Assignment paper 205

Name : Latta J. Baraiya 

Roll no : 11

Paper : Cultural Studies

Semester : M.A sem 3

Topic : Identity : Cultural Studies

Submitted to : Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Introduction

We all are aware of the identity we are having. That can be on name, cast, class, religion, gender. The identity of a person depends on the roles played by the person that designates that person. Identity is constituted through experience, and representation is the significant part of the experience. Experience includes the consumption of sign, the making of meaning from sign and the knowledge of meaning. 

However cultural studies believe that experience also masks the connection between different structures in society. We do not always understand that we are not in control of our lives, and that we are subject to ideological control. That is experience often makes us believe that we are free agent, when we are in reality victims of discursive and ideological regimes that treat us as consumer alon. We do not have always power of choice, that is in itself an illusion generated through representation. 

People have pride for their names and caste, village and for their gender also. But that birth was not given them by their choice. It's all accidents ! So taking pride for all that identity is foolish thing. But people can't even understand it. 

IDENTITY

In a modern society where the globalization process is deepening,continuous contact with individuals from different cultural backgrounds will lead to thinking about cultural identity. Cultural identity is the cornerstone of national identity and national identity. In recent years, it has become an important field of interdisciplinary and one of the topics of interest to psychologists. In the perspective of psychology, the study of cultural identity mainly focuses on the fields of developmental psychology, social psychology and cross-cultural psychology. The perspective of developmental psychology emphasizes that the construction and formation of individual cultural identity is a complex process of change. Social identity theory focuses on the relationship between cultural identity and self-esteem.Safe national identity strongly promotes the level of individual self-esteem. The theory of cultural adaptation emphasizes the different coping strategies of individuals in the development of cultural identity, such as integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization. 

WHAT IS IDENTITY AND HOW IS IT CONSTITUTED? 

Within the historical evolution of the concept of the identity, there are two common, but opposite, approaches to the questions of what identity means and how it is constituted. In prevalent and traditional approach, especially before the industrial revolution, identity is defined as a constitution based on the recognition of familiar and shared derivations including but not limited to ethnic, linguistic, religious, historical, territorial, cultural and political attributes with other people, groups or ideal. The concepts of familiarity and share in this definition are also associated with the meanings of sameness, belongingness and unity. From this perspective, cultural identity is a 

“one, shared culture, a sort of collective ‘one true self,’ hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed ‘selves,’ which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common”

(Hall, p. 394). 

As Grossberg contends, the problematic belief in this analysis is that there is some intrinsic and essential content to any identity which is characterized by either a common origin or a common structure of experience or both. One can be deemed to be born along with his or her identity that appears to act as the sign of an identical harmony. In this regard, identity is determined more likely as a naturalistic and static formation that could always be sustained. This conventional view sees individual as a unique, stable and whole entity. 

According to this constructionists and discursive view, an individual is a socio-historical and socio-cultural product and identity is not biologically pre-given to a person, instead, he or she occupies it, and more importantly, this occupation may include different and multiple identities at different points of time and settings.  

Although both approaches are trying to explain the same concept, their conflicting point is the existence and sustainability of a true, stable, fixed or authentic identity. While the former view of identity is “fixed and transhistorical”, the latter one advocates the identity as being “fluid and contingent”, not an essence but positioning. In social and cultural studies, this debate refers to a tension between essentialists (Descartes, Karl and Husserl) and constructionists/anti-essentialists (Hume, Nietzsche and Sartre) or in recent discussions, a transformation from the conception of modern identity to postmodern identity. This is how Bauman (1996) explains this transformation: 

If the modern problem of identity was how to construct an identity and keep it solid and stable, the postmodern problem of identity is primarily how to avoid fixation and keep the options open. In the case of identity, as in other cases, the catchword of modernity was creation; the catchword of postmodernity is recycling. (p.18)

