has social leverage over Pilate, but Pilate doesn’t seem to acknowledge, or even believe, that. “Shame has flooded him. He had expected to feel it, but not that kind; to be embarrassed, yes, but not that way. She was the one who was ugly, dirty, poor, and drunk...instead she was making fun of his school, of his teachers, of him” (37-38). He had expected her to be like his father (since they are brother and sister), but since she’s less well off, he thought she’d be worse. But, on the contrary, she is better than his father. She is more accepting and enjoyable to be around.

This is part of Pilate’s philosophy that initially freaks Milkman out, but he comes to accept and enjoy it. Throughout his life, ever since he was “blessed” with his infamous nickname, Milkman has always been forced to live life in the past. He has never been able to completely move on because his family won’t let him. The Dead family has always been stuck in the past because that is where they’re are comfortable in. As seen in the Sunday drive scene, all the father can think about is Ruth’s actions in the past, and so he punishes her in the present and future. Milkman is literally and figuratively stuck between them, riding backwards facing his past and unable to escape and focus on the future. In Pilate’s household, the matter of acceptance is very important. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or your background, what’s important is your present actions and how they will affect your future. As Pilate introduces this philosophy as she disregards Milkman’s economic status and treats him as though he were on the same level as her. Initially, Milkman feels that this sort of treatment is disrespectful, for it causes him to feel shameful and embarrassed, an emotion he would have expected Pilate to feel more than him. But, over time, Milkman seems to appreciate this philosophy as he feels a sense of comfortability as he bonds with Pilate and her family. The family’s collaborative nature proves to be a stark difference to the Dead family’s independent nature. Their confidence is almost contagious as Milkman begins to feel more comfortable with defying his father’s words and visiting the house more often than not.

By experiencing this huge contrast in families, it seems to me that Milkman feels more comfortable being with Pilate’s family rather than his own. Even though they are poor, they aren’t concerned with money. They are secure with themselves and can live a happy life, free of financial worries. Whereas, Macon can’t seem to get money out of his mind. Pilate’s family provides a loving community, while Macon’s is more emphasizes on solidarity. It will be interesting to see if Milkman will drift more towards Pilate’s family as his becomes more and more polarized as they all grow older.

Picking Sides at a Family Dinner is Never a Good Idea

In all my life as a semi-avid reader, I have almost always felt the need to pick sides with either a character or an argument. Usually I find it pretty easy to go with my gut, but the Dead family has proved this to be difficult, seeing as they have run my brain around in circles while I’m still trying to make sense of the situation at hand. This paired with Toni Morrison’s way of mentioning details, and then waiting to fully explain them later on, completely clouds my conscience as I attempt to lift this dense fog.

A pivotal scene that proves to be the center of my confusion is the Dead family dinner. (God, that just sounds weird even to type). From an outside perspective, we just see a wife telling a story that aggravates her husband so much that he chooses to hit her. After witnessing this, the grown up son decides to stand up for his powerless mother by striking his father, asserting his dominance as the new head of the house. In this instance, I would definitely side with the son who is finally able to speak up against his father’s tyranny and provide a sense of safety to the household...But, oh noooo is that not the case. We are also given an inside perspective and can see the real workings behind this family’s fueled emotions.

First, we have Macon Dead II. We are aware that he is a very dominant figure in the Dead household, seemingly having his eyes set on money and reputation. He even makes his family take those ostentatious Sunday drives in order to parade he and his family throughout the streets, showing off not only his family but the wealth he has required in his career. But another unsettling aspect of Macon is the way he treats his family, specifically his wife. We are told that he physically abuses Ruth and are even given a snapshot of his actions at the Dead family dinner. He strikes Ruth after she says “I certainly am my daddy’s daughter” (67), adding a smile at the end for good measure. After reading this, I found myself really despising Macon for his uncalled for, ruthless behavior. But, once Milkman responds by hitting his father, Macon goes to talk to Milkman and gives his the real reasons behind his actions.

Macon’s explanation about his wife’s weird affection towards her father, along with a scene we are given earlier where Ruth’s father explains the weirdness in his still kissing her goodnight even if she’s too old for it, help bring Macon’s actions into perspective. Although it is uncalled for for him to physically abuse his wife, I can see why he does it. Right before the scene, we are given information on how Ruth provokes Macon until he feels powerless and must turn to violence against her. She psychologically abuses him until he can only combat with physical abuse towards her. A theory to explain this odd behavior between this man and wife all lies in the children. As Macon has stated, he is happy that Milkman has been working with him, strengthening their bond as father and son. “Macon was delighted. His son belonged to him now and not to Ruth” (63). There seems to be an intense competition between Ruth and Macon over their children. Who can be the one to win them over? Well, it seems as though First Corinthians and Lena called Magdalene have already chosen sides after observing their parents’ unusual, abusive habits. “Lena thought Macon’s rages unaccountable. But Corinthians began to see a plan. To see how her mother had learned to bring her husband to a point, not of power, but of helplessness” (64). It’s now all down to Milkman. Milkman has chosen a stance of seemingly indifference, not really committing to a side. Even when he attacks his father, he states later that his actions were not out of love for his mother, but of simple decency; he just felt the need to help a frail, helpless human being, being his mother didn’t matter in the equation.

