Women’s Dilemma in Wide Sargasso Sea from the Perspective of Ecofeminism

马行天

云南大学外国语学院，云南昆明 650500

Abstract：Wide Sargasso Sea,the masterpiece of Jean Rhys,endows the mad woman in the attic in Jean Eyre with a voice,allowing her to tell the story set on the West Indian Islands.Based on the previous studies,this thesis will explore the dilemma which both women and nature suffered in the patriarchal society through analyzing the interconnection between the exploitation of nature and the oppression of women in the novel.

Key words：Wide Sargasso Sea;ecofeminism;women and nature;patriarchy

1 Introduction

Jean Rhys,one of the prominent female novelists in the 20thcentury,is hailed as“the best living English novelist” in the New York Times Book Review.Wide Sargasso Sea was inspired by Charlotte Bronte’s Jean Eyre,but it was by no means the simple imitation of Jean Eyre.Rhys retold the story from the White West Indians side.The novel begins with the unhappy childhood of Antoinette,and then moves her miserable marriage to her husband Rochester who only aims at grabbing her wealth.As a white Creole woman,Antoinette suffers oppression in the marriage and is finally declared as a mad woman intentionally by Rochester.The novel ends with Antoinette holding a candle and walking down from the upstairs prison.

2 Human Society’s and Men’s Domination over Women and Nature

Ecofeminists state the domination and oppression of women and nature are inextricably interwoven.Gender oppression and the patriarchal ideology generate the sexual metaphors of masculine domination of nature and women[1].

2.1 Oppression in Human Relations

Western hierarchical dualism①lays foundation for opposition between male and female that men are centered focused while women are neglected and excluded.Thus ecofeminists argues that there exist various forms of oppression in human relations.

2.1.1 Economic Domination

Antoinette suffers the economic oppression from her husband.According to the English Law at that time,once men are married,everything goes to his name and the wife has no right to property she owns before marriage.Therefore,Rochester’s original purpose of marrying with Antoinette is not true love but to“grab” all her wealth.After gaining control of Antoinette and her life,he starts to show his dissatisfaction with her way of handling money.Antoinette loses her right to control her money and completely dependents on her husband.Ecofeminists maintain that men deprive women’s economic dominance in the patriarchal society,where women’s main job is to marry and bear children.The domestic-oriented education limits women to a very small range of occupation which is not enough to be independent.Rochester’s economic dominance makes Antoinette trap in the tragic that ruins her life.

2.1.2 Identity-related Domination

Antoinette was renamed three times that makes her lose self-identity.At first,her name is Antoinette Cosway named after her biological father.When her mother remarries the Englishman,she has to be named after him as Antoinette Mason.After she marries Rochester,she follows Rochester’s last name.When they broke up,he renames her as“Bertha”,which is her mother’s name.Name is an important symbol to form self-identity through words of others.According to rename Antoinette,Rochester not only force her to remember her mother’s madness,but also deprives her identity and controls her further.

2.2 Men’s Oppression over Nature

Throughout the western patriarchal history,nature has been treated as an alienated force and been put in an exploited position in human history.Since the overseas expeditions,Enlightenment and colonization developed and dominated mostly by white men in the Western world.

2.2.1 European Domination over the Caribbean Nature

European dominated the Caribbean nature through exploring the land of Coulibri Estate.The novel begins when slavery has arrived at an end in the West Indian Island.The white European men believe that the Caribbean nature is a kind of material which is subject to their control and exploitation.This belief was from Christian Bible whose founding myth is that of Eden—the first home of mankind built by God,where the climate is always mild and the trees bear fruit continuously.With the geographical discoveries in the fifteenth century,the European settlers have used the land cruelly and violently forced into it alien plants and crops,as well as unwise,farming practice They regards the Caribbean nature as the instrument of production which can be consumed without limit in order to make money.

2.2.2 Male Characters’ Oppression over Nature

Male characters Mr.Mason and Rochester show their oppression over nature in the novel.Annette raises a parrot called Coco as pet in Coulibri.Seemingly striving for its self-consciousness,Coco keeps fluttering around and asking itself all the time.“Qui est la? Qui est la?” and answers itself“Che Coco,Che Coco”.Mrs.Mason clips his wings without giving a reason.From that time,Coco grows very bad tempered though he would sit quietly on Annette’s shoulder.The barbaric behavior Mr.Mason did can be interpreted as the castration of the bird,to make it more docile and more controllable.When the house is on fire,Coco tries his best to fly away but his clipped wings stop him.He ends up with dying helplessly on fire.Moreover,there are several details about destroying flowers which reveal Rochester’s oppression over nature.Throughout the western patriarchal society,nature has been treated as an alienated force.Men regard nature as an object which can be exploited even be destroyed relentlessly in order to show their absolute authority over all things.

