Paper Example on Cultural and Interracial Relationships

Introduction

Culture is known as the people's way of life according to their customs and traditions whereas interracial is the interaction of people of different races and ethnic backgrounds. The relationship between culture and interracial is that people who come from different races have a different way of life in that when they interact they share on the different views leading to the interracial relationship ( Savory, p 34- 42). In the 1800s, the interaction between kind of races where forbidden due to their difference in cultural believes. They had the notion that every person from an ethical group could not abide by their culture. This happened mostly in the interracial marriages and even in teen relation in schools and at home. Wild Sargasso talks about the racism in the context of freed slaves and the collapse of the West Indies that also brought about the disruption of the slavery business. The slaves were used for mining. The women were taken for sexual pleasure even though there was racism and were criticized because of their skin color and their cultures (Gale, p 6- 17)

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There were many states those condemned marriages of people from different races. In most cases, those who engaged in a relationship from different background were arrested and imprisoned as was the case of Richard and Mildred in the 1950s. Mildred was kept longer in jail for marrying Richard because of her race, complexity and her womanhood. This hostility towards racial relationship was about during the time of slavery although, during Antoinette's childhood, the slaves were set free even though there was still resentment from the disagreeing races (Savory, p 79- 100). In the book, Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette struggles with the loss of his father and the instability of her family since they ended up settling in Jamaica where they received resentment from the whites. All this makes Antoinette struggle in understanding her culture and race as her mother Annette decides to marry Mr. Mason to be able to fend for her family instead of making it even harder on her children especially Antoinette.

The Caribbean was famously known for the socialization between the cultures from different races even after the distracting time of the colonial time where there was slavery and sexual racism in the West Indies, although, this brought companionship between societies of the current century after the act of freeing slaves. There were tensions among the races that affected the mindset of families since it was forbidden relationship especially in the state of women. In the 1800s there was a criticism of the female gender. There were arranged marriages and those to be married were to accept (Rhys, p 5-9). In return, the women who are married to the English men go crazy in the unrewarding marriage that is full of political and cruel treatment of the Creole people. There was slavery even after the freedom; the colonist still had the advantage as they had slaves from African to work on their plantation. The criticism of the female gender is where the owners of the slaves and those in charge impregnated the women. Sexual racism is also evident as Mr. Manson took Annette as his because they looked alike in complexion and so did Antoinette who later married Mr. Rochester.

Antoinette and her mother are considered to be outsiders as they are not from Jamaica and do not belong in their high social standards as much as Annette owned a small plantation left to him by his husband. The theoretical part is that Annette and Antoinette somehow resemble the colonizer, those who owned a slave, because of Annette is a descendant of two communities, that is a European and black descendant, but instead, they are also the colonized based on how they are treated (Baker, p 13- 20).

In Wide Sargasso Sea, there is a depicted part of the race as Annette, a character in the book, and her family receives resentment from the white and black women in the area and also sexual exploitation as to how Mr. Mason towards Annette. It is also seen that Mr. Masson does not take the slaves to be on same complexity and worthy as him. It covers the racism in the context as Antoinette is a West Indian in a different town. In the life that Annette goes through in the fight for her family survival and her rejection of Antoinette, there is repeated history as Antoinette goes through the same trauma of being imprisoned, the loneliness (Gale, p 44- 54).

In the era of despair of the Coulibri, of the colonial period, there is despair and fear from the whites due to the fear of revenge from the blacks after the freeing act of slaves was passed. Antoinette struggles with the death of his father and also the raised tension of race and also the corruption that follows after the collapsing of slavery (Rhys, p 11- 15). She is unfamiliar with the Jamaican and their resentment towards them because of their complexity and culture. She has a hard time to blend with the culture of the Jamaicans and attempts to live their way of life as much as her mother disagrees with it and feels embarrassed. It is in the beginning that Antoinette lacks the mother figure in her life to help her cope with the confusion of her life and is referred as "a white cockroach". Contemplation of why the society is against them can be challenging for a child (Killian, p 55- 60).

