Comment on the ways in which Rhys portrays the differences between Rochester and Antoinette's cultural backgrounds in this section.

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Comment on the ways in which Rhys portrays the differences between Rochester and Antoinette’s cultural backgrounds in this section.

In the passage, Rhys chooses to narrate the story in another point of view, allowing the reader to see the main cultural differences between the two main protagonists. Rochester is portrayed as the Englishmen who try to oppress Antoinette by bringing his English culture since he is oppressed by his lack of understanding and knowledge about the place he is in. Antoinette is portrayed as someone who is in full control but slowly looses her sense of identity due to Rochester’s Anglicisation by calling her ‘Bertha’. At this stage of Wide Sargasso Sea, Rochester’s agony of being in a foreign place is presented and that he can not seem to find any comfort, elevating the mood for complexity of the two characters’ relationship.

Rhys uses the cultural difference to explore about power and how this affects each character’s dominance over the other. Rochester’s unfamiliarity with the culture leads to Antoinette’s dominance over him. When she uses imperative ‘Taste’, there is a sense of power and determinism. This creates an effect of Rochester’s weakness which is shown when he says, ‘to please her I drank’. It shows his inferiority to the lack of knowledge about the place and the culture.  Not only does Antoinette dominate Rochester, but even the place itself is dominating him. When he says ‘And yet…’, his thought is lost when the nature interrupts him, ‘A bird whistled’. This displays his incompetence of being in control of himself and that the nature is more powerful than Rochester is. This signifies that Rochester is a subsidiary of all things.  

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When Rochester says ‘I have not bought her, she has bought me’, there is a sense of ownership between the characters’ relationship. Due to Rochester’s ignorance towards the culture, he feels Antoinette has bought him as if he was an object. The repetition of ‘bought’ implies of their marriage being a bargain, indicating Rochester’s fixed mind to English culture. This idea is further explored when Rochester says ‘I have sold my soul or you have sold it, and after all is it such a bad bargain?’ the idea of ownership is explored through the metaphorical use of money and ...

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