Identities are usually produced within the play of power, representation and difference which can be either constructed negatively as the exclusion and marginalization or celebrated as a source of diversity, heterogeneity and hybridity suggesting that they are relational to other identities. This involves the process of persistently distinguishing one identity from others by means of discourse as a symbolic and representative meaning tool which contributes to the identity formation. Gender, race, class and sexual identities can be given as examples of identity construction out of difference, exclusion and subordination. Said`s work on “Orientalism” and its counterpart which Robertson describes as “Occidentalism”, also demonstrates the very same idea. The identity of Oriental culture is seen as a subaltern culture and constituted through its exclusion from the Western culture; therefore it is the West that has given identity to the Orient. As Sakai (cited in Morley & Robins, 1995) states, 

“if the West did not exist, the Orient would not exist either” 

(p. 155) 

The notion of difference as a constitutive of identity is integral to an understanding of the cultural construction of identities and has been related to the language and representation including signifying practices and symbolic systems through which the production of identities and meanings take place. 

language operates as a representational system and helps us represent to other people our concepts, feelings and ideas. It is in this sense that language as a signifying system that provides possible answers to the questions: 

• Who am I? 

• What group am I belong to? 

• What do I want to be? 

Language used here as signifier of identity refers to not only written and spoken language but also texts, advertisements, visual images produced both by hand and technological means, songs, games, clothes, foods and so on. Discourse is concerned with the relationship between power and knowledge and how this relationship operates within what he calls discursive formations. Foucault argues that: 

Here I believe one’s point of reference should not be to the great model of language (langue) and signs, but to that of war and battle. The history which bears and determines us has the form of a war rather than that of a language: relations of power not relations of meaning…Neither the dialectic, as logic of contradictions, nor semiotics, as the structure of communication, can account for the intrinsic intelligibility of conflicts. 

(cited in Hall, 1997) 

Let's go through the example so the Idea become more clear in our mind. If we see

• Amar

• Akbar

• Aenethani

What we think first ? We think about three religion. That represented through the name. Amar represent Hindu religion, Akbar represent Muslim religion and Aenethani represent Christian religion. So the point is the we always look at the people by their other identities and that identity given by their family, society, religion or atmosphere. That's not their true identity. 

There is movie also with this name. Their clothes also significantly represent their identity. In PK movie we also see in one scene, where that dhongi baba recognise people on the base of their clothes, but thay all hve wear cross clothes. They wear others religion's clothes. But yes their name also reveals that who they are and from which religion they belong. This advantage is very harmful to people. That creat bias in people's mind. So the identity become very important to study in cultural studies. 

Conclusion

So at the end we can say that the system, that gives us identity by giving name has to be changed. We hve to creat number kind of identity. Because name and surname reflect their caste, so people decide how much respect given to them. Yes, money become very powerful weapon in today's time. If you have enough money people will give you respect and behave nicely with you. So the identity is connected with money also. 

References

Bauman, Z. (1996). From pilgrim to tourist - or a short history of identity. In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1-17). London: Sage Publications. 

Hall, S. (1994). Cultural identity and diaspora. In P. Williams & L. Chrisman (Eds.), Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory: A Reader (pp. 392-403). New York: Columbia UP.

Hall, S. (1996). Introduction: who needs identity? In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1-17). London: Sage Publications. 

Hall, S. (1997). The work of representation. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices (pp. 13-64). London: Sage Publication 

Koc, Mustafa. “CULTURAL IDENTITY CRISIS IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION AND  TECHNOLOGY.” The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2006.

Morley, D., & Robins, K. (1995). Spaces of identity: Global media, electronic landscapes and cultural 

boundaries. London: Routledge. 

Robertson, R. (1991). Japan and the USA: The interpretation of national identities and the debate about orientalism. In N. Abercombie et al. (Eds.), Dominant Ideologies, London: Unwin Hyman. 

Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 

Yan, Anfu. “Cultural Identity in the Perspective of Psychology.” Researchgate.net, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328534190_Cultural_Identity_in_the_Perspective_of_Psychology/fulltext/5bd330c0a6fdcc3a8da8ee2e/Cultural-Identity-in-the-Perspective-of-Psychology.pdf. 

Assignment paper 204

Name : Latta J. Baraiya 

Roll no : 11

Paper : Contemporary Western Theory and Film Studies

Semester : M.A sem 3

Topic : Feminism

Submitted to : Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. 

Introduction

Many researchers and scholars used the term “Feminism” and they tried to define and explain it differently. Some of them use it to refer to some historical political movements in the USA and Europe. Whereas, others refer it to the belief that women live an injustice life with no rights and no equality Zara Huda Faris explained this idea, as: 

“Women need feminism because there are women who suffer injustice”

As Kalpana Nehere writes in her article, the cultural aspects such as traditions, rituals, symbols, literature, etc. in India and abroad show the close association between women and nature. There are some 

symbolic expressions like ‘Mother Earth,’ ‘Mother Nature,’ ‘Virgin Land,’ ‘Barren River,’ ‘Flowery Women’, etc. describe the relation of women with the Earth. Robert Briffault (1876-1948) described the central role of women in gynaecocracy as: 

‘The state of things brought about by the economic domination of women who remain controllers of property is one of gynaecocracy’, 

in his ‘The Mothers’ (1927).  The eminent philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Kant, etc. supported the common belief in contemporary society that of lacking women’s abilities like deliberate, self-determination, etc. As Witt writes, Aristotle (384 B.C.) explained the connections between 

1) form and being male, and 

2) matter and being female. 

Aristotle specified the courage of man shown in commanding and woman in obeying. This Aristotle’s theory of nature provides direct theoretical support for the political status of inequality between men and women. 

Contemporary Hindu traditions, rituals and literature support male to have central positions in the family and society. They advise society to take care of male child: and many more things including a) before in marriage - do not marry a girl who has no brother, b) at marriage - give blessings like ‘Ashta Putra Bhav’ (have eight sons), c) after marriage - 1) typical preparation at the time of intercourse, 2) different recipes i.e. boiled banana, etc., 3) performing the specific rituals like ‘Dohale’ (ceremony) in pregnancy. It is dominantly observed that parents and family members perpetually and happily distribute ‘Pedha’ (Indian sweets) after the birth of male child and ‘Barfi’ (Indian sweets) for girl child at birth. Many such observations show the discriminating approach towards girls and boys regarding clothes, education, even food and necessary things, etc. Some of the families, who have male and female child, prefer boy first to give higher and quality education. Indian feminists’ movements are attacked by the ‘Hindu iconography’ and ‘Sanskrit idioms’. They argued that Indian womanhood is the guarantor of cultural difference from the West. Similar observations are recorded by Keller (1994) that is, American print media promotes the maintenance of a gendered division of work at home and workplace. 

•  Origins of Feminism :- 

The term Feminism appeared in France in the late of 1880s by Hunburtine Auclert in her Journal La Citoyenne as La Feminitè where she tried to criticize male domination and to claim for women's rights in addition to the emancipation promised by the French revolution.

By the first decade of the twentieth century, the term appeared in English first in Britain and then in 1910s in America and by 1920s in the Arab World as Niswia.Feminism originates from the Latin word femina that describes women's issues. Feminism is concerned with females not just as a biological category, but the female gender as a social category, and therefore feminists shared the view that women's oppression tied to their sexuality. This was so because women and men's biological differences reflected in the organization of society, and based on these differences, women were treated as inferior to men. Whether as a theory, a social movement or a political movement, feminism specifically focuses on women‟s experiences and highlights various forms of oppression that the female gender has subjected in the society.  

• Three Phases of Feminism :- 

According to Elaine Showalter the history of women’s writing in the West is divided into three phases i.e. 

