In class we had a review of the characters in Wide Sargasso Sea to orient ourselves in the story. One of the characters we discussed was Annette, Antoinette's mother. In the story, Annette is thought of as "mad" or "crazy". She talks to herself, coldly brushes Antoinette off, and screams at Mr. Mason about how she is going to kill him. However, as we got to know Annette more, I wondered if she truly was crazy or if the people around her were just misinterpreting her actions. Closer to her death, I do believe that she may have started developing a mental disorder, but certainly before Coulibri was burned down I think an argument could be made about how she was not crazy, but simply suffering in multiple ways.
One of the ways that really stuck out to me in how she was struggling was as a mother. We are told a few times about Pierre, who probably has both mental and physical disabilities. With this hovering over Annette, it's no wonder that she is worried and stressed a lot of the time. Her pushing Antoinette away can be attributed to this. After all, Antoinette can mostly take care of herself, at least so it seems on the surface. It is only natural for Annette to worry and care more for Pierre than Antoinette in that sense. I don't think this was the best way for Annette to handle parenting her children, but I think it's a much more reasonable way to describe Annette than simply mad.
Another way that she is struggling is that she has been removed from society. We are told that before Mr. Mason arrived she was used to having guests, but around the time Antoinette was born or even before, she stopped having guests. She is described as talking to herself on the glacis, which could point to madness. However, I think it more likely points to loneliness. After all, she was used to having people around her to talk to, but with no one else, it's natural for her to want to speak aloud to herself. Hell, even I talk to myself outloud, and I do have social interactions.
Almost as a final tipping point for Annette was the burning of Coulibri. She loses her son in the fire, and the fire is directly Mr. Mason's fault. She threatens Mr. Mason, her husband, that she is going to kill him, and make him pay for what he has done. Of course this seems insane to outsiders, a kind of final puzzle piece to their suspicions of her madness. But this, out of all the symptoms of her so-called madness is the most understandable. She lost her baby, her son who she had tended to so much. She risked her own life without a second thought to try and bring him back from the fire. Of course she is going to be absolutely furious with whoever is to blame for his death, and as we discussed in class, Mr. Mason is that person. On this point, I think she is completely justified. No mother would be able to forgive the person who killed her child.
At the center of all of Annette's "madness" is everyone else's hatred of her. If she were surrounded by more supportive people, people who she could talk to and understood, she probably wouldn't be portrayed to the wider society as mad. She would probably be spoken of in a more sympathetic fashion, one that painted her in a more understanding way. She is a mother who is just trying to get by. But because of her social context, she is portrayed rather unfairly in my opinion as a madwoman.
I completely agree that Annette is wrongly perceived as a madwoman by society. Annette's behavior is completely justified after the burning of Coulibri and I think the local society just wants an excuse to alienate her further. However, I'm curious whether Mr.Mason further pushes the idea that Annette is mad when he sends her to live in a separate home where she is vulnerable to abuse. Madness is the result of actions of others and I feel it is a prescription given by society to blame the victim.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that Annette would be more psychologically stressed than insane. Even without people mocking her for being mad, there's also people mocking her and her entire family for what her husband did. Not only that, here entire livelihood is spiraling down into poverty, and she is the only one around to keep it afloat. Obviously she is going to be stressed. There might also be some desperation in there, with her trying to keep things around her relatively the same to how they were originally and utterly failing.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your argument here. I do think Annette is completely justified in her anger towards Mason for indirectly killing her child. I also do wonder, if she was more welcomed in the society around her, would she still have the reputation of the madwoman? I think perspective plays a big role in how we see certain characters, and Antoinette sees Anette as a neglectful mother while everyone else around her thinks she is mad. If we were to see Annette through the eyes of someone else, I definitely think that we as readers would have a different opinion of her.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. I think Rhys purposely portrays Annette and eventually Antoinette's fall into madness sympathetically, to kind of "correct" Bronte's depiction of Annette in "Jane Eyre". I wonder if we'll feel even more sympathetic toward Annette as we really see Antoinette go "crazy". Their downfalls seem somewhat similar, like that one scene where Rochester sees a crease between Antoinette's eyebrows and describes it the same way Antoinette described her mother's.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, and, in my opinion, Annette's actions and mindset are reasonable for her circumstances. Mr. Mason, in particular, was very controlling of her (think of when he is annoyed when she tries to save the parrot). She has also just lost Pierre, which is very difficult for her. I appreciate Rhys for giving us context with which to understand Annette's "madness," as opposed to Bronte's unforgiving portrayal of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre.
