Alright, as promised, here's another Literature post :D
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Question:
After reading Part I of Wide Sargasso Sea, explore the ways in which Jean Rhys uses nature to create tone and mood in the novel.
Answer:
In the literary world, many things can be used to express the tone and mood in a novel. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the authoress, who in this case is Jean Rhys, used nature as her secret weapon.
One way in which Jean Rhys uses nature to create tone and mood is when she is describing her garden. She writes: ‘Our garden was large and beautiful in the Bible – the tree of life grew there. But it had gone wild.’ It is strongly indicated that the garden represents the world and the tree of life represents the people residing in the world. When Jean Rhys says ‘it has gone wild’, it means that the people have been tainted and that they are not as beautiful and pure as they used to be. The positive part of the sentence gives hope to the reader with its gentle tone and softens the mood. The latter part, on the other hand, provides a more melancholic mood to the readers because of the tone of sadness in which it was written.
Another method that the writer used was the infliction of pain Antoinette felt from nature itself. For example, Jean Rhys writes: ‘And if the razor grass cut my legs and arms I would think, “It’s better than people.”’ This pain that Antoinette felt was inflicted by a part of nature but she did not mind. In fact, she would rather be cut by razor grass than be faced with people. This tone is tragic and instills a sense of pity towards Antoinette in readers. Some would empathise while others might sympathise.
Jean Rhys also created contrast with the help of nature. This is clear when Antoinette, Annette and Mr Mason returned to the Coulibri Estate after Annette and Mr Mason’s honeymoon in Trinidad. The writer writes: ‘Coulibri looked the same when I saw it again, although it was clean and tidy, no grass between the flagstones, no leaks’. This contrasted the way she described her surroundings in the beginning. The tone of the sentence throughout was hopeful and fresh. In turn, the mood created was light and more cheerful than usual. Readers will gain more interest this way because even Antoinette says: ‘I was glad’.
Jean Rhys also used nature to create tone and mood by using the element of fire. Fire is wild and volatile. It is often associated with pain and suffering. This is why Jean Rhys used a burning event to completely turn Antoinette’s life upside down. Her house burnt with the yellow-red sky ‘like sunset’ and she knew that all that would be left would just be ‘blackened walls and the mounting stone’ instead of ‘golden ferns and the silver ferns, the orchids, the ginger lilies and the roses, the rocking-chairs and the blue sofa, the jasmine and the honeysuckle, and the picture of Miller’s Daughter’. Due to this disaster – not forgetting the fact that Tia showed a form of betrayal by throwing a rock at Antoinette as she raced towards her – the tone created was one of despair, leaving readers in a sorrowful mood.
Additionally, Jean Rhys used nature in the form of imageries to establish tone and mood in Wide Sargasso Sea. One such form of imagery is a dream. Towards the end of Part 1 of Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette has a very cryptic dream where she is following the voice of a stranger into a forest. Antoinette narrates that she walks with difficulty, following the man who was with her and holding up the skirt of her dress. It was white and beautiful, which was why she did not want to get it ‘soiled’. That was her initial intention. However, after she reaches a forest where they are ‘tall dark trees and there is no wind’, she does not try to hold up her dress, which trails in the dirt, anymore. This imagery of ‘tall dark trees’ could signify that she is now within the company of more strangers and restraint than ever before. The imagery of ‘no wind’ represents the stillness and blandness of her newfound residence, which provided her address, but not the love that a child of her age was supposed to have. The tone at this point is one of mystery and creates a mood of suspense among readers who are desperate to know who the stranger could possibly be.
In truth, the creation of tone and mood in a novel is as essential as its storyline because if without, readers’ interests would sustain but a few pages. In order to prevent such a catastrophe, writers have to use different elements and methods in order to attract a reader’s attention and spur them to read on. As a result, where Part 1 of Wide Sargasso Sea is concerned, Jean Rhys has definitely succeeded.
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Alright, we haven't handed this in to our lecturer yet so I don't know how good/bad it is, but I was pretty happy with this :)
Well, get ready for the Law posts, then :)
CIAO!!
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