3 Woman and Nature as Counter-power in the Patriarchal Society

In the patriarchal society,men regard women and nature as the inferiors that must be supervised by men.However,women and nature are not totally servile and completely submissive to men’s domination and oppression.They work respectively as a strong counter-power and collectively into a mighty force against the domination in their own ways.

3.1 Women’s Defiance vs.Men’s Oppression

Women’s defiance is clearly manifested in her struggle to get their own right back from men.Christophine,a black servant,is characteristics of wisdom,courage and independence.She resists against men’s oppression through her keen insight and her use of black magic.She exposes Rochester’s hypocrisy in the confrontation.“Everyone know that you marry her for her money and you take it all.And then you want to break her up,because you jealous her[2]120.” When Rocheter uses the imperial law and policemen to threaten her,she states her right of freedom as an independent woman.Except for discourse power,Antoinette fights for her own rights physically.When her brother Richard comes to see her and says“I cannot interfere legally between yourself and your husband[2]147.” She is irritated and flies at him,twists the knife out of her hand,bites him when she heard“legally”.At that moment,she totally recognizes that her stepfather and her brother arrange the marriage and ignore her sufferings deliberately by utilizing the English law which empowers these men to take the property away from her and put her in a desperate situation.She wants to seize every opportunity to take revenge on three men.

3.2 Nature’s Defiance vs.Men’s Domination

In Wide Sargasso Sea,nature has obviously been treated as an object which is exploited even is destroyed relentlessly by men,however,she also exists as a counter-power against the process of so-called civilization and men’s domination in her own way.

The physical influence of the Caribbean landscape on Rochester manifests nature’s defiance vividly.As he describes his recent situation in a letter to his father：“I was down with fever for two weeks after I got to Spanish Town.Nothing serious but I felt wretched enough[2]45.” Upon his arrival,the climate and the new environment which completely different from England’s tortures him,and such discomfort seems to last through his stay in Granbois.He said,“I wanted to say something reassuring but the scent of the river flowers was overpoweringly strong.I felt giddy[2]49.” Here,nature seems to be personified as a person who uses magic power to influence his physical health so that his body fails to adapt Caribbean nature.

Moreover,Nature’s threatening power affects Rochester psychologically.It gives him a sense of pressure and hostility of the Caribbean nature from his arrival on the island.He describes his first impression of hills in Granbois,“Not only wild but menacing.Those hills would close in on you[2]41.” He also experiences fear and threat from nature when he walks into the forest himself.Natural surroundings produce a threat which makes Rochester suffers mental stress consistently and even makes him generate illusion—he says he saw a road but there is no road in the forest.Thus,nature is endowed by Rhys with an threatening power and a sense of pressure against men’s domination.

3.3 Oneness vs.Dualism

In patriarchal society,men have a sense of dualism which creates imbalanced power relationships by dominating another side.This implies that men have innate power over both women and nature who have the same destiny—obeying men’s decision till death.Previous parts demonstrate men’s confrontational attitudes toward women and nature.Regardless of the oppression from the patriarchal system,both nature and women are pursuing an idea of oneness and expecting a harmonious world.Differently from men,women show their appreciation of nature and strong affection towards nature,which demonstrates their sense of oneness②.At the beginning of this novel,Antoinette gives vivid description of the garden：“Our garden was large and beautiful as that garden in the Bible—the tree of life grew there[2]10-11.” She loves the garden even compares it to the Eden in Bible which is amazing and mysterious like a paradise.When she has a wound,she throws herself into the arms of nature which can comfort her.Karla Armbruster,an ecofeminist,once argues that differences between humans and the rest of the nature as well as the differences among humans need not be the roots of the conflict;instead,they can be the potential source of the new and more sustainable relationships both within human culture and between culture and nonhuman nature[3].In this sense,ecofeminism opposes dualism which gives rise to a logic of domination.Instead,it supports the idea of oneness and aims at the achievement of creating a harmonious relationship among men,women and nature.

4 Conclusion

Both women and nature are situated in an inferior place,as women are regarded as accessories to men and nature is regarded as a tool to gain the wealth.Men’s oppression over women is reflected on controlling women’s economy and identity,while human society’s domination over nature is manifested on European domination over the Caribbean nature and male characters’ oppression over nature.Ecofeminist states that the oppression of women and the domination of nature are interconnected,since both women and nature have similar social status—“a piece of property” in the patriarchal society.However,women and nature are not totally servile and completely submissive to men’s domination and oppression.They work respectively as a strong counter-power and collectively into a mighty force against the domination in their own ways.In this sense,they comfort and rely on each other.

Notes

①Dualism is defined to be specific expressive forms of domination and oppression actualized by patriarchy.It creates imbalanced power relationships by artificially dividing entities in half,according one side of one side of the equation greater worth over the other.As a sequence,man and nature are separated and men and women are not seen in the same hierarchy.

②an idea of pursuing a harmonious world.