The Tragedy Of The Other: An Interpretation Of Wide Sargasso Sea From The Perspective Of Post-colonialism

Jean Rhys’ last novel Wide Sargasso Sea is regarded as her best novel, which brings her great honor. The novel is set in Jamaica society in the 1830 s. It mainly narrates the female protagonist Antoinette’s tragic encounter under the persecution of racism and patriarchy as she is a mix blood woman and is both rejected by the black community and white community. Meanwhile the novel also depicts the white colonizers, represented by Mr. Mason and Rochester, making the colony and the people on the colony become the “other”, and attempting to plunder the colony, oppress and dominate the people on the colony.This thesis studies the theme of the tragedy of the “other” reflected in Wide Sargasso Sea from the perspective of post-colonialism, and makes an attempt to analyze the causes of the colonized people’s being the “other” and their process of becoming the “other”, as well as the tragic consequences of their “otherness”.This thesis is divided into seven parts. The first part introduces Jean Rhys’ literary achievements and her life experience. The second part reviews international and domestic researches about Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. The third part gives an overview about post-colonialism theory and its representative theorists. The forth part points out that under the white colonizers’ racism and “Orientalist Gaze” caused by Eurocentrism and Ethnocentrism, how the people on the colony become the “other” in colonial system. The fifth part analyzes how the women on the colony are marginalized under the oppression of patriarchy and colonialism. In addition, their acceptance of the patriarchal values makes them become the “other”. The sixth part explores that after the people on the colony become the “other”, their “otherness” brings them destructive consequences. They lose their voice, even though they ever try to make their own voice, their voice will be suppressed by the colonizers. As a result, they are forced to be the silent “other”. “Otherness” also makes them lose their subjectivity. Becoming the “other” of the colonizers leads to their loss of self-identity recognition; moreover, they approve the identity characteristics that the colonizers impose on them. Therefore, they abandon their authentic culture, fail to dominate their own destiny, totally lose themselves, even are deprived of their freedom, and come to a destructive ending. The conclusion indicates that the colonized people are the victims of colonial system, their tragic fate is inevitable due to their “other” identity.