Literary Analysis Essay on "Wide Sargasso Sea" and "A Room of One's Own"

Introduction

The topic of women and feminism is one that cannot be ignored as it has taken the center stage since early 20th century where women started to demand for their recognition in a world dominated by men. Historically, women were treated as inferior human beings who would only depend on wealth of their husbands and fathers to achieve what they want. This oppression and lack of recognition for any achievements they have provoked some courageous women to start feminist movements and even write books to portray the struggles women go through in their daily lives. Among the novels that bring out women and feminism themes are "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf and "Wide Sargasso Sea" by John Rhys. This essay analyzes the theme of women and feminism in the two novels and reviews various critics on the same topic. Although the novels are written in different eras and world far apart, the main issue presented is lack of voice of women in a world that has been dominated by men where women are portrayed as victims of oppression because of their gender identity.

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Summary of the Novels

Before analyzing the themes in the novels, it is crucial to have a brief overview of the plot and contents of the novels to have a rough idea of the issues being discussed. The summary discusses the main areas in the books and provides the characters and their struggles in various situation that relates to women and feminism themes.

Wide Sargasso Sea

The book opens with Antoinette as a young girl who lives with her mother Annette and her brother Coulibri, after her father's death. The family lives in their estate near Spanish Town in Jamaica. With the death of her father and passage of Emancipation Act, the family is in financial crisis and are struggling to survive (Rhys 26). Both the blacks and whites who live in the Island ostracize the family. Although they are whites, they are looked down upon and discriminated by their fellow Caucasians since they are poor. On the other hand, the blacks despise them for being former slaveholders and their contribution to slavery in the region. In partly an effort to elevate the family's situation, Annette decides to marry Mr. Mason, a wealthy planter in the island. The marriage, however, does not last for long as it increases racial tension in the community. In spite Annette's warning her husband about the drawbacks and the risk they are in, Mr. Mason ignores and the family is attacked at night (Rhys 68). The family escapes narrowly after their house was set on fire at night but they loose Coulibri due to inhaling too much smoke from the fire. The grief of the loss of her son drives Annette mad where husband sends her to an isolated house to be taken care of by a couple of colour. In the Part II of the novel, Mr. Mason with the help of Antoinnette's step brother, the arrange and marry Antoinnette to Rochester. The marriage also ends tragically when someone who claims to be Daniel Cosway and Antoinnette's step brother sent a letter to Rochester alleging that there is a history of sex degeneracy and mental illness in Antoinnette's family. Further, the letter alleges that that Antoinnette had previously engaged to her stepbrother Sandi Cosway (Rhys 69). In an attempt to save her marriage, she drugs her husband and seduces her. Part II ends with Rochester planning to declare Antoinnette insane and send her to confinement. In part III, Antoinnette is locked in Thornfield Hall, England which is guarded by Grace Poole. When her stepbrother comes to visit her, she begs him to help her get rid of the marriage.

A Room of One's Own

The novel is written in a dramatic setting where the writer, Virginia Woolf, is invited to deliver a lecture on the topic of Women and Fiction. In his book, Woolf argues that women need money and a room of their own if they have to succeed in writing fiction. The book opens by the writer investigations in Oxbridge College where she reflects on her education experiences available for both men and women. However, the narrator indulges deeper beyond education experiences to include the material differences in the lives of the two genders. In order to get more concrete image about women in the society, specifically in writing, the narrator spends a whole day on British Library where she reviews materials on scholarship about women. Notably, all of the scholarships she access are written by men and have been written in anger. Further, she reviews historical information and she finds out that there is very little data about women in their everyday life. As a result, she decides to use fiction to reconstruct the existence of women in her own imagination. The narrator uses the example of Judith Shakespeare as an example of a tragic fate that an intelligent woman of the current times would have suffered during Shakespeare's era. In other words, the narrator seems to allude that lack of women recognition and their oppression is a tradition that has existed for centuries (Woolf 65) However, the narrator encourages women to rise up to task and support each other for the purpose of liberating their daughters.

