The Theme Of Madness In Jean Rhys's Fictions

This thesis is to explore the theme of madness in the two fictions: Wide Sargasso Sea and Sleep It Off, Lady. The argument is that the category of reason and madness is actually an imposed idea. The confinement or exile of madness results from a requirement of conformity. It is not necessarily a binary opposition of reason and illogicality, but rather, madness is an imaginative foe of reason, a product of miscommunication and bias against"otherness".There are three chapters to support the argument: chapter two reviews the evolution of the definition of"madness"from the earliest psychoanalysis to the latest theories by Foucault and Derrida. In the analysis of the texts by Rhys, a question is raised: who is normal and who is mad? Is it possible that all the literary figures in the story, and even the author herself, are mad from different perspectives? Chapter three explains the fact that the sense of"Otherness"underlies the formation of the concept of"madness". People within a group tend to regard behavior and values held by another group as"other", especially when these values and behaviors are diametrically different from theirs. They may incline to conquer the"other"culture either by abandoning it or by assimilating it into its own culture. In terms of sexuality and cultural practice Antoinette Cosway and Mr. Ramage are regarded as the"other"and therefore the"mad"by both the white English society and native blacks. Chapter four focuses on miscommunication between people through an analysis of dysfunctional dialogue and point of view of the two fictions.Post-colonial literature plays an increasingly important role in literary circles. It offers a new perspective to study modern English literature and the changing literary canon. However, it is not paid due attention to in Chinese Universities. I hope this thesis may help to enlarge our knowledge scope of English literature.