1) A feminine phase (1840-1880) - women writers imitated the male writers in their norms and artistic standards. The first wave feminism in Western countries was in the 19th and early 20th centuries as a liberal feminism aimed at emancipation and equality. They struggled for: a) removal of barriers to women’s participation in public life, and b) inserting women into male ways of knowing and doing [girls participate in science, technology, mathematics and boys in languages and humanities]. 

2) A feminist phase (1880-1920) - a different and often a separate position was maintained. The second wave (Western) feminism from the mid-twentieth century concentrated on the cultural features of female oppression and the structural, social and psychological transformations to achieve women’s liberation. Therefore, feminism not only challenged contemporary sexual relations and politics but produced a new language and discursive framework of: a) liberation rather than emancipation, and b) collectivism rather than individualism. Second wave feminism challenged official (patriarchal) curricula, texts and behaviours and practices including sexuality, femininity and masculinity. 

3) A female phase (1920 onwards) - a different female identity, style and content. Feminist histories require a 

broad historical geography and to integrate the theoretical contribution of women. The third wave feminism suggested women’s issues in three steps: a) the representation of female empowerment as individual transformation, b) the simplistic resolution of systemic women’s economic problems, and c) the portrayal of political issues as worthy of mockery. Individual empowerment was a key focus of third wave feminism. Western feminists focused on human rights, economic exploitation and political domination.

• Connecting theory to sex and gender as differences :- 

This epistemological divide between modernism and postmodernism is central to understanding how differences between individuals assigned to different sex categories have been taken up, related debates within feminist psychology, and to the connected issue of how the biological matters. To appreciate this, however, we first need to revisit early mid-20th-century feminist psychology. It is fair to say that feminists at this time, including those within psychology, were preoccupied with addressing the prevailing assumption of ‘natural’ female inferiority (compared to males, of course). Implicit in this assumption is a further assumption of two biological kinds of human beings (sexes), who nevertheless share some common traits, offering the basis of comparison. Most psychologists then (who were primarily men) were so convinced of this truth that they were prepared to assert it without any scientific evidence (Weisstein, 1968/1993). 

This framing of a central problem for the psychological study of women, i.e. whether or not there are natural differences between females and males, stretches back to the late 19th century and early 20th century when psychology as a discipline was taking shape. As Jill Morawski has so cogently pointed out, this stuckness could be attributed to feminist empiricism’s alliance with the theoretical foundations of mainstream psychology:

Assumptions about difference, especially difference between men and women, are entrenched in the language, methods, and cognitive orientations of psychology. Even when these notions of difference are critically questioned, they seem to lead to a quagmire of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. 

Morawski (1994, p. 21)  

Women constitute slightly more than half of the world population. Their role in the social, political and economic development of societies is also more than half as compared to that of men by virtue of their dual roles in the productive and reproductive spheres. They are an important part in the balance of power in societies all over the world. Nowadays, all the decisions made in the world (economical, social, political, educational and artistic) are made by both men and women in an equal way but this was not the reality years before. Women through all this time tried to look for their rights by all means and thanks to the idea of Feminism that helped her to be a partner in all the domains of society. The social and the political rights for women were always at the top of Feminism demands. Woman proves that her efficiency in the society is equal to man throughout her role in all fields as well as at home. 

• Black Feminism : Example :-

Obviously, when speaking about women rights, equality and suffering we can automatically refer our explanation to Black Women Segregation. Although feminism claimed in its symbols and goals to the equality of all women from every ethnic and social belonging, it did not give importance to the problems of Black females. In practice, feminism concentrated on the needs of middle class white women in Britain and America while posing as the movement for the emancipation of women globally. Patricia Collins as one of the Famous black Feminists considered that feminism did not bring any rights to the black woman at all. Moreover, the Black woman was separated from participating in any social, economical or political activities done by feminist Organizations, which were controlled at that time with white woman. 

