In class
yesterday, we had a panel discussion about Wide Sargasso Sea. At the end of the presentation, there was a mention of the possibility of the ending of WSS symbolizing Jane Eyre. I wanted to elaborate on some other symbolic
themes in the story and what they might mean.
First,
there is the garden. Antoinette both loves and fears this garden, and compares
it to the garden of Eden. I think this symbolizes her relationship with
those around her. Though there are some people Antoinette has liked (like Tia,
for example), and has tried to get close to, it has always ended badly. As a
result, Antoinette has never had a real friend and is very lonely throughout
her childhood. She can never get close enough to the people she likes, and they
somehow end up leaving her (the scene where Antoinette goes running to Tia and
Tia’s mother for safety after the fire, but Tia throws a rock at her).
There
is also Antoinette’s repeated dreams about the forest. Unlike the colorful,
lively brightness of Jamaica that Antoinette is so accustomed to, this
nightmare is of a dark and sinister place she is unfamiliar with. In the dream
she finds a closed off stone garden behind some tall trees. This unfamiliarity
with the place and environment around her is perhaps symbolic of her nearing, inevitable
captivity in England, a place she is initially unfamiliar with but will be
trapped in forever,
just like the nightmare.
Another
creepy thing is that the name of the place “Granbois”, translates literally
into “great forest”. Just like her dream, this name warns her of her future move
to the forests of England. It is at Granbois that her husband gets lost in the
woods and comes across the eerie, lonely ruins of a stone house. This encounter
is a sign of the consequences of his future actions (mistreating Antoinette and
holding her captive), which lead to the ultimate ruin of his own estate.
Lastly,
at the end of Part 1 of the story – when the Mason home is burned down – there is
mention of a parrot named Coco who belongs to Annette. Coco’s wings are
clipped, which symbolizes Antoinette’s own flightless dependency. Throughout the
novel she seems to have no freedom, constantly dependent on others. Antoinette
states; “[Coco] made an effort to fly down but his clipped wings failed him and
he fell screeching. He was all on fire.” This vivid imagery depicts Antoinette’s
own fiery fall from the attic at the end of the book.