Throughout Wide Sargasso Sea we see a strained and complicated relationship between Antoinette and her mother Annette. From the beginning of the book, we see Anette pushing away Antoinette. She does not want anything to do with Antoinette, and if this is because she does not want to hurt Antoinette or does not Antoinette to bother and hurt her is not entirely clear. Personally, I think that her motives are a combination of these two ideas. I think that Annette sees herself in Antoinette and does not like this. She does not want to make her daughter like herself because she hates herself and the life that she lives so she keeps herself away from her daughter as to not “rub off” on her. But, I also think that this is not entirely self-sacrificing. I think that it upsets her to see Antoinette because she does not like herself so anything she sees of herself in Antoinette she hates, therefore making it difficult for Annette to be around her daughter so she gives up at having a relationship with her daughter and leaves her to fend for herself.
Throughout the whole of the novel we see people saying Antoinette is just like her mother and will become just like her mother, and we do in fact see this happening. We see Antoinette start to struggle with mental illness just like her mother before her. We see Antoinette with a husband that she does not love, or even really like, and who cheats on her. We see Antoinette with the same feelings of not belonging or fitting in socially, all of which we saw with her mother.
But, how much of this is caused by her being her mother’s daughter and how much is just the circumstances they are both put in?? It is easy to argue that Antoinette might have had legitimate hereditary reasoning for her mental health deteriorating like we see in the novel. With modern studies of mental health, we do see that mental illness is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Therefore, we can see how it is possible for Antionette to have inherited the same mental illness as her mother, but I think another argument is that Annette and Antoinette have had similar struggles in their lives that could have caused mental illness. They both have a lack of sense of belonging in their environment and husbands who do not help this. As well, for her entire life Antoinette was told that she was like her mother, and no matter if this is true or not telling someone that they are crazy over and over will eventually make them start to feel crazy.
What do you think? How much is Antoinette like her mother? Are there other ways that I missed? Or, do you think that they are very different?
I think Antoinette is very similar to Annette, in how they both face similar circumstances that they struggle to come to terms with. Both feel like outsiders and that they don't really fit, and have issues with their husbands and sense of belonging. And like you said, Antoinette was told she was like her mother her entire life. That's bound to leave an effect on someone, even if they don't consciously realize it. Feeling crazy, as a culmination of all these factors, seems pretty believable (though in my opinion, Antoinette doesn't *really* go mad until she's shipped off to England and confined to that third floor attic). One key difference between the two, however, is how their lives end. Annette is abused and raped by her caretakers, and from what we know, dies in that sort of suffering and captivity. Antoinette, on the other hand, has some sort of redemption--she attacks the man who arranged her marriage and burns down her husband's estate (which also leads to his loss of eyesight). In that way, she sort of dies free.
ReplyDeleteAs for their similar madness, I don't think its possible to fully determine if Antoinette's mother's madness was the cause of her own. However, because she became insane in the attic, isolation being the cause of her madness makes the most sense.
ReplyDeleteI think the argument that their madness was the primary reason for their similarities is the most compelling, just because of just how similar their situations were. Also, the two don't really share any significant personality traits.
I think Annette may have neglected Antoinette less because she actively wanted to avoid Antoinette and more because she just wasn’t concerned with Antoinette enough to bother. I do think the idea that Annette saw herself in Antoinette really compelling but Annette was also just dealing with a lot of stuff. She had to take care of her sick son who she saw as a higher priority, figure out how to pay for everything her family needed, and deal with her own mental issues. I think Anntoinette just fell by the wayside.
ReplyDeleteI mainly think that it was the environmental factor that caused Antoinette to end up like her mother. Although there could've been some sort of genetics involved I think that it can mostly be blamed on the environmental conditions because if one were to ask, what if those environmental stress factors did not occur? I think that Antoinette would've led a pretty normal life compared to how she ends up.
ReplyDeleteI think that Antoinette eventually goes crazy primarily because of the events of her life, not her genetics. Annette is proof that the dynamics of Caribbean life for a woman can be really harsh and it's possible to go crazy from that. Add that to the fact that everyone treats Antoinette like she's crazy and I think it's not surprising that she did in fact start to lose her mind (if she even did?? part of me feels like Rochester's the crazy one) by the end of the book.
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