In one way or another, women in every place suffered, were killed and raped but no one suffered in a violent and painful way like black women. Both man and white women classified Black women as the lower class of women. This is why many Black women started to revolt against this unfair classification and make them create another variant of feminism called “Womanism”, a term coined by Alice Walker in one of her great collections of essays. It was titled as “In Search Of Our Mothers” Gardens: Womanist Prose” (1983). Thus, Womanism established a new space for the Black female literary experience to express their wishes and dreams. She considered womenism as the only truth in the life of any black woman; and the most important thing in this idea is that life is not just asking for equal rights with man but looking for equal rights with white women.

This ideology "womenism" focused on the unique experience, struggles and needs of Black women but it was not able to resist in the face of man orders and control and in the face of White Feminism unfair activities..Womenism was not able to give its fruits in practical way and black women were not able to make this hypothesis became a theory. 

• Study of Two Frames :- 

As we are studying film studies, we are supposed to observe feminism in frames and slates. How can we forget to study these well known frames? So here two frames give us the information through the action and position that how women are shown down with men. 

This is the frame from the film "The Birds". The film was produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film favours a male perspective, and the camera often takes the man's side. In this frame we see that the position of a lady is low. The man's position is shown with a high angle. This high angle shot creates a sense of superiority for the man. The man standing next to the car suggests he is in power. Because the woman in the car looked up at the man.  It shows the power relationship between them. And in that relationship he(man) is dominant. Even if the woman is "too independent" she must be taught to submit to the man, to a dedicated man. 

These frames are from the "Philadelphia" film. In which we can see that these two frames express two different perspectives. In the first frame we see the three characters: man, his mother and his sister are at the same symmetry. His wife has different things. She is opposite from them. It shows her independence. We also observe her aggression. In the second frame we can see that the expression and position of that lady has changed. She came to the symmetry of other characters. She loses her independence and comes to that side. 

So in both the frames from different films we see that always women have to let off her freedom and independence. She always taught from childhood to become a mother, sister, wife. And it shows the dominance of male on females.

Conclusion

During a long period in history, woman was not considered as equal citizens, they suffered from bad treatments, discrimination and racism under man domination and rules. In spite of these problems, they could challenge them and prove themselves over society. Women in the past were living unequal and unfair lives. She was prevented from doing any political, social and economical activities and her only job is being a housewife who takes care of home and children. At that time, women were under the control of a man who dominated all the fields in which he represented the symbol of power.

After all those problems, suffering and misery women in the entire world started to find ways to improve themselves and to change their position in life. They also tried to join their efforts, dreams and wishes to form a universal idea that speaks about all women in any place in the world; this leads to the appearance of Feminism.

By the coming of Feminism, women were able to take back their rights in addition to changing their negative image. Feminism proves that women are capable of playing important roles the same as men. Moreover, the most important goals of Feminism were giving women total freedom in addition to equal opportunities in the representation of political and social events. 

References

GHORFATI, Amina, MEDINI, Rabha. “Feminism and Its Impact On  Woman in the Modern Society.” 2014., http://dspace.univ-tlemcen.dz/bitstream/112/7902/1/amina-ghorfati.pdf. 

Lorraine Radtke, H. “Feminist Theory in Feminism & Psychology [Part I]: Dealing with Differences and Negotiating the Biological.” Feminism & Psychology, vol. 27, no. 3, 2017, pp. 357–377., https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517714594. 

Nehere, Kalpana. “The Feminist Views: A Review.” Feminist Research, vol. 1, no. 1, 2016, pp. 3–20., https://doi.org/10.21523/gcj2.16010101. 

Keller, K., 1994. Mothers and work in popular American magazines, Westport, CT: Greenwood, 4-163. 

Morawski, J. G. (1994). Practicing feminisms, reconstructing psychology: Notes on a liminal science. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 

Weisstein, N. (1968/1993) Psychology constructs the female; or, the fantasy life of the male psychologist (with some attention to the fantasies of his friends, the male biologist and the male anthropologist). Feminism & Psychology 3: 195–210). Originally published as Kinder, Küche, Kirche as scientific law: Psychology constructs the female, by New England Free Press.]