So, although my gut tells me to side with Ruth because of how she is constantly being kicked when she is down, I can’t help myself but understand Macon more because of how desperately he wants to connect with his son, the only person in his family he seems to really care about. (He seems indifferent towards his daughters. Probably because they resemble Ruth and possibly Dr. Foster). He is also the only person who has been subjected to Ruth’s hidden psychological torture. He struggles and feels the need to lash out at her, making him seem ruthless and tyrannical to those unaware of the real circumstances. But, then there’s Ruth, who has been physically beaten by her own husband multiple times and is unable to spend time alone with her own son because of his untrustworthy and misunderstanding nature. All in all, no good can come of this marriage. Both parties have obviously lost interest in each other and have turned to breaking each other down instead of finding an effective solution. By constantly fighting, their actions are tearing the Dead family apart. It will be interesting to see how the family relations turn out in the years (chapters) to come as the children grow older and begin to see things clearer.

Namely Names and Nicknames

As we’ve begun reading Song of Solomon, I find the little things Toni Morrison incorporates in her narrative that sets this book apart from the other novels we’ve read in this class very interesting. Although there are many underlying themes, some of which are briefly presented in the epigraph, one theme that I’ve questioned is the role of names. In the first chapter, we are introduced to very obscure names, some that we even question the sensibility of. (Guitar? Really? Pilate? Pilot? Pilates? Whatever.) Not only are these names unusual, but also the reasoning behind them is very abnormal.

First we have the line of Macon Deads. First, the name Macon Dead came from a mistake; a tired, drunken, white soldier wrote down everything Macon spoke in the wrong place on his information card. We aren’t even given Macon Dead I’s original name because it doesn’t matter, no one knows it and no one cares. So, to carry on the name, after Macon Dead I, there is Macon Dead II and Macon Dead III. Macon Dead II does stick with the name, sort of. He does work at a place called Sonny’s Shop, even though everyone barely remembers Sonny, the man who used to own the place. But most of the names seem to stick, even if people can’t remember how and why they came to be. This is apparent with Macon Dead III, referred to as Milkman, even though not many know why. Only Freddie, the janitor, (and Ruth) knows the origin of the name (because he came up with it), even Milkman’s own father, Macon Dead II, is unaware of the meaning of the name, but he dislikes it for its negative connotations. This belief is common among most people in the book; they don’t understand the meaning behind the nickname, but they use it anyway because it’s the social norm. It almost completely strips that person’s identity away with regards to their name. The name itself becomes obsolete as that part of a person’s identity becomes unimportant and just another false name in the grand scheme of things.

Another situation where we have a an unusual name is with Macon Dead II’s sister, Pilate Dead. (Pilate as in the man from the bible, not pilates as in a workout that is similar to yoga). Since there is an obvious biblical reference, one would assume that her name has deep meaning in the family...but that would be a wrong assumption. We are given in the first chapter that Pilate’s name is just a random choice. Macon Dead I turned to a random page in the Bible, stuck his finger down, and used the name closest to his finger. Ever after he was told about the the wrong implications of naming one of his children, a daughter to be exact, the name of the man who killed Jesus, he keeps the name anyways, ignoring the repercussions it could have on his daughter later in her life.

In modern society, people usually make a big deal over names. Couples can take up to months or years to decide what to name their children. In the Dead household, this is not the case. Names are chosen randomly or just nonchalantly stuck with, even if they are incorrect. Names both play an important and insignificant role in Song of Solomon at the same time. It’s interesting how names can overlap with the theme of racism in this novel. In Macon Dead I’s case, a white man gave him his name, a name is has stuck with and passed down through his family. All in all, although the names seem ridiculous, they can have some underlying unimportance, even if in the Dead family, they may be tossed aside and considered insignificant.

The Sargasso Sea

After finishing Wide Sargasso Sea, I thought it would be interesting to do a little research on the name and to figure out why Jean Rhys may have chosen it. So, the Sargasso Sea is located in the North Atlantic and is seen as a very mysterious and unique creation of nature. It has no shores, so it is only bound ocean currents on all sides. To its west is the Gulf Stream Current, to its east is the Canary Current, on its northern side is the North Atlantic Current, and on its southern side is the North Atlantic Equatorial Current.

The sea area is strangely warm with stable weather conditions and calm and weak winds. Another way it sticks out is how it was named. The water area is covered with a dense seaweed that thickly forms on the surface. The free floating golden-brown seaweed is known as Sargassum. Although the sea remains relatively calm with its surrounding currents, a subtropical gyre constantly forms, and so the entire sea, with its seaweed and all, slowly rotates clockwise. The seaweed itself isn’t blown into this area from the surrounding water currents (which would presumably carry them from surrounding shores), rather they are actually native to this area and grow hundreds of miles away from the shores. Even a bunch of trash and marine plants drift into the Sargasso Sea from nearby ocean areas and become embedded in these weeds. Once they move into the area, it is unlikely that they won’t ever be able to move out due to the nature of the currents on all sides.

