Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Book Analysis)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Book Analysis)
Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide
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This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including sexuality, colonialism and marriage. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.
This clear and detailed 50-page reading guide is structured as follows:
- Biography of Jean Rhys
- Presentation of Wide Sargasso Sea
- Summary of Wide Sargasso Sea
- Character study
- Antoinette Cosway
- Antoinette’s husband (the unnamed Rochester figure)
- Christophine
- Annette
- Pierre
- Aunt Cora
- Richard Mason
- Tia
- Daniel Cosway
- Analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea
- Answering the marriage plot
- Power and belonging
- The difference between love and lust
- Plotting a tragedy
- What’s in a name?
- Everything on fire
About Wide Sargasso Sea
Wide Sargasso Sea is an early work of postcolonial fiction which tells the story of Antoinette Cosway, a young Creole woman growing up in the Caribbean. Antoinette’s family is rejected by both the white and black populations of the island they live on, as they do not entirely belong to either community, and she is eventually coerced into marrying a wealthy Englishman, who is never named – although it is clear from context that he is actually Mr Rochester from Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre. The remainder of the novel explores how the pressures of social rejection and marital unhappiness take their toll on Antoinette’s fragile mental state, driving her to become the famous “madwoman in the attic” in Brontë’s tale.
About Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys was born on the Caribbean island of Dominica in 1890, and spent most of her childhood there. She moved to England at the age of 16, and pursued a career as a chorus girl and dancer. After meeting the writer Ford Maddox Ford, Rhys began publishing some of her own work in the 1920s and 1930s; however, she initially garnered only moderate recognition for her work, and withdrew into obscurity until Wide Sargasso Sea was published in 1966. This novel rekindled interest in her work as a whole and is now generally considered her masterpiece. She died in 1979.
Product details
ISBN | 9782808012263 |
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Publisher | Plurilingua Publishing |
Collection | Brightsummaries.com |
Format | |
Pages | 50 |
File size | 2.1 MB |