Witt, C., 2004. Feminist history of philosophy, Feminist reflections on the history of philosophy, Ed. Alanen, L. and Witt, C., 55, 1-16. 

Assignment paper 203

 Name : Latta J. Baraiya 

Roll no : 11

Paper : The Postcolonial studies

Semester : M.A sem 3

Topic : The Story of The Madwoman in the Attic : Wide Sargasso Sea

Submitted to : Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. 

Introduction

When we think of females in the past, they really had the worst situation at that time. The situation has not changed yet, but in some places it is improving a lot. Because of education women started understanding about themselves. If we look back, "Wide Sargasso Sea" is the best example to study feminism and the situation of female characters. How they were safereing and how they were treated. 

When I read Jane Eyre as a child, I thought why should [Bronte] think Creole woman are lunatics and all that? What a shame to make Rochester’s first wife, Bertha, the awful madwoman, and I immediately thought I’d write the story as it might have readily been. She seemed such a poor ghost. I thought I’d write her life. 

(Vreeland, 1979: 235) 

The study thoroughly analyzes how the female character in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea is given a voice in the novel during the post-colonial era and also how much of the voice she is able to use independently and powerfully. Although Wide Sargasso Sea is a re-writing of Jane Eyre, Rhys explores several issues which were left untouched by Bronte, such as patriarchal oppression and racial complexities leading to an individual’s loss of self and identity, as the circumstances demanded during that time. But what connects both the novels is the idea of the ‘other’. In Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Bertha Mason is a symbol of the racial other and as such she is isolated and rejected. The re-writing of Bertha Mason in the form of Antoinette is an attempt by Jean Rhys to give Bertha a voice and enable her to speak for the other side from the perspective of being caught between her English colonial identity and that of the Jamaican native as Gilman explains: 

“the anxiety present in the self-concerning its control over the world engenders a need for a clear and a hard line of difference between the self and the other.” 

(Gilman, 1985:27) 

She further explains, 

“the hard line is skin colour, but stereotypes, like commonplaces, carry entire realms of associations that form a subtext within the world of fiction.” 

(Gilman, 1985:27).

To analyze this one may argue that the other is a threat to what is considered as the original as the other has the potential of destroying the original. When a society is faced with this threat of the other, their strong mode of defense is attacking or alienating them from the society. In this case, Antoinette becomes a mode of alienation as she is unable to fit in the society and the society fears that being the other she has the potential of destroying the whole notion of identity that a society is based on.

The “Two Extremes”

Antoinette’s description of the two binary opposites sheds light on Antoinette’s dual thoughts and confusion. The narration of the atmosphere by Antoinette makes clear her struggles with being stuck between two things and not being able to belong to either. It felt as if the silent atmosphere is a reflection of Antoinette’s mind as she could perfectly read through the gaps and fill it with her own analysis.

The reader can also see Antoinette’s struggle to fill the gaps in the madness and silence of her mother in her childhood days. By showing Annette’s madness and coldness towards her daughter Antoinette, Rhys in a way tries to exemplify how the absence of a mother’s love and affection contributes greatly to Antoinette’s fractured identity and how she later inherits her mother’s madness in the novel. Antoinette craves her mother’s love and care, which she is deprived of, as her brother, Pierre, gets his share of the attention. 

“I hated this frown and once I touched her forehead trying to smooth it. But she pushed me away, roughly but calmly, coldly, without a word, as if she had decided once and for all that I was useless to her. She wanted me to sit with Pierre and walk where she pleased without being pestered, she wanted peace and quiet. I was old enough to look after myself. ‘Oh let me alone’ she would say, ‘let me alone,’ and after I knew that she talked to herself and I was a little afraid of her.” 

