Part Two of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is narrated primarily from the prospective of Antoinette's unnamed husband. The newly married couple is honeymooning in Dominica and the hills and landscape are described in various scenes as Rhys' pays homage to her father's estates near Roseau, Dominica. In this section we witness the transformation of Antoinette and learn how she becomes known as Bertha as in Jane Eyre by Brontë. The couple seems to start to enjoy happiness. Beginning as Antoinette is back to a place sacred to her heart that brings her joy. Her husband is beginning to be taken in by the romance of the scenery and allows himself to start enjoying his wife. The nagging problem is he was bought with her inheritance, himself being a second son his family wealth would go to the first son, he saw the match as a step-up for him without knowing anything about Antoinette. Antoinette has a jaded outlook on her future based on her past and the troubles that broke up her family in childhood. | 'We are leaving Jamaica tonight,' and she answered after a pause, 'Of course, Antoinette does not like Spanish Town. Nor did her mother.' Peering at me. (Do their eyes get smaller as they grow older? Smaller, beadier, more inquisitive?) After that I thought I saw the same expression on all their faces. Curiosity? Pity? Ridicule? But why should they pity me. I who have done so well for myself? 'There was a full moon that night─and I watched it for a long time. There were no clouds chasing it, so it seemed to be standing still and it shone on me. Next morning Christophine was angry. She said that it was very bad to sleep in the moonlight when the moon is full.'² ² Refers to the belief that looking at the full moon for extended periods of sleeping under the full moon will cause madness. The term "lunacy" originally described a kind of insanity interrupted by lucid intervals that was supposedly influenced by changes in the moon. |
The Norton Critical Edition has been very insightful for the footnotes given.
Previous Update 1 on Part One.
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-24 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: General, Updates, Dearly Departed
Previous Update 1 on Part One.
[Notice: Original posting 2014-01-24 at Plethora of Books Blog: http://bookchallenges.weebly.com]
Tags: General, Updates, Dearly Departed