Female Psychic Disintegration in Female Psychic Disintegration in the Post-colonial context of Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea(1966)the Post-colonial context of Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea(1966)

Abstract

Antoinette, the unfortunate heroin of Jean Rhys’s the most prominent and generally acclaimed novel is considered as twice “Other’ed” because of both her gender and ethnicity (as a Creole). The problematic nature of her identity as having both European and Caribbean ancestors intensifies her loneliness and inability to find peace within neither of these cultures, feeling alienated and homeless, in other wordsto use Homi K. Bhabha’s word “hybridity”. Meanwhile Antoinette is mistreated and oppressed by her husband, representative of English imperialism and patriarchy. He controls and subjugates his wife as slave owners did with their slaves. Considering the importance of name in connection to identity, renaming Antoinette by her husband is a form of manipulation and oppression which further distances her from her roots. Financial issues are also very important in oppressing Antoinette. Depriving the rich heiress of all her property according to English law means more dependence and oppression. In the quest for her identity, Antoinette is barred both by the postcolonial and patriarchal factors. That’s why she assumes schizophrenic identity and lives her mother’s life by succumbing to madness.