(Rhys, 1966:17)

Thus, it seems that Antoinette’s narration, her voice in the first part of the novel, is also full of silences, gaps and undisclosed emotions. 

The Struggle

Antoinette’s long-time struggle to find her own voice takes a turn after her marriage to Rochester as she begins to doubt her whole sense of individuality and existence. In the beginning of their marriage, Antoinette’s beauty attracted Rochester as he is seldom used to seeing such kind of beauty. While riding together he remarks: 

“Looking up smiling, she might have been any pretty English girl.” 

(Rhys, 1966:60)

This remark of Rochester shows how he perceives his wife, Antoinette, to be like any other perfect English girl, which is to be a girl with subtle and soft lady-like manners unlike the Creole personality that Antoinette engendered as she has a more direct and careless way of expressing herself. On the other hand, when insanity takes over Antoinette’s mind and she starts acting crazy, Rochester’s whole perception about her changes and instead of coming across as a beautiful swan, that same Antoinette comes across as a madwoman in Rochester’s eyes. When he sees her in that state for the first time he says - 

“Her hair hung uncombed and dull into her eyes which were inflamed and staring, her face was very flushed and looked swollen.” 

(Rhys, 1966:120). 

By describing Antoinette’s appearance in a negative way, Rochester in a way puts down Antoinette as a whole since his attraction to Antoinette is based on her appearance. Although, it is obvious from his words that Rochester feels a certain attraction towards this Creole girl because of her appearance, he disregards her emotions in his narration.

Use of Colours – Self Expression

Antoinette herself becomes aware of Rochester’s fascination with her physicality and for that reason Antoinette chooses to use it as a method of expressing herself and reaching out to Rochester. Colors’ play an important part to become a medium of expression for Antoinette and she is seen to be fascinated by the color Red. Red can be linked to female sensuality, passion, and emotion and it may showcase courage, danger and a sense of power within women. Antoinette has an obsession for the colour red as she thinks that it attracts the eyes of her husband Rochester, 

“I took the red dress down and put it against myself: ‘Does it make me look intemperate and unchaste?’ I said.” 

(Rhys, 1966:152)

But unlike her misconception the red dress has an adverse effect on Rochester’s mind as to him it makes her look like a desperate woman who is apprehensive of the dangerous warning that comes with red as it is a sign of rebellion. On the other hand, the colour white has a desirable effect in Rochester’s mind as it makes Antoinette look chaste and pure as white is thought to symbolize virginity and chastity. The colour white arouses desire in Rochester. However, Antoinette has a different personality than that of what Rochester wants her to be and so she sticks to the colour red, which she believes makes her presence felt in a stronger way, 

“Antoinette changes from the virginal bride wearing a white dress into the ‘rejected scarlet woman’ in a red dress.” 

(Olaussen, 1992,:67)

It can be said that colours work as metaphor for Antoinette’s identity and individuality and it also works as a form of expression for Antoinette as it exemplifies the fact that Antoinette is independent as a woman and chooses to express herself in the way that is comfortable for her and suits her. 

Individuality

Antoinette manages to express herself in parts despite Rochester’s constant attempts to not give her a space to voice her opinions. The essence of Antoinette’s personality comes to light when she ends up voicing her story to Rochester in order to defend her troubled childhood, which turns out to be a futile attempt. This clearly reflects Antoinette’s life-long struggle to find her individual place in a society. As Spivak explains, Antoinette 

“is caught between the English imperialist and the black native.” 

(Spivak, 1985:.243-261) 

Antoinette’s description of her childhood portrays Antoinette’s struggle to find a separate identity, being caught up between the English and the black communities. There is a pain in Antoinette’s voice as she describes her childhood when she was a shy, lonely girl, filled with the fear of rejection. 

