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One of the books I just finished is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. It’s an unusual introduction to the novel, but I picked this up after reading Carley Fortune’s 2024 summer romance novel, This Summer Will Be Different, where it was mentioned a few times.
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They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did.
Wide Sargasso Sea was published in 1966, but is set around the 1830s-1840s, opening just after slavery is abolished in the UK. It was written by Jean Rhys as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) to “give life to,” in Rhys’ own words, to “the madwoman in the attic.”
It’s been a while since I read Jane Eyre, it was back in 2016. Although probably helpful, I don’t think Jane Eyre needs to be too fresh in your mind for you to enjoy and understand Wide Sargasso Sea, as long as you still remember the characters and the climactic events. But if you already have these two on your TBR, I highly recommend reading Jane Eyre first and then Wide Sargasso Sea immediately after.
It was a song about a white cockroach. That's me. That's what they call all of us who were here before their own people in Africa sold them to the slave traders. And I've heard English women call us white niggers. So between you, I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all.
The novel is told in three parts, in dreamlike, feverish prose - haunting in its loveliness. The first part is in Antoinette’s POV, her life in Coulibri (their family estate/plantation in Jamaica) as her family deals with the aftermath of the abolition of slavery - the claustrophobic nightmare of their neigbors’ hatred and contempt, marooned in between the present and the past. It is reminiscent of Scarlett O’Hara’s plight in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind (1936).
You can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone. We were alone in the most beautiful place in the world. It is not possible that there can be anywhere else so beautiful as Coulibri.
Coulibri and the eerie gothic themes also reminded me of Manderley in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.
The second part is told in Rochester’s POV (he remains unnamed in the novel), during their honeymoon and opens as they arrive in Granbois (an estate in Dominica).
It was a beautiful place - wild, untouched, above all untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret loveliness. And it kept its secret. I’d find myself thinking, “What I see is nothing - I want what it hides - that is not nothing.”
The beauty lies in the novel’s intimate, stream of consciousness style of narrative. At times, I felt the husband was vain and proud and judgmental, and at times, I felt sympathetic when he seemed sincere and pitiful. I thought that he all too easily believed the terrible things about his wife. The moment when his opinions of his wife turned were unclear, but his doubts were evident when he assumed she would be hysterical: Only if you promise to be reasonable.
Have all beautiful things sad destinies?
Lastly, the final part is again told in Antoinette’s POV, in full circle from her plight at the beginning - she is trapped between the past and the present, a prisoner in mind and body and soul, seeking the light…
Justice. I've heard that word. It's a cold word. I tried it out. I wrote it down. I wrote it down several times and always it looked like a damn cold lie to me. There is no justice.
It showed me a glimpse of history, in vivid dramatic detail, undoubtedly unforgettable. At its core, Wide Sargasso Sea is a story about being powerless. Although Rhys set out to tell the story of Antoinette / “Bertha,” the novel’s greatness lies beyond. It illuminates the painful history of slavery and lack of women’s rights, but also the ever-relevant realization of our flaws amidst powerlessness: that when trouble comes close ranks, we serve ourselves. It is illustrated in the heartbreaking scene of Antoinette’s last sight of her playmate, Tia; most starkly in Daniel’s schemes, also in Amélie, most surprisingly in Christophine, and ultimately, in Rochester.
Woman must have spunks to live in this wicked world.
Christophine, one of their long-time slave, and later a friend to Antoinette, was my favorite character. She was wise, caring, but also complicatedly self-serving. I think it’s that I couldn’t really understand her motivations fully that I found her so compelling.
And then, you make love to her till she's drunk with it. No rum could make her drunk like that, till she can't do without it. It's she can't see the sun anymore. Only you she see, but all you want is to break her up.
There are always two deaths, the real one and the one people know about.
When Rochester realizes and accepts the death of his love for Antoinette and declares “No sun… no sun. The weather’s changed,” he comes to chilling conclusions and plans for his wife. I remember reading about a cock crowing just a couple of scenes before - was it perhaps symbolic of his imminent betrayal of Antoinette?
I was tired of these people. I disliked their laughter and their tears, their flattery and envy, conceit and deceit. And I hated the place. I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain. I hated the sunsets of whatever color. I hated its beauty and its magic and the secret I would never know. I hated its indifference and the cruelty which was part of its loveliness. Above all, I hated her, for she belonged to the magic and the loveliness. She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it.
Overall, I loved this beautiful tale, complex and almost unfathomable, a novel which succeeded to be grand in less than 200 pages. Jane Eyre isn’t and will probably never be a favorite of mine, but I think that Wide Sargasso Sea gave it a richer and even more unforgettable perspective.
That’s a wrap, thank you for reading my notes and thoughts on this novel, I hope you enjoyed it. If you’ve read this before or are planning to read it, I would love to hear your thoughts!
shelf-envy
and since classic literature have some of the most collectible editions, I’ve scoured the web for editions I would love to own, if only I have unlimited shelf space!
here are a few shelf-worthy editions I’ve found of Wide Sargasso Sea:
2016 W. W. Norton paperback (50th Anniversary Edition)* - this is also the edition I read!
Classically Challenged is a new section on The Eternal TBR, accessible on the home page in its own header. This is where I will be sharing notes, thoughts, quotes, and other things about classic literature!
*Amazon Associates link
your turn…
have you read Wide Sargasso Sea? what did you think?
have you read Jane Eyre? did you know that Jean Rhys wrote Wide Sargasso Sea as a prequel to Jane Eyre? if you’ve read both, did you read Jane Eyre before/after Wide Sargasso Sea?
what do you think is the significance of the title?
have you previously read any of Jean Rhys’ works?
Jane Eyre was never my favorite character. When I read it in high school, I threw the book at the wall when she went back to Rochester. Then I would have chosen to live alone. A reread later in life gave me a little more perspective on her choice. I had read the fever dream of Wide Sargasso Sea in the interim. When I read it, I knew it was intended as a prequel, and was looking for more insight into Rochester's character. It didn't help me like him but did make me a tad more empathetic. Still the women are constrained by their lack of power. His place in society gave him more choices, but he acts with petulance and selfishness. I'm never going to be the one who falls for the "bad" boy in literature or in life.
I haven't read Jane Eyre yet. Will that be a blocker reading this?