Many sailing vessels that try to pass through this area sometimes become virtually motionless due to the exceptionally weak and calm winds, along with the thick seaweed bed that covers almost the entire sea area. The Sargasso Sea is also known as the “Horse Latitudes” because, when it caused Spanish ships to become stranded for weeks, they often had to throw away their horses overboard in order to save drinking water.

But, despite its strange nature, the Sargasso is seen to play a huge role in the wider North Atlantic ecosystem. The dense mat of seaweed is home to many fish, turtles, and other types of marine life. The American and European eels come and use the weeds as their breeding ground. Young Sea Turtles use the ocean currents to travel to the mat of weeds to get a cover from their predators and return once they become mature. It also serves as food for Wahoo, Tuna, and other types of fish. It is even used as a great place for migrating humpback whales to forage for food. So, even though the Sargasso can be seen as a huge, almost impossible, obstacle to overcome in one’s voyage, it is also an important sea area because of the resources it provides for many marine life.

I know Mr. Mitchell stated this in class, but I can definitely see the reasoning behind choosing the name Wide Sargasso Sea for Jean Rhys’ novel. Like the Sargasso Sea, the cross from English culture to Jamaica is a huge leap; one that many are unable to cross. It could be argued that Rochester’s and Antoinette’s relationship was like the Sargasso Sea; huge strips of dense seaweed separated their lifestyles, cultures, and mannerisms. In my view, it seems as though these two were suffering, having been caught in the seaweed, and so Rochester, in order to seemingly save himself, threw Antoinette overboard (like the horses) to make it through the sea and carry on a new life. (And then of course locked her up in his attic for good measure...).

Living in the In Between -- It Ain’t His Fault!

After having two days to panel presentations, one last thought about Wide Sargasso Sea that has stuck out to me is the way Antoinette seems to live in the “in between” in her life; never really fitting in with one specific group of people. This observation comes from a combination of two panel groups: Jasmine, Zoe, Lily, Cameron, Ben, and Clark. It’s interesting to observe that, in class, most people tend to blame Rochester for Antoinette’s plummet into insanity. I know that I’ve done my fair share of defending Rochester in class and on the blogs (which does not totally imply that Rochester is free of guilt in this situation), but I have found myself feeling the need to stick up for my good buddy once more.

After finishing Wide Sargasso Sea, we can see how Rochester’s actions of kidnapping Antoinette, bringing her to England, and then locking her up in his attic to punish her for the trouble she has caused him in their marriage could very well drive anyone insane. But he doesn’t act alone. Antoinette’s place in society (or lack thereof) also plays a huge role in driving her to the cliffs of insanity. As stated in one of the panel presentations, Antoinette lives in the “in between”: She is too white to be black, she’s too black to be white, too young to understand her mother, too rich to be poor, too poor to be rich, too Creole to be English, too English to be Creole, etc. She just doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. There is just always something off about her according to every standard she’s surrounded by. When Rochester enters the scene, he observes that Antoinette has “alien eyes”; she is unrecognizable because he just can’t place her. She is a stranger to everyone around her.

Antoinette just ends up having a constant identity crisis throughout her life. At first, she is Antoinette Cosway, then she becomes Antoinette Mason, and then, once Rochester comes into play, she is renamed Bertha Mason, the name she is stuck with (involuntarily) until the day she dies. She has never been able to connect with herself because she just keeps changing. Even at the end of the book, Antoinette/ Bertha dreams she jumps towards Tia as she leaps off the balcony of Rochester’s estate in England, one last chance to be with Tia; one last chance to try to belong to someone/ something.

Throughout the novel, Antoinette struggles with finding where she belongs. Even at the end, she still is unaware what her place is in society and within herself. Having this extended amount of an identity crisis makes me believe that this uncertainty was also a huge reason why she went crazy in the end. Although Rochester doesn’t help the situation, he also isn’t the main catalyst for Antoinette’s madness. Her need to find where she belongs and what her purpose is in life is what drives her to set Rochester’s estate on fire, as she states, it’s what she must do. Rochester just happens to make worse of a bad situation.

Justifiable Revenge?

As we’ve finished Wide Sargasso Sea, I’ve found it interesting how both Rochester and Antoinette turn towards seeking revenge to solve their problems. Although the act of taking revenge is seen as very sinister and unjustifiable in society, by knowing both Antoinette’s and Rochester’s upbringings, we can see their acts of revenge as almost acceptable, or at least we can understand the motives behind them.