Use of Sex

As verbal communication is decreasing between Antoinette and Rochester, sex becomes a form of communication and bonding between them - “men rob love with sex.” (Angier, 1990:543). As they lack mental connection, words fail and the only thing that attracts Rochester towards Antoinette is her physicality and physical communion plays an important part in his mind in this relationship. On the other hand, Antoinette’s way of communicating and feeling important and loved is through lovemaking. It feels as if, sex is the only form of love that exists with them. Rochester responds to her sexually like he never did before, as for some men, sex is the best form of communal bond between husband and wife. 

Antoinette starts to use her physical attributes to lure Rochester and fulfill her desire for affection. Antoinette’s cry for sex is her cry for attention. Sex becomes a mode of expression in Antoinette’s life. Even though it gives Rochester the idea that she is not a proper lady, lacking the ladylike qualities and being influenced by her West-Indian mad manners as he once commented how he felt sick and disgusted by Antoinette’s behavior. Silence becomes prominent in Antoinette’s life. As the power of her voice has no effect on Rochester, Antoinette uses the silent power of sex as a way of getting the love that she feels she deserves.

Madness

The feeling of an absence of her own identity, her own voice, drives Antoinette to desperation. As Antoinette begins to lose touch with reality, madness overpowers her mind and body. Madness begins to feel real for her because it makes her feel alive. The attention she receives from madness makes her feel like she still exists. Madness gives her the power to make her voice heard to people who will not listen otherwise; power that she has been craving for since childhood. Madness is not a symptom of her constant feeling of a lack of voice and need to be heard; madness is a cure. 

On the other thing the argument is that the madness which takes over Antoinette is significantly caused by her husband Rochester’s opinion regarding her from the beginning of the marriage as he always thinks of Antoinette as this mad, creole girl. Antoinette understands and realizes that her husband Rochester’s intention is to empower her, dominate and change her sense of identity and in order to stop that Antoinette has no other way other than retorting to madness and rejecting his wishes. 

Conclusion

To wind up we can say that, Antoinette’s life is defined by a constant struggle between voice and silence. It is a struggle to find her identity and to express it in the most effective way; in a way that can be heard by others. In Jane Eyre Bronte’s essence is just her mad silence. However, Antoinette’s essence can be defined by both voice and silence. Jean Rhys gives this Creole character a new twist by giving her character a constant attraction to the extreme sides of everything. Antoinette believes in extremes and there is nothing mediocre in the manner in which she thinks and perceives things and people and for that reason, when she wants to say something, she uses extreme forms of expression. Antoinette, the Creole lady in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, spent her entire life trying to be understood. The battles with her environment and her own demons leads to her constant shifting between different forms of expressions in order to make herself heard. And eventually, she succeeds.

As a Creole woman who is caught between the English imperialist and the black Jamaican, Antoinette becomes an outsider and a silent existence throughout her life. The control of English imperialist and tension of racial conflict cause the tragedy of her. As a weaker one in any interactions, she is never able to have a voice of her own. Though Rhys tries to give Antoinette a voice to tell her own story, the ending is the passive acceptance. Her voice is voiceless. The voiceless goes through her whole life from youth to marriage eventually to her madness and results in the tragedy of her life. 

References

Angier, Carole. Jean Rhys: Life and Work. London: André 

Deutsch Ltd, 1990:543. 

Azam, Nushrat. “‘Madwoman in the Post-Colonial Era’ A Study of the Female Voice in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, Oct. 2017. 

Gilman, Sander L. Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race, and Madness. New York: Cornell University Press, 1985:27. 

Lei, Guo. “Elements Lead to Identity Tragedy: The Voiceless of Antoinette in Wide Sargasso  Sea.” Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (SJHSS), vol. 3, no. 7, July 2018, http://scholarsmepub.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/SJHSS-37-811-814-c.pdf. 

Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. Harmondsworth: Penguin 

Books, 1966. 

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism.” “Race, Writing, and Difference” 12, no. 1 (1985): 243-61.

Vreeland, Elizabeth. “Jean Rhys: The Art of Fiction [Inter-view] LXIV.” Paris Review 21.76, 1979: 218-37.