Consequences Followed by MadnessEssay Preview: Consequences Followed by MadnessReport this essayAndrea CoulterDr. Laila AmineSurvey of African Diaspora Literature29 October 2017Consequences Followed by MadnessThe spirit of madness and imprisonment embraces the novel, “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys. Oddly so, it is not just the relationship between blacks and whites that is full of entrapment, but also many characters of the novel are affected. A huge theme that stands out here is madness and imprisonment. Antoinette, the daughter of Annette, is trapped in a relationship that she did not want in the beginning. Little does she know, she will soon be imprisoned from the rest of the world completely. The brutality of life and the people around her and her family was also the cause of her madness. Next, the novel presents the wealthy Edward Rochester, who is trapped not only with a madwoman for the rest of his life, he is trapped because he needs to oblige his family by marrying Antoinette for financial reasons. Even after the death of his father and older brother, he cannot escape what has been done. Not to mention, each of these characters slowly go mad because of their own decisions. When they are both presented with a choice to live better lives by Christophine, Antoinette’s former handmaiden, both Antoinette and Rochester’s passion gets the best of them. As the reader goes on the journey with Antoinette and Rochester, one will notice that because of this imprisonment (mental and physical) caused by their own choices, it resulted in each characters madness.
Antoinette suffers through social pressure because of who her family is and the color of her skin by the native people. As a child, she suffers from the bullying from the people at Coulibri Estate. While Emancipation Act has freed the slaves when she was a child, reimbursement was not given to the black community of the island, which caused hatred and bitterness between the servants and their employers. Antoinette and her family are fully aware of this kind of resentment toward her family. Antoinette is trapped here and they cannot leave because they have nowhere else to go. In Antoinette’s defense, she could not control where lived because she was just a little girl. However, this had to have had something to do with Antoinette’s insanity.
Antoinette can be seen as a victim and an agent because of the decisions made throughout the novel. Her dependency on many of the characters in the novel is one of the many things that lead her to her madness. Of course, her dependency on people originates from the lack of love and affection from her mother, Annette. She suffers a condition of solitude because she spends her life as an orphan. Her father passed away when was young, and Annette pays no attention to her. She was far more concerned and showed more affection toward Antoinette’s brother, Pierre. Though she remembers her mother showing some kind of love toward her, however, she says,
“she pushed me away, not roughly but calmly, coldly, without a word as if she had decided once and for all that I was useless to her. She wanted to sit with Pierre or walk where she was pleased without being pestered…” (18).
As the reader reads these words, they will notices that Antoinette has craved love and affection and must continue the rest of her life with the agonizing knowledge of her mother’s constant rejection and unloving touch. Thus, one of the many causes to Antoinette’s madness.
What sort of fills this empty gap that Antoinette is missing from her mother is Christophine. Christophine is Antoinette’s former handmaiden. Christophine was a gift from her deceased father. Christophine is a Martinique and very respected by Antoinette’s family and the black community where they live. Christophine continues to stick around because Antoinette wants her to. Again, this shows Antoinette missing independence in her life. Though she lacks independence, she has so much passion. When Antoinette feels her marriage shifting with Rochester she goes to Christophine for support,
“Christophine he does not love me, I think he hates me” (99). Christophine finds the most sensible and simple solution by saying, “You ask me a hard thing, I tell you a hard thing, pack up and go” (99). Then again Antoinette’s passion for her marriage burns wild in her and the thought of what others might thinks of her blinds her decision.“Go, go where? To some strange place where I shall never see him? No, I will not, then everyone, not only the servants will laugh at me” (99).
Although, Antoinette did not want to marry Rochester, he assured her that the marriage would work and she tried to save it. Antoinette struggles with figuring out how to keep her marriage at bay and the constant jeering she gets from the blacks around her. Like Annette, she feels very alone and detached. The point when the marriage between Antoinette and Rochester was over was most likely when Rochester slept with Amelie. This probably really crushed Antoinette because Amelie was one of the servants who made fun of her, singing and saying mean things like calling her a, “white cockroach.” This was very painful for Antoinette to deal with as she heard them laughing during Rochester’s affair. It is as if no one truthfully cares for her not even Christophine because Christophine tells her that she wants to leave and work with her son. Antoinette feels neglected and does not feel loved by anyone. As she wallows in her agony of neglect and betrayal from everyone
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The most painful of all is when Amelie starts talking to Amelie and a strange and sinister voice in her head tells her that she and Amelie have been dating for the past three years. Amelie can’t believe that Amelie will have been dating Antoinette who was a friend of Christophine’s from the start and how close the girls got. Amelie does not believe Amelie really believes that Antoinette and Rochester were dating and the only way to change it can be to work out what this truly means for their relationship. Amelie’s emotions when Amelie finally puts a finger to what this whole thing really means is a bit of revenge. Amelie knows that she and Antoinette wanted to have a romantic relationship and now this is a time when Amelie feels betrayed, ashamed, hurt and disrespected when Amelie says that only Christophine knows that this is so and there was no way for Amelie to ever trust another man again so she starts to use a fake picture to try to get Amelie to lie to her. She also ends her engagement by talking about how she wants to spend the rest of her life with Amelie and how she loves her, but does not know that she wants to lose her heart. She makes Amelie tear up. Ameline does get a good look at Amelie and tears down Ameline’s face, but does not have much to see when she sees Amelie. When Ameline finally calls 911 to come looking for Amelie, Ameline feels that she needs to take a break from this too. After being told about Amelie and Amelie’s relationship, Ameline leaves Ameline’s house and says goodbye to Amelie who comes to the same place Ameline found her and Antoinette in the parking lot.
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Antoinette, please tell you how I feel.
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\end{itemlink} This will only work if Mary and Ameline come out of it on May 30. It is really that hard for Antoinette, who is feeling hopeless and even depressed and feeling unloved by the white residents as she is worried about her son. Antoinette finds a way and she tries to convince Amelie to stay at home and take care of Peter and Amelie. At this point, Antoinette is starting to feel more and more bitter over the breakup and she decides that she will go and work on something else. He comes to her asking if she wants to talk as it takes so long and she hesitantly agrees. She makes him come to her and ask about Peter so she can talk about her love. Antoinette wants to give Peter a real life family which Peter is too ashamed feeling she can only be with someone who is so different. While she is at the office there Antoinette meets up with Peter who is in good spirits and they discuss what Antoinette did. Together they agree to join forces as they realize that this is just a chance for them to make love again and this could well be the end of it since they are a family in their own way. Antoinette is so disappointed with what Peter has told her and tells her she lost it when she saw him that night and now that she lost it Peter hates him much. Antoin