Rochester has lived a life that is always been second best (if that) to his father, never being able to live up to his father’s standards. He’s always had to prove himself to his father, but has never been enough. Because of this, Rochester has a deep insecurity of being rejected and laughed at. Being a pure England man, the idea of rejection scares him because it shouldn’t be what he’s used to, because of the kind of environment he grew up in. He chose marrying Antoinette for her money and for a safe option but, because of this, he is forced to move to a house in Antoinette’s homeland and to assimilate the foreign culture around him. Because he is obviously an outsider and is unaware of his own wife’s shady past, many of the locals laugh at him, while refusing to explain why. Rochester has been thrown into a dark world of lies, confusion, and many more things he doesn’t completely understand. He’s left in the dark during his stay in the Windward Islands. He’s doesn’t feel love for his own wife because she is a complete stranger to him. Antoinette can sense this lack of emotional connection, so she consults Christophine and has her give her a love potion to fix her marriage. Leading up to when Antoinette gives Rochester the potion, the two sit down and Antoinette tells Rochester part of her dark past. During this conversation, Rochester even admits to feeling more connected to his wife. He decides to open up as well, sharing the insecurities he’s had from the start when they came to this estate. “I feel very much a stranger here...I feel that this place is my enemy and on your side” (78). This is the first time Rochester has shared true feelings with anyone in the book so far. Rochester has taken a step down and striped himself of his English title, talking to Antoinette just person to person. But Antoinette stills decides to use the love potion, in which she just poisons Rochester, pushing him further away from ever loving her. With this, Rochester feels betrayed; he’s been taken advantage of at a time when he was most vulnerable.

In response to Antoinette’s actions, Rochester decides to punish Antoinette for eternity by making sure she can never escape his control. He kidnaps her and takes her to his estate in England, where she is imprisoned in his dark attic and made to stay up there for eternity. For his entire stay in the Windward Islands, Rochester has felt like he was being tortured in the dark. So, to make up for this, Rhedecides to trap Antoinette in the dark to repay for her vengeful acts. Now, although his actions are very cruel and menacing, because we are aware of his troubled upbringing and stay in the Windward Islands, we can understand his reasoning. (Whether or not some people agree with them is a totally different story). By knowing the reasoning behind Rochester’s thinking, we can see the reasoning behind the madness.

In Antoinette’s case, she has lived the life of a total outcast. Being part of the Cosway bloodline, she has always been considered tainted and avoidable. With the fate of her mother being very well known throughout the land, the question of when has always been asked. When will she turn out like her mother? When will she go mad? She has never had the chance to live an individual life. She has also rarely felt the feeling of ever being loved by anyone. With the exception of Christophine, no one has stopped and taken the chance to get to know Antoinette. They all base their opinions off assumptions and not truth. And then Rochester comes around, a man who, in Antoinette’s mind, is the first outsider to ever show some kind of love towards her. She falls in love with Rochester because, since he is unaware of her troubling past, he treats her as a human being and not a tainted soul. (With respect to his need to embrace the England way of being dominant in their relationship, but that was the norm back then). But Rochester doesn’t seem to show the same interest in her; to her, he has fallen out of love with her. So, as a last resort, Antoinette turns to Christophine and her obeah to fix her marriage. But, things go south for Antoinette as she tries to give Rochester a love potion, but ends up poisoning him, causing him to lose trust in Antoinette and any potential love for their marriage. To punish her, Rochester forcefully takes her to England and locks her in his dark attic. He keeps her in the dark to pay for the pain she caused him in the Windward Islands.

In response to his punishment, Antoinette, while in her mad state, decides to burn the house down. Although this scene is in Jane Eyre, Jean Rhys gives us some insight to Antoinette’s thought process during this climactic scene. In Antoinette’s mind, the burning of the house portrays a sense of justice, which shows how crazy the people around her have made her. In many tales, the act of setting something on fire is seen as a cleansing and purifying process. In Jane Eyre, the fire that Antoinette causes ends up humbling Rochester, bringing him down to a level where he can live a happy life with Jane. Although committing arson is a serious crime, by knowing Antoinette’s background and how she was driven to madness, we are able to understand her reasoning behind her actions.

It’s interesting how Jean Rhys is able to gives us a clearer perspective and we are able to reason why both Rochester and Antoinette choose to take things into their own hands in very destructive manners. Although both of their vengeful actions are very cruel, they both have valid (but not completely pardoning) reasons behind them. It makes one wonder just how blurred the lines can be between justice and a vengeful crime.

Is Antoinette Mad?

“They drive her to it. When she lose her son she lose herself for a while and they shut her away. They tell her she is made, they act like she is mad. Question, question. But no kind word, no friends, and her husban’ he go off, he leave her...mad I don’t know--she give up, she care for nothing” (94). When it comes to Antoinette’s mother and her “madness”, in Christophine’s view, it was the people around Annette that drove her to what they called insanity. Once she lost her son and home in the fire, Annette fell into a deep depression that the people around her weren’t prepared to deal with. She wasn’t given proper treatment so she fell further and further down the deep, dark hole of depression, and later insanity. Instead of being shown love, she was shut out from those around her. She lost her sense of self and therefore drifted away from reality until she was unapproachable by others. In Christophine’s view, Annette didn’t have to go mad in the end; she could have lived on if the people around her hadn’t shut her own when the going got rough. Annette had some intolerable levels of hardship that weren’t correctly dealt with. She would not have gone mad if it weren’t for the treatment of others around her.

