Comparative analysis of Property and Wide Sargasso Sea -- A grade - page 5
Keywords: Propery Valerie Martin Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys Central heroine authority's effect
By georgie1 on 31/12/2009
Level: A Level (Year 12) / AS Level
Page Number: 5 of 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
within a community that had recently seen the fall of White Creole slave owners, who were now excluded from society and shared the same social hierarchy as the black natives, who were previously slaves. Annette is ostracized by the other females in the town: “The Jamaican ladies had never approved of my mother.” This is purely due to her skin colour, and the ethics involved with slavery due to skin colour. On the clearest level of racism, the family are completely banished from Coulibri when the black community sets alight their home. This signifies the sheer resentment that the blacks felt towards the Cosway family because of the association of their ethnicity. As a servant to the family, Godfrey states: “The Lord make no distinction between black and white, black and white the same for Him.” This contradicts any ill-feeling between varying ethnicities and therefore symbolizes that he disagrees with such racism. However, in an argument with her servant Amelie, Antoinette is named “white cockroach”. The negativity surrounding that of a pest is clearly meant as a severe insult. Similarly, Property is also replete with references to racism. Manon’s father is said to have believed that “a gentleman never raises his voice to a servant in public”, however, her husband does not conform to this principle, showing his sincere disrespect for his black slaves. This adds to Manon’s disrespect for her husband, leaving the reader aware of her longing for an authoritative figure that she loved: her father, possibly due to Freud’s theories about the Oedipus complex and paternal affection.
The demoralising effect that authority plays on both Manon and Antoinette leaves both characters with a mutual hostility towards their own lives, highlighting the significant cause of their melancholy, and the reason for the behaviour that they exhibit. However, one is drawn to the complexity and depth of Manon Gaudet’s transition from mere housewife, to an introvert and self-doubting woman, to an ambitious and self-satisfied individual, providing a convincing character that the reader empathises with. She can engage with her emotions: “I threw myself across my bed and wept”, and relate to the female reader in the sense of marriage, judgement and social placement. It is explained that Gaudet enjoys “pointing out that everyone’s troubles are their own fault.” However, Manon illustrates that her authoritative husband provides the motives for her mannerism and unresponsiveness: “the reason for it came banging in
Last 5 comments…
There have been no comments posted for this article, but you need to register if you want to be the first!