Wide Sargasso Sea: Part 1

Hey guys. Long time, no e-mail!

Read part 1 of Wide Sargasso Sea (approx. pg. 56) for tomorrow. Blog about
your reading with pertinent questions about the story's structure,
point-of-view, characterization of Bertha (or Antoinette, as you will), or
connections between the text and Jane Eyre.

Also, look up the terms "Marginalization" and "Post-Colonialism" on good
ole Wikipedia. Be prepared to discuss in the latter half of class.

If everyone blogs, no quiz. If more than one person blogs, then there will
be a quiz. Cool?

See you tomorrow.

If it isn't another seemingly depressing novel! Jane Eyre was the only book we've read that had a happy ending. Jane and Big Bertha have many similarities in their childhood, the most obvious is that they are alienated and secluded. Conversely, they have many differences due to their similarities. Jane never succumbed to conformity nor compromised her sense of righteousness -- she was a feminist. She could be compared to today's notion of an "independent woman." Jane is more fierce and dominating whereas Big Bertha is more innocent and subservient. She does nothing when her friend cheats her of her pennies and her clothes and then gets a rock thrown on her forehead! On her first day of school, after the house inferno incident, she gets picked on and yet does nothing then she goes and cries! I don't recall Jane crying as pathetic as that. I'm sure Jane would have fought back just as she did to John and Mrs. Reed (verbally).

The readers will unequivocally gain a immense sympathy for Big Bertha's life. She is a victim of racism and social status; her mother had a mental illness; she has no friends; people don't like her; and her brother dies. For a young child, she has experienced many things people experience within a lifetime. Readers who've read Jane Eyre know what lies in her future. She is obliviously seeing her future through her mother's. She ultimately never finds happiness and no one will ever love her; she will only become a nuisance. Interestingly, I am looking forward to the story because it has many deep and profound meaning towards it. Mainly, how Big Bertha will act toward her mother as her disorder worsens and how she is going to react if she discovers that the woman, who is her mother that is slowly becoming a stranger, is who she'll be in the future. It is as if you have discovered the day that you will die and with that knowledge, decide what to do with your time because you realize how short it is.