Now, years later, we have Antoinette’s. In her case, we can see how Rochester, whether or not if it was intentional, completely drove her to insanity in his treatment of her. After the poison incident, Rochester loses faith in their marriage and decides to punish her by kidnapping Antoinette and taking her back to England where he can trap her in his attic for eternity. In essence, Rochester drives Antoinette to madness, just like what happened with her mother. She is given no escape or individual life to live. She is left to suffer in darkness, unable to tell time or understand reality. She can’t control her emotions or remember her recent actions, as seen when Richard Mason visits and she bites him. So is she mad? I mean, yes, but her craziness was induced by Rochester and others around her. As Christophine says, they make her crazy. So, yes, she is mad at the end, but it isn’t her fault and could have been avoided.

It’s interesting how, with Rhy’s perspective on Jane Eyre, we are able to feel sympathy towards Antoinette at the end because we are aware what she’s gone through and how she’s been wronged her whole life. Whereas, in Jane Eyre, Antoinette (ie. Bertha) we would most likely have a judgemental outward opinion, like Jane. We would see Bertha’s appearance and actions as insane and possibly evil. By knowing Antoinette’s story, we can see the reason behind her actions and how she has been driven to madness. Our inside perspectives give us insight in the transition from Antoinette Cosway to Bertha Mason. She was forcefully taken away from her family and homeland to the foreign lands of England. She lost all sense of self, like her mother, and was no longer Antoinette, but Bertha. It seems as though the villagers’ predictions came true; Antoinette did go down the same road as her mother, but it, in both cases, it wasn’t their faults. They had some unfortunate help in their spirals down towards insanity.

Where are Sympathies Lie

In class today, we talked a lot about where our sympathies lie at this point in the novel. Many people have expressed their distaste of Rochester and how he it the main cursor for Antoinette going down the same path as her mother. I hope I’m not the only one who actually still likes Rochester’s character, but if so, I think I’m prepared to fight this battle alone if I must...

Now, just because I like Rochester doesn’t mean I hate Antoinette. I can understand why Antoinette struggles emotionally because of her hard childhood. She’s never had a long time friend that is her age and so she has always relied on Christophine to fix things for her. This kind of reliance has stuck with her through her marriage as Antoinette begs Christophine to make Rochester love her again. This kind of plea reflects a sort of childlike behavior as Antoinette relies on Christophine to make her problems disappear, instead of trying to solve them herself. Like when she was a child, Antoinette still hides in the shadows and wants Christophine’s dark magic to fix her marriage with Rochester. When she goes to Christophine for help, Christophine does offer some effective advice: She urges Antoinette to just talk to Rochester; tell him her story; help and make him understand. In order for her magic to work, Christophine tells Antoinette that she must talk to Rochester in a composed manner, like adults.

And this does work! Before, Rochester had kept all his feelings of insecurity to himself, letting it all boil up inside of him. He had the feeling of being constantly watched, laughed at, and ignored all at the same time. But once Antoinette presents to idea of just sitting down and talking, a way for them to get to know each other, Rochester is finally able to let some of those poisonous thoughts (no pun intended...or maybe it was intended...which even ya’ll prefer), that have been brewing inside of him, out. “I feel very much a stranger here...I feel that this place is my enemy and on your side” (78). As Rochester’s character has been infolding, one could notice how his pride has been rising as he beings to setting into the role of the white, male landowner. But, one of the main reasons he is so prideful is because he is trying to make up for how insecure he really is on the inside. Just by having a mature conversation, like adults, Antoinette is able to bring out a soft side to Rochester, a side that may have just stayed hidden until it would eventually get to him.

But this all goes wrong when Antoinette tries out Christophine’s “love potion”, which in turn poisons Rochester and pulls him further away from Antoinette, an effect that is the exact opposite of what was intended to happen. Earlier in their marriage, Rochester expresses how he feels no love for Antoinette, only lust. This is because these two are still strangers. They were strangers from the start and up until their little talk, they were still complete strangers. Once Antoinette begins to open up about her troubling past, Rochester, in turn, begins to feel comfortable with her as well. If Antoinette hadn’t ruined it and used the bad potion that Christophine had given her, their marriage may have worked out in the end. But, instead, Antoinette decides to kick him when he’s already down. Being a prideful man, Rochester has already taken a step down by admitting his insecurity of being a complete stranger whom everyone judges in this foreign land, but once Antoinette slips him that poison, she has attempted to take him even further down by taking advantage of him. This leaves Rochester with a sense of disdain and that she is now untrustworthy.

