Wide Sargasso Sea is riddled with Caribbean rhythms and speech patterns in the dialogue, as well as the French-patois phrases that show up. The first thing Christophine says is. "she pretty like pretty self" when discussing Antoinette's mother. This helps reinforce the Jamaican setting of the novel. Later, Antoinette says of Christophine, "she could speak good English if she wanted to, as well as French and patois, but she took care to talk as they talked." This seems to indicate that Christophine does not want to stand out from the crowd because of her Martinique heritage. She talks in the same dialect as the Jamaicans to try to avoid some of the rivalry between the English and French colonies.
The most vivid use of dialect, however, appears when we see the story through Rochester's eyes. The French-patois phrases uttered by Christophine appear much more frequently. This could be because of Rochester's insecurities, and his feeling of not fitting in. With Rhys having put them in, the reader, as well as Rochester, can only guess as to the meaning of the words. During this section, Rochester notices that Antoinette can speak patois, and does many times with Christophine. This relates to the strong connection between the two women, and adds to Rochester's alienation.
The last use of dialect relates to the practice of obeah in the novel. Christophine's dialect is filled with it, especially when she says not to mess with it and béké. This, as well as the lack of understanding of obeah among the readers (to which I subscribe), adds to the mystery of the novel.
In Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys uses dialect to highlight connection between characters, alienation, and the mystery of the landscape in the novel.
There is a kind of exclusionary quality to Christophine's dialect--at least, Rochester experiences it this way, once more thing about this place that isn't quite right, that alienates him and makes him feel stupid and lost. But Antoinette (and Rhys) clearly has great affection for Christophine's speech, and her dialect is rendered as a kind of musical poetry--I can hear her voice more vividly than anyone else's in the novel, although I'm not willing to try and render it aloud in a woman's West Indian accent in class (be glad!). But my *ears* can hear her so vividly throughout the novel--Rhys treats her way of speaking with great affection. In contrast to Rochester's often curt, thoroughly rational, standard English, her "broken English" come across as music. One more element of beauty in the islands that Antoinette has to abandon to become "like an English girl."
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that characters speaking in certain dialects can be executed by an author either really well or really awkwardly, and Rhys definitely falls into the former category. Even that first line, "She pretty like pretty self"—I automatically heard it differently from the rest of the prose even that early in the novel. It's eye-catching (or ear-catching) but not overdone; it adds to Christophine's character without caricaturizing her.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I didn't even consider the role of dialect in the book before reading this blog post. Rhys's ability to balance several different dialects and use them to express different ideas and emotion in each scene definitely contributes to the the overall feel of certain parts of the book. From the "proper" Englishman dialect to the rhythmic yet almost comforting dialect of the island, each character almost fits their personality type to the stereotypes of their dialect. Similarly, we can find Antoinette whose dialect is never described and understands many different languages. Her knowledge of the different languages and lack of dialect contribute to her lack of identity and confusion which further push her in the direction of madness. I think the role of dialect in the novel has a big role in how the characters are understood and ultimately adds to the confusing environment that this novel takes place in.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that Antoinette has 'no dialect.' She can understand and speak many, but she doesn't have a set 'default,' or at least not one that's recognizable.
ReplyDeleteWow, I totally didn't pick up on this. It's very interesting that you noticed that Rochester picked up on Christophine's dialect more than we had seen before in the novel. This definitely does serve to reinforce that fact that Rochester might feel insecure about the fact that he is an outsider to most everyone there.
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