Critical Analysis

The analysis contains a combination of information gathered from both novels, specifically on the theme of women and feminism. In both novels, the issue of wealth and women is consistent and is repeated throughout the novels. Women are seen as vulnerable and dependent on the wealth of men hence they cannot be able to achieve any progress in their lives without the support of their husbands. In the "a Room of One's Own", Woolf (71) talks of how the reputation of women in fictional writing is based on literature from men which is written in anger. The narrator argues that for a woman to be succeed in fictional writing, they ought to have their own money. In other words, women have not been able to have their voice recognized in the writing industry as they depend on the wealth of their husbands as they do not have something of their own. This theme of feminism and economic power of men over women has been widely discussed in the existing history. Men were usually treated as breadwinners and financial custodians of the family something that led women to be inferior (Cockburn 43). The historical gender injustices that discriminated women in offering the proper education and employment made women vulnerable and dependent on men. According to Woolf, the data that exists about women is based on male anger writings which makes it difficult to have a clear image of every day life as a woman.

Similarly, in the "A Room of One's Own" the issue of feminism and women power has recurred in all the parts of the novel. First, the writer indicates that Antoinnette's family is in crisis partly due to the death of her father. The importance of men in women's search for economic power is evident when Annette decides to marry Mr. Mason to partly elevate their economic situation. This marriage is a clear indicator that women were economically disadvantaged and the only way they could survive and be economically stable is by depending on men. In addition, the novel indicates that the vulnerable state of women makes them powerless even in making critical decisions that affect their life. The evidence is on the way Mr. Mason makes the decision to send her wife into isolation on allegation that she is mad even though she was being driven by grief of loss of her son. Besides Mr. Mason ignored the warning from his wife about eminent attack that led to the death of her son. The other evidence of vulnerability of women is when Mr. Mason colludes with his son to arrange marriage for Antoinnette without seeking her opinion. Further vulnerability of women is seen in Antoinnette's begging her stepbrother to help her get rid of the marriage. Even though Antoinnette is suffering in the marriage, she cannot be able to end the marriage on her own and she has to appeal on support of the same stepbrother who arranged the marriage in the first place without her consent. Lastly, the powerless state of women is evident when her husband, Mr. Rochester, makes plan to declare her insane and she is taken to Thornfield Hall even though she was not insane in the first place.

Literally Criticism

Just like many other feminism and women novels, the two novels analyzed in this essay have been reviewed by literally critics presenting different opinions depending on the critic. In his opinion about "A Room of the One's Own", Alimam (12) argues that the book clearly paints the oppression of women in British culture where they lacked economic, social and even political freedom and they had to depend on men. According to Kaur and Ambala (284), Woolf's narration is mainly influenced by her experience as a woman and she managed to capture the situation of women and played critical role in feminism. In general, the book has gotten positive reviews on the writing style and the contribution to the theme of feminism. Although similar attention has been given to "Wide Sargasso Sea" but the critics have argued that the main theme that is coming out clearly is identity of Creole women and not necessarily feminism. Conclusion

The novels "Wide Sargasso Sea" and "A Room of One's Own" are two novels that are centered on feminism and position of women in the society. Although the novels are set in locations that are geographically wide apart, they contain almost similar challenges faced by women. The theme brings out women as vulnerable beings who are highly dependent on men economically, socially and even in making their personal decisions. Women are either forced by the situation or men in their life to get married so that they can elevate their economic situation.

Works Cited

Alimam, Rawan. The Feminist Thought in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas. Diss. Middle East University, 2010. Retrieved from https://meu.edu.jo/libraryTheses/586cbca08a700_1.pdf

Kaur, Paramjeet and Ambala Cantt. "Feminist Concern in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own." JETIR (2017): 283-288. Retrieved from http://www.jetir.org/view?paper=JETIR1706061

Rhys, Jean. Wide sargasso sea. WW Norton & Company, 1992.

Woolf, Virginia. "A Room of One's Own (1929)." The People, Place, and Space Reader. Routledge, 1929.