Although Rochester’s sequential actions don’t reflect well on his character, it all could possibly have been avoided if Antoinette had had a sense of maturity in this marriage, which could be problematic since she still is very childlike. So, all in all, was this marriage doomed from the start? I think so. There were times where it could have been saved, but with Rochester’s pride and insecure nature combined with Antoinette’s naive judgement, it seems like these two lovers (or lack thereof) weren’t meant to cross paths, or at least not at this time.

Poor Rochester

Even though we are only being given the initial parts of Rochester’s and Antoinette’s marriage (of which we know will eventually go south because of Jane Eyre) and that Rochester will eventually lock Antoinette in the attic in Jane Eyre (sorry about the spoilers, but this was already given in class today), after reading a few pages of part 2 of Wide Sargasso Sea, I find myself sympathizing with Rochester and, in turn, disliking Antoinette more and more.

In the beginning, I sympathized with Antoinette because of her background. I mean, she’s basically lived her life alone and isolated from those around her, including even her own mother. She longs to find a place to fit in; a place where she’s wanted. Her only true friend in the beginning is Christophine, who is older and knows how to assert herself so she isn’t walked all over. With Christophine’s help, Antoinette is able to find her first friend, Tia, who proves to be a very sisterly figure in Antoinette’s life. Until things went south in their friendship, Tia was a very important in the development of Antoinette because she found out what it was like to have a true friend. With all of this in mind, I find myself still feeling sorry and sympathetic towards Antoinette and her unfortunate childhood. No one, besides Tia and Christophine, has really gotten to know her. The villagers only assume that her mother’s insanity will be genetically passed on to Antoinette and that it’s only a matter of time before she turns mad too. If we were only given Antoinette’s perspective throughout the novel, I may still have the same impression of this poor girl who’s lived a life of judgements and a series of unfortunate events. But we don’t stick with Antoinette’s perspective, we instead get Rochester’s point of view, a man whom Antoinette has been arranged to marry because of the fortunes left to her by her father.

Rochester is a character who would seem to be a not very understanding and judgemental on the outside, but as readers, we are aware of the internal struggles in his life. First, Rochester feels forced to marry. Since he isn’t the first born son of his family, he isn’t entitled to his father’s inheritance. Instead, he is forced to go out into the world and find his own means of income. Because of this feeling of being cut off from his father, he ultimately feels as if he is the deprived, unloved child of his family. When thinking of a letter to write to his father, he mentions “I have a modest competence now. I will never be a disgrace to you or to my dear brother the son you love. No begging letters, no mean requests. None of the furtive shabby maneuvers of a younger son” (41). Rochester feels the need to prove that he can survive independently and that he’s living substantially well without the financial support of his folks and that he doesn’t need to beg for money. I’m guessing that Rochester also had a very unfortunate childhood (probably not to the extreme of Antoinette’s case), having to constantly prove himself to be as good as his older brother to no avail, since his father only seemed to openly show his love for his firstborn son and not Rochester.

So it’s no wonder that Rochester gets angry when Antoinette suddenly decides not to marry him. “I did not relish going back to England in the role of rejected suitor jilted by this Creole girl” (46). Although that is a very demeaning statement, it still shows how Rochester is used to being rejected his whole life by those at home. And when he finally believes things will work out, he’s about to be rejected again, not knowing entirely why. It’s most likely that fear of rejection that drives him to marry Antoinette even after being bed sick with a fever for the days leading up to the wedding.

One of the complains about Rochester has been that he doesn’t try and understand Antoinette; he just disregards her familiarity of her homeland, similarly to how Mr. Mason acted in part one. But, what Antoinette fails to realize is that this whole situation is new to Rochester. Yes, he agrees that the land and Antoinette herself are beautiful, but there’s just something eerie about the whole situation. First, as stated before, the weeks leading up to his marriage to Antoinette, he had a serious fever and was on bed rest until basically his walk down to the alter. So, having spent that entire time in bed, he’s basically meeting and getting to know his own wife on their honeymoon. In his initial descriptions of her, he states “she wore a tricorne hat which became her. At least it shadowed her eyes which are too large and can be disconcerting. She never blinks at all it seems to me. Long, sad, dark alien eyes” (39). Rochester’s choice of word “alien” isn’t referring to the modern definition, he literally means that her eyes are foreign to him because he really doesn’t know her at all. He isn’t even aware of her family history, which is so well known and frowned upon throughout the lands, until Daniel Cosway informs him of it in a letter. Rochester has basically been cheated to marry a woman whom he knows nothing about. He’s been cheated by Richard Mason and by Antoinette because of how unaware he is of the whole situation involving Antoinette’s past and imminent future.

All in all, I just feel sorry for Rochester. He’s been rejected by father, a figure in his life that he is supposed to be able to look up to and count on for support and guidance, and now, he has done well by marrying a woman that comes with thirty thousand pounds and an estate in Jamaica, but... Just like Rochester says “the girl is thought to be beautiful, she is beautiful. And yet...” (41). Rochester seemingly has it all: the girl, the money, the estate. But something just isn’t right. He constantly feels like he’s being watched and laughed at for something he has yet to completely figure out. Although he may want to, he can’t seem to fit in and he doesn't necessarily know why. He is definitely not in England anymore and for sure hasn’t married the pure English girl of his dreams. It will be interesting to see how his and Antoinette’s relationship will begin its downward slope as we learn more and more of their conflicting backgrounds and characteristics.

