Early on in part 2 of Wide Sargasso Sea (p. 64 in the edition I have), Rochester hears a "mountain bird" whistling and asks Antoinette what kind it is. Antoinette gives no answer, and "whistling bird that lives in the mountains in the Caribbean" is not enough information to make a sure identification. On page 152, we finally learn that this bird is a solitaire (a type of thrush). This is enough for us to presume that Rochester is talking about a Rufous-throated Solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis), which is native to the Caribbean and is referred to as the Siffleur Montagne (Mountain Whistler) by the locals. For those of you who want to get a better sense of what noise Rochester is describing in these passages, I found a video on IBC with one of these birds singing:
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/video/rufous-throated-solitaire-myadestes-genibarbis/individual-singing-dawn-0
Brought to you by your local ornithological fanatic.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
Passing the antagonist buck
In class we discussed how Rochester told his story to make himself more sympathetic… but no matter what he does I can't feel sympathetic to him (see previous post). Instead, his only way of potentially making me think for a moment that he is the protagonist of the story is by making the rest of the characters even less sympathetic, a method that might be called "assholier than thou."
To start off with, Rochester is paranoid. He thinks everyone else is in on some joke or big secret or he's the victim of a massive conspiracy. He gives us plenty of details to support this: Daniel Cosway's letter and conversation, everyone laughing weirdly, and his wife trying to poison him. Plus, there's the obeah woman on the side and he's been reading too many books about zombies.
This shouldn't make us sympathetic to him, though. Lots of antagonists are victims to torment and torture before they die. Just take a look at Disney villains. Scar could easily make it seem like that little brat Simba was conniving with two natives and a bunch of his closest advisors to overthrow him. Frollo could tell his story in such a way that Esmerelda is actually some sort of demon temptress trying to lead him to hell with the help of her gruesome sidekick and traitorous love interest. Even Maleficent is wronged: everyone else ostracized her and didn't invite her to the party!
What Rochester does to try and elicit our sympathy is to portray the Caribbean as a wild, uncivilized place full of wild, uncivilized people. But most of all, he extends this prescribed barbarianism to his wife. From Rochester's perspective, Antoinette is always acting weird. She throws rocks, kisses subhumans, speaks patois, and goes by the diminutive of her mother's name. When there is dialogue, her sentences seem choppy, almost pidgin, because pieces of the conversation are omitted or narrated. The only positive description of Antoinette we get from Rochester is that she is beautiful and he lusts after her… which seems to be the one type of involvement he's willing to have with the Caribbean and its people (Amelie).
So he's a jerk. But he's managing to prevent me from developing sympathy towards the other characters, a real feat for a narrator who I automatically distrust.
To start off with, Rochester is paranoid. He thinks everyone else is in on some joke or big secret or he's the victim of a massive conspiracy. He gives us plenty of details to support this: Daniel Cosway's letter and conversation, everyone laughing weirdly, and his wife trying to poison him. Plus, there's the obeah woman on the side and he's been reading too many books about zombies.
This shouldn't make us sympathetic to him, though. Lots of antagonists are victims to torment and torture before they die. Just take a look at Disney villains. Scar could easily make it seem like that little brat Simba was conniving with two natives and a bunch of his closest advisors to overthrow him. Frollo could tell his story in such a way that Esmerelda is actually some sort of demon temptress trying to lead him to hell with the help of her gruesome sidekick and traitorous love interest. Even Maleficent is wronged: everyone else ostracized her and didn't invite her to the party!
What Rochester does to try and elicit our sympathy is to portray the Caribbean as a wild, uncivilized place full of wild, uncivilized people. But most of all, he extends this prescribed barbarianism to his wife. From Rochester's perspective, Antoinette is always acting weird. She throws rocks, kisses subhumans, speaks patois, and goes by the diminutive of her mother's name. When there is dialogue, her sentences seem choppy, almost pidgin, because pieces of the conversation are omitted or narrated. The only positive description of Antoinette we get from Rochester is that she is beautiful and he lusts after her… which seems to be the one type of involvement he's willing to have with the Caribbean and its people (Amelie).
So he's a jerk. But he's managing to prevent me from developing sympathy towards the other characters, a real feat for a narrator who I automatically distrust.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Hating Hating the Narrator
In an earlier post, I wrote about whether or not a character had to be likable, and came to the conclusion that a jerk could still be a good narrator if they were understandable.
Well, maybe I was wrong, because I can't stand Rochester.
Having not read Jane Eyre, my only previous exposure to the character is from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, in which he's portrayed (perhaps satirically) the way a Bronte fangirl would see him: hunky, heroic, brooding, etc, battling evil alongside the protagonist even as his house burns to the ground. I was expecting him to be a pretty cool guy, though perhaps not completely understanding of the culture of the Caribbean.
Instead of being a funny action-rom-com leading man, Rochester comes across as (to quote Peter Walsh) an intolerable ass. He's in the Caribbean for no apparent reason other than to complain about the food, the people, the language, the names of towns, the colors of the landscape, and his wife's eyes. His disdain for (or at least discomfort with) the natural landscape might be what puts me off the most. If he was paying more attention to the hummingbirds and quail-doves than to his wife, I'd find it perfectly understandable, but he just constantly mentions how everything is wild and uncivilized without showing genuine interest in the wildness.
It's true that I can understand why Rochester acts this way: he's been raised in poo-poo-proper English society and has convinced himself that England has the most beautiful weather in the world, English people are the most civilized in the world, and English cooking is the most refined and properly flavored in the world. Unfortunately, this delusion doesn't do anything interesting to the story. It's not unusual enough to add an interesting twist to the story like Jake's attempts at full internalization of emotion did. He's just one of those guys who goes on YouTube and dislikes every video that doesn't show cats.
I wasn't such a big fan of Antoinette's choppy narration with all of the quotes 'like this' instead of using normal quotation marks, but Rochester makes me wish she had continued to tell the story.
End rant.
Well, maybe I was wrong, because I can't stand Rochester.
Having not read Jane Eyre, my only previous exposure to the character is from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, in which he's portrayed (perhaps satirically) the way a Bronte fangirl would see him: hunky, heroic, brooding, etc, battling evil alongside the protagonist even as his house burns to the ground. I was expecting him to be a pretty cool guy, though perhaps not completely understanding of the culture of the Caribbean.
Instead of being a funny action-rom-com leading man, Rochester comes across as (to quote Peter Walsh) an intolerable ass. He's in the Caribbean for no apparent reason other than to complain about the food, the people, the language, the names of towns, the colors of the landscape, and his wife's eyes. His disdain for (or at least discomfort with) the natural landscape might be what puts me off the most. If he was paying more attention to the hummingbirds and quail-doves than to his wife, I'd find it perfectly understandable, but he just constantly mentions how everything is wild and uncivilized without showing genuine interest in the wildness.
It's true that I can understand why Rochester acts this way: he's been raised in poo-poo-proper English society and has convinced himself that England has the most beautiful weather in the world, English people are the most civilized in the world, and English cooking is the most refined and properly flavored in the world. Unfortunately, this delusion doesn't do anything interesting to the story. It's not unusual enough to add an interesting twist to the story like Jake's attempts at full internalization of emotion did. He's just one of those guys who goes on YouTube and dislikes every video that doesn't show cats.
I wasn't such a big fan of Antoinette's choppy narration with all of the quotes 'like this' instead of using normal quotation marks, but Rochester makes me wish she had continued to tell the story.
End rant.
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