ReplyDeleteI can see how someone without Antoinette's narration could view Annette's actions as a result of her being crazy. She does indeed seem to 'snap' after the burning of their house in Coulibri, threatening to kill Richard Mason. However (as you have already stated), Annette is justified in this response as she just lost Pierre, her son. Antoinette's narration provides critical insight into the context behind Annette's response which would not have been known otherwise. Without it, we would be just as clueless as the spectators were around their house as to why she would threaten her own husband with his life and more than likely we would have a much more selfish/neglectful opinion of Annette as we do now. The incorporation of this element is instrumental in understanding the background behind Antoinette and how her reaction to this life-changing event affects her future actions.
ReplyDeleteSomething that kept coming to mind as we read about and discussed Annette and her sanity was the relation to The Yellow Wallpaper. It really reminded me of the conversations that we had about that and how doctors didn't really understand mental health and particularly about women's health. I think that isolation definitely played a role in her deteriorating mental state. However, I would also say that continuing with this connection, the loss of Pierre could definitely trigger this type of emotional distress in Annette. I think that it was definitely not her fault that she went "mad" and that it was most likely a result of the circumstances and lack of proper help provided for her.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point on how Annette is unfairly portrayed as crazy. I especially think that your point about her "craziness" coming from her loneliness is an important aspect of the novel (for both Annette and Antoinette) that is heavily understated. Rhys makes is pretty distinct how Antoinette's craziness is due to her being locked up in the attic by Rochester but Rhys makes it more ambiguous of why Annette went crazy. Because of the way it is written, we immediately connect the burning of Coulibri to Annette's decaying mental health, forgetting about all the other very plausible and realistic reasons for her "insanity".
ReplyDeleteI agree, Annette is very misunderstood. I think Mr. Mason played a role as someone Annette could blame for Pierre's death adn this played a role in her mental state. Antoinette's father died and Annette was left with a filing estate all this put a lot of pressure and with Pierre's death she couldn't handle it.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that Antoinette is misunderstood and unfairly depicted throughout the novel. Her "insanity" is valid. It's a terrible and stressful situation for anyone to lose a loved one, especially for a mother to lose her child. I think the way she is depicted in this novel could even be Jean Rhys' commentary on colonialism and the thought process of white, landowning Englishmen. Much how colonial leaders were afraid of and hostile towards anything they don't understand, some of the characters in this book are threatening towards Antoinette.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "Hell, even I talk to myself outloud, and I do have social interactions" was the best sentence I've read in a long time.
I completely agree with you in that Annette's portrayal as a madwoman is unfair. I think her "moment of madness" where she attacked her husband characterized and confirmed her insanity for Mr. Mason, but it is really just a response that any mother might have to the man who she considers killed her son. Annette's "craziness" during her time as a single widow was also a reasonable reaction one might have after years of complete social isolation. The only people who she she can talk to are her children and the blacks, both of whom she considers inferior. As Phillip K. Dick says, “it is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.”
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! the time that Annette lived in doesn't have our knowledge about disabilities and often times, even today with our better knowledge, their parents tend to blame themselves. This could be why she favors Pierre and could also greatly contribute to her negative thoughts and eventual "going Mad"
ReplyDeleteThe natives attitude towards Annette and their labeling of her as a mad woman (even if she is just a little abnormal) could just be a way to further distance themselves and their society from her. Especially once she is married to the wealthy Mr. Mason, the natives naturally become jealous and speak ill of Annette behind her back.
ReplyDeleteI think you might definitely be right here. Later in the book, we even see Christophine back up the idea that Antoinette was never mad, or never as mad, as people thought. She says something along the lines of "People thought she was mad. People treated her as mad", which pretty heavily implies that Christophine disagrees with that assessment.
ReplyDeleteI like many other believe that the portrayal of Annette was unfair. Saying that she was mad and not right in the head wasn't fair. Yes she lashed out at her husband but that was only because his direct actions caused the death of her son, not because she was crazy. I enjoyed reading this.
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