Tia! Tia! Mama Mia!

Even at the beginning of her narrative, Antoinette can be seen as a very sad and troubled girl. She has lived a life of constant alienation from both her community and her own family. The whole village knows of her troubling and suspicious background involving her biological father and it is seen as very disgraceful. Because of this negative popular opinion, Antoinette is attributed to the many flaws of her family, and is therefore isolated from the rest of the community. She has yet to have a real friend in her life and is constantly called names such as “White Cockroach” (13) and is repeatedly told to leave this village because she is unwanted there. All of this saddens Antoinette, as she is just a little girl who just wants some companionship in her life. Although she does have Christophine in her life, there is only so much Christophine can do to satisfy Antoinette’s need for affection (to make up for the lack of affection from Annette, Antoinette’s mother), while also helping out around the house.

So, after seeing Antoinette hiding, frozen still in the garden after being harassed by other kids, Christophine goes and finds a friend for Antoinette. A friend who will be able to hang with Antoinette and bring a fun aspect to her life. A friend who could teach Antoinette what she could not. A friend named Tia. Although Christophine can attempt to fill both the maternal and paternal roles in Antoinette’s life, she cannot be the sibling role that will help Antoinette mature as she grows older. Fortunately for Christophine, she is able to find Tia, who serves as an temporary older sister in Antoinette's life. “Sometimes we left the bathing pool at midday, sometimes we stayed till late afternoon. Then Tia would light a fire (fires always lit for her, sharp stones did not hurt her bare feet, I never saw her cry). We boiled green bananas in an old iron pot and ate them with our fingers out of a calabash and after we had eaten she slept at once. I could not sleep” (13). Antoinette looks at everything Tia does with awe and admiration. She is amazed by Tia’s vast knowledge which moves her to want to be more like Tia. But, this sisterly relationship changes once the bet comes around.

It starts out as just a case of a little sibling rivalry. Initially, when Antoinette believes that Tia has cheated, the interaction is still just a fight between sisters, nothing too harmful. It isn’t until Antoinette pulls out the race card that things begin to get a little heated. “‘Keep them then, you cheating nigger,’ I said, for I was tired, and the water I had swallowed made me feel sick. ‘I can get more if I want to.’ That’s not what she hear, she said. She hear all we poor like beggar. We ate salt fish--no money for fresh fish. That old house so leaky, you run with calabash to catch water when it rain. Plenty white people in Jamaica. Real white people, they got gold money. They didn’t look at us, nobody see them come near us. Old time white people nothing but white nigger now, and black nigger better than white nigger” (14). Once the word “nigger” comes out of Antoinette’s mouth, the whole tone of the conversation, situation, and their friendship has changed. Antoinette basically states that even if Tia won, she still has leverage over Tia because she’s white, therefore stating that it would be impossible for Tia to win in the grand scheme of things. Although I think Antoinette was just using a word she had heard around her house, not knowing the actual deep meanings of it, I do think her intentions were not great and that she had at least a basic understanding of what the word meant. Before, it was just two little girls playing in a pool of water, away from the judgement and restrictions of the adult world. But, once that word slips out of Antoinette’s mouth, the adult world has encroached on them and a darkness shrouds their friendship and pretty much ends it.

But Antoinette isn’t the old bad one in this fight. Although Antoinette does start it, Tia doesn’t hold back when it’s her turn. She lays it on Antoinette the realities of her household and how they are ostracized from the community, a reality that Antoinette has had to live with her whole life. Now, although both girls laid harsh comments about each other, I don’t think they really meant them. They are both just repeating information that has been fed to them by the adults in their lives. Antoinette doesn’t mean her harsh comment because she wishes she could be more like Tia, and Tia, I think, enjoys the company of Antoinette, even if the community doesn’t approve. But once Antoinette brings the harsh realities into their initially, innocent friendship, there is an immediate shift in their friendship. Tia then decides to take Antoinette’s dress, giving her her old, matted dress in return, possibly symbolic of Tia showing Antoinette of what her place really is in society. Even though Antoinette’s family may have more money than Tia’s (probably not by much, if at all), from her choice of words, Antoinette believes that she is more well off than Tia, and Tia decides to strip her of that notion by both reducing her pride and clothing to what all the villagers think of her and her family. It’s a very harsh scene all together that abruptly ends Tia’s and Antoinette’s friendship seemingly for good.

It’s sad because I thought that this friendship would be great for Antoinette, since she has had a lack of socialization outside of her household for all of her life. But, what Antoinette said was uncalled for (along with how Tia retaliated). I suppose later, Tia shows a little bit of remorse when she throws a rock at Antoinette, and Antoinette seems to understand how Tia must feel and so she doesn’t judge her for her actions, at least not completely. But it’s unfortunate that their friendship came to an abrupt end. I hope Antoinette has learned from this situation and will be able to act more kindly in the future, or else her life may never get better.

