Wide Sargasso Sea - Crossref
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Investigate! Wide Sargasso Sea: Part Two – Rochester’s Narrative refers to links on www.crossref-it.info • Texts in detail > Wide See Sargasso Sea > Synopses for an identification of section divisions. Part Two – Rochester’s Narrative Investigate! Wide Sargasso Sea: Part two, Section 1 ¾ Make notes on Rochester’s attitudes in this section to: • Antoinette • The place and its people ¾ Make a list of words / phrases which suggest the marriage has not started well. © 2011 crossref-it.info Part two, Section 5 ¾ Examine the contradictions in Rochester’s response to the place and its people • Make two lists: What he likes and responds to What he dislikes or is fearful of ¾ In this and the next section there are several images of transience, of things not lasting • Make a note of them as you read. Part two, Section 3 ¾ This section is a flashback to the wedding itself • Why do you think Jean Rhys has chosen to narrate this event after the honeymoon? ¾ Thinking back over the first three sections of part two: • Why do you think Rochester married Antoinette? Part two, Section 4 ¾ Make notes on phrases and incidents in this section which hint at trouble to come in this relationship ¾ What is the point of Antoinette’s dream about the rats? • Compare this dream with the others in Part one Is there a pattern to them? Part two, Section 2 ¾ How does Rochester react to the tropical landscape? ¾ Alone in his room he rereads a letter he has written to his father • Compare the account he gives his father with his narrative in the first two sections of part two Make notes on the differences. Why did she marry him? Part two, Section 6 ¾ Read carefully through this section • Make a note of the different references to things hidden and secrets. Page 1 of 3 Investigate! Wide Sargasso Sea: Part Two – Rochester’s Narrative refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Part Two – Rochester’s Narrative Investigate! Wide Sargasso Sea: ¾ Make a list of words and phrases in this section which refer to: • Hurt, threat, violence • Endings and death • Isolation ¾ How do these ideas relate to • The relationship between Antoinette and Rochester? • The way it develops in this section? How would you describe his state of mind? • In what sense might he too be a ‘zombie’? ¾ Why do you think • Baptiste denies the existence of the road? • The little girl screams? Part two, Section 7 • ¾ The narration shifts to Antoinette at this point in part two • Why do you think Jean Rhys decided to do this? ¾ There is a puzzling time shift in the narration when Antoinette says that she was thinking of selling another ring on the previous day. This suggests that her narrative perspective is from Thornfield Hall, after her arrival in England • Why do you think Jean Rhys did this? • What is the effect? ¾ Antoinette goes to Christophine for help and advice • Why does she not take that advice? Part two, Section 8 ¾ Daniel Cosway’s letter offers another point of view on Antoinette and her family • Make notes on what the letter says • Can we trust Cosway’s version more than Antoinette’s or Rochester’s? • What is Rochester’s immediate reaction to the letter? Part two, Section 9 ¾ What do you make of the reference to hiding feelings? ¾ Why does Rochester label people, situations and places that challenge him as being wrong or unreal? Part two, Section 10 ¾ Rochester gets lost in the forest • What does he find there? © 2011 crossref-it.info Part two, Section 11 Part two, Section 12 ¾ Amelie provides another perspective on Daniel Cosway and his version of events • What does she say? Page 2 of 3 Investigate! Wide Sargasso Sea: Part Two – Rochester’s Narrative refers to links on www.crossref-it.info • Part two, Section 16 ¾ Why is Antoinette so distressed? ¾ If you can, read Jane Eyre, ch. 25. How does this argument between Rochester and Antoinette prefigure what happens in Brontë’s story? ¾ In what ways has Jean Rhys represented Rochester’s interior confusions? © 2011 crossref-it.info Part two, Section 18 ¾ Re-read this short section • Could you describe Rochester as ‘mad’? • Can you see connections between his state of mind and the natural world? Part two, Section 15 ¾ List the ways in which Rochester behaves like one of the white plantation owners in this section? Part two, Section 17 ¾ Compare the letter Rochester composes in his head with the written letter on the page • How and why do they differ? ¾ What is the significance of Rochester’s drawing of a house? Part two, Section 14 ¾ Rochester listens to Antoinette’s explanations • Make notes on his varying reactions to what she says ¾ How does Rhys’ style convey the idea that Rochester is being drugged? Think about the bits of text in italics • Think about dislocations in time ¾ What is Christophine’s opinion of Rochester and his relationship with Antoinette? Part two, Section 13 ¾ What does Rochester learn during this visit that he doesn’t know already? ¾ How do we learn Daniel’s story? • A clue - look at the use of letters and extended dialogue. Part Two – Rochester’s Narrative Investigate! Wide Sargasso Sea: Part two, Section 19 ¾ Rochester’s state of mind is very distressed • Make notes on how this shown in the writing of this section ¾ What has Rochester lost? ¾ What does the incident with the nameless boy add to the narrative? Page 3 of 3
