Paradise at the Convent
In both
yesterday’s panel presentations and throughout our class discussions we have
talked about the idea that Antoinette is unable to fit into Jamaican culture or
English culture. The title of the novel, Wide
Sargasso Sea, suggests that the difference between these two places is too
wide to be able to bridge the gap between cultures. Throughout the novel,
Antoinette tries to bridge the gap in multiple ways such as her friendship with
Tia and trying to give the Obeah love potion to Rochester which ends up
poisoning him and making him sick. However, she never seems to succeed.
Antoinette does not seem to be able
to fit into either culture. When she goes outside of her house the other
children constantly torment her. They make fun of her, call her names, and
harass her. She cannot live in her own country without being bullied. However,
she is not able to fit into English culture either. Antoinette mentions that “we
ate English food now, beef and mutton, pies and puddings” instead of the food
that Christophine makes (35). Even when she is eating the English food,
Antoinette does not seem to be able to completely accept the it. She says that
she “was glad to be like an English girl but I missed the taste of
Christophine’s cooking” (35). She does not seem to be able to accept either
culture as she seems to be happy being English yet she cannot accept the
English culture completely because she still is holding on to part of the
Jamaican culture.
The one place that Antoinette seems
at peace and able to fit in perfectly is at the convent. It is somewhere where
she is safe and can just focus on her school work without having to worry about
any other factors. On her way to the convent she is tormented by the other
children in the community. They are following her and calling her names and
saying things like, “‘Look the crazy girl, you crazy like your mother. Your
aunt frightened to have you in the house. She send you for the nuns to lock up’”
(49). Yet as soon as she gets to the convent everything else disappears. She is
safe and her worries are behind her. She can cry and the nuns will comfort her.
She actually has someone who will take care of her and listen to her. Antoinette
says, “This convent was my refuge, a place of sunshine” (56). She also says, “The
long brown room was full of gold sunlight and shadows of trees moving quickly”
(56). Her descriptions of the convent makes it almost seem like a paradise for
her. She is no longer tormented by anyone and she seems like she fits in. It is
clear that she is happy there because when she is told that she has to leave
her heat sinks and it seems that she really does not want to leave. The convent
is almost like a bubble between cultures where Antoinette can finally fit in.
You make a great point. When I was reading the part where she goes to the convent, she fit in so well that I thought she would become a nun for the rest of the book. Naturally, the convent would be a safe place for Antoinette, because, as you pointed out, there is no cultural divide, and everyone is accepted, even those who don't fit into any other culture.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't get to discuss the convent scenes very much in class, but they make up a super interesting and significant portion of the novel. I agree with you that they go to further emphasize how estranged she is from the surrounding cultures. It is probably the happiest she ever is in the novel when she's in the convent. Yet, I would argue that she is not totally at peace while she is there. She is still tormented by her not-belonging, as shown by her nightmares. This adds to the foreboding atmosphere of the book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. After losing Coulibri and everything she loved, the convent is a perfect recovery place for Antoinette, where she can feel safe and at peace again. That's not to say she fits in perfectly, however. For example, take the de Plana sisters who Antoinette admires wholeheartedly, for this sophistication. One thing that stood out to me was when Antoinette asked Helene how she did her hair, and why it didn't work for her. "Her eyelashes flickered, she turned away, too polite to say the obvious thing". People don't seem to be putting a great emphasis on race at the convent, and they definitely don't seem to be insulting about it. But it's definitely still there, and it makes me wonder if it would be better for everyone if they were actually more open about it? I dunno.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good point. As we talked about in class and as you say Antoinette clearly doesn't fit into either culture she is a part of. Yet she fits in at the convent probably because it is separate from the cultures she didn't fit in with and allowed her to fit in. When considering this it makes her marriage seem even worse because it forced her to leave somewhere she fit in.
ReplyDeleteThis section of the book really shows how much good an accepting culture can do. Modern cultures could really take notes on good literary examples of acceptance of other cultures and from understanding them become better functioning cultures in the world today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that Antoinette seems to be able to fit in almost perfectly (or without conflict, at the very least). I wonder how the book might have been different if Antoinette stayed at the convent and became a nun, and whether she would have encountered someone in a similar situation to the one she was in during childhood.
ReplyDeleteThe situation with the convent seems like yet another point at which a key decision was made. Should Antoinette stay at the convent or leave and marry Rochester? These spots irritated me as I was reading the novel, because I felt like they had so many possibilities attached to them! What would've happened if Antoinette was a nun? What would've happened if she and Christophine went off and had adventures together? There are so many possibilities, and I wish Jean Rhys had written alternate endings or something. :)
ReplyDelete