The Role of Christophine

DISCLAIMER: My book is a different edition than the one Mr. Mitchell has in class, so the page numbers may be a bit disorientated. Sorry ‘bout it.

As we’ve begun to flesh out all the characters we’ve been introduced to in the first part of Wild Sargasso Sea, one character that has stuck out to me is Christophine and her relationship to Antoinette. To everyone who doesn’t live in the Cosway house, Christophine is this intimidating figure that is able to convince/ force people to do things without lifting a finger or even providing payment. “The girls from the bayside who sometimes helped with the washing and cleaning were terrified of her. That, I soon discovered, was why they came at all--for she never paid them. Yet they brought presents of fruit and vegetables and after dark I often heard low voices from the kitchen” (12). These girls still bring stuff to the house, even though they are not being paid or anything. Some force within Christophine makes them come back. They would never say anything about it in front of Christophine, but they definitely talk about it when she’s not there. (Antoinette probably even overhears their conversation from time to time).

Other than her seemingly stern and asserting personality, one of the main reasons why people tend to find Christophine so terrifying, is because of her religious practice: Obeah. According to Wikipedia, Obeah is a term used in the West Indies to refer to folk magic and sorcery. In our area, it is most commonly known as voodoo. Obviously, this is a huge religious aspect in Christophine’s life, but it also has some stereotypes associated with it, such as sticking pins in voodoo dolls in order to inflict pain upon others. This and many other assumptions are seemingly why many people fear Christophine and don’t wish to have any conflict with her.

But, it’s interesting to see why people don’t like Christophine. I’ll bet not many people outside of the Cosway family have gotten to know Christophine very well, so they only judge her on her religious practices. They associate the evils of obeah with her, and therefore fear and avoid conflict with her at all possible times. But Antoinette is different. She has spent enough time with Christophine to know that she isn’t fearful, but a rather nurturing figure in her life. At home, Antoinette has been born into a life of loneliness from the lack of her father and being constantly pushed away by her mother. So, Christophine steps in to fill both the maternal and paternal figures Antoinette’s life. Christophine keeps Antoinette safe by being stern and protective (like a paternal figure), while also singing her songs and watching over her in the house (like a maternal figure). Christophine has basically been Antoinette’s whole cultural and individual reference throughout her life as we’ve seen it. Antoinette isn’t getting much reference from her mother because she isn’t allowed to bond with her much, and so she is instead growing up under the influence of Christophine, which honestly, doesn’t sound too bad since Christophine seems to be able to hold her own in life.

Because of this strong bond Antoinette has to Christophine, she has a different view of her than the other villagers. Antoinette does see obeah as a nightmarish thing, as seen when she approaches Christophine’s dark room and becomes scared at what might be in it, but she doesn’t connect that intimidation factor to Christophine. Antoinette doesn’t connect the “evils” of obeah to Christophine because she sees her as a positive and protective figure in her life. This type of disconnect makes Antoinette seem more mature than most people in this book because it shows how she doesn’t judge Christophine’s character from her beliefs; she is able to look past them and forget her worries (or at least make herself do it) because of how positive of an impact Christophine has had on her.

It will be interesting to see how Christophine’s role in Antoinette’s life will either strengthen or weaken as the mother remarries and becomes momentarily happier than before, while also bringing in a new paternal role into her life.

Ways to Approach Life

One comparison that has been made in class that I have found to be very interesting is the way Jake Barnes from The Sun Also Rises chooses to view life versus the way Meursault from The Stranger does. Jake has his afición for bullfighting. He lives and breaths to head to Pamplona every year to watch bullfights. He even has his own circle of friends who share this afición with him. These bullfights help give his life meaning where it is lacking. In Paris, Jake always fades to the background of every situation. He is always treated as a secondary object to people’s lives. But, while he’s in Pamplona, Jake feels comfortably at home; he is able to show off his vast knowledge of bullfighting. (Seemingly showing off to Brett at the same time).

Then we have Meursault, who has a vastly different way of viewing life than Jake’s. Meursault doesn’t choose a passion to focus on and look forward to every year, in fact, he doesn’t really have anything. He believes that life itself is meaningless and there’s no need to focus on things that have no real value. This is why he doesn’t see the point in marrying Marie, even though he enjoys spending time with her and expresses his want for her; he just doesn’t seem the meaning of it all. He keeps himself preoccupied with the present instead of planning ahead for the future.

It’s interesting how two men who are mainly set in the background of most social situations can both look at life in vastly different ways. Meursault would most likely see Jake’s way of life as menial and useless. In Meursault’s view, Jake’s afición is a faux-meaning; he wants his life to having meaning but fails to realize that there is none. So (this is probably obvious), if Jake and Meursault lived in the same time and place in life, I do believe they wouldn’t be friends judging from their different characters, but that’s just speculation.