Antoinette develops the feeling of rejection, abandonment as every other person in her life leaves, and all this makes fear the society itself. In the 1800s, possession of slaves and money gave someone power to do whatever they wanted. It involved betrayal and cause of suffering to the slaves as every one of them fought survival within the plantation. Although, there were certain times the English man took women and took them to be so of sexual satisfaction (Gale, p 66- 73). However, there was sexual racism in that; they were not seen as equals to the English men. This was though seen as a privilege among the slaves. Annette and her daughter were privileged to be married to the English men. Antoinette marriage was arranged between Mr. Rochester's family and hers. Annette saw an opportunity to better the tragic life they lived by getting married to Mr. Mason, hoping it will change the view of the ex-slaves and the white women that despised them. But it only made their life hard as she was treated as a servant and answered to Mr. Mason.With the incidence that follows after the fall of Antoinette's mother due to the loss of his son, Antoinette is dragged back to the life of brutality as she does not understand; she is filled with the thought rejection from her close family and especially her mother. Mr. Manson takes advantage of Antoinette by making business by marrying her off. As in the Caribbean, the women had no choice of who they are handed to. The slave owners usually made business by selling the women to whomever they pleased (Rhys, p 20-35). Mr. Mason's actions deprived Antoinette with the peace she had found in the convent among the nuns. She was at peace with her culture and was able to express herself and also find comfort in nature as she remembered her days in the forest even forgetting about her mother and what she passed through in Coulibri (Baker, p 24-36).

Antoinette's mother, with her actions and current behavior is known to have gone mad because of the brutality and cruelty she faced from the black servants. She resented them and made people believe it is her first husband who was ranched and wicked slave owner who was a known drunk giving her family a bad picture to those around them. Many arranged marriages fail even in the current society because of lack of affection and understanding of each other's culture and race. In the colonial period, there were arranged marriages that were accepted when one colonizer considered on to be worthy or just needed one to bare kids with. Other times it was a form of a gift from one colonizer to the other to show gratitude (Smith, p 24- 35). In Rochester's marriage to Antoinette, it is depicted that he did not feel affection towards her despite her striking beauty. He lacked understanding of her Caribbean nature as they even argue about lands. With Antoinette's family history, Rochester believes he got himself a mad woman as he does not even believe the simplicity of Antoinette's pain about rejection by every culture she encounters. He in returns becomes angry every time and starts to mistreat Antoinette out of disgust.

With the knowledge that Antoinette has about her husband, she becomes paranoid and tries other means to get her husband's affection out of fear of betrayal that she has got all her life. It is evident that the interracial relationship that she has with Rochester was disapproved just in the Caribbean where the interracial relationship was forbidden. However much she tried to change her past and become a different person in the eyes of the unfamiliar society she encountered, it was clear that all her efforts were not recognized as her own husband locked her away from her paranoia and naming her crazy just as her mother. Antoinette's behavior after time passes lands her in a predicament of everyone believing that she is crazy with her violent actions towards people (Rhys, p 40-50).

The hatred that spread around her and the fact that she was all alone to handle and deal with the emotions and no one to guide her lead her to believe that one's culture can be the beginning of judgment and criticism because no one understands what you are going through.

The society, Antoinette's husband Rochester, the struggles and rejection she faced as a child and the loss of her family members and also the betrayal of Christophine during her depression by her husband's actions, all these contributed to Antoinette's state of being crazy. She experienced abandonment which made her become paranoid of everything and everyone around her (Killian, p 45 -59). She was rejected by both the blacks and the white women in the society. In relation to her culture, she was a descendant of the European and black cultures. This was an interracial relationship that was in her family. In addition, the family background especially that of her father, convinced people that indeed she came from a lineage of mad people. They treated as so when they locked her up as a prisoner thus leading to her paranoia and eventually making her lose her sense of identity and making her crazy (Baker, p 86 - 90).

The interracial relationship between Annette, Antoinette, and the English men could not be approved of by the society and since Rochester became arrogant and harsh towards Antoinette and treating her as everyone else had a major toll on her conscious as he was the presumed beloved husband. He then changed her name so that people did not know of her true identity (Smith, p 82-90). This made her feel deprived of her own cultural identity and the sense of belonging that she felt by having the name given to her as a child. The interracial relationship is hard to understand since different people have different background and traditions, without understanding and the affection towards a partner. It is an inevitable fact that the relationship will face rejection and also disgust from people that do not understand where one comes from (Killian, p33- 52). Thus, this proves that the interracial that Antoinette had with Rochester was doomed to lead to her losing herself because of the disapprove he got from the society. Antoinette's fate was sealed the moment Rochester locked her up presumably because her culture was known to be of lunatics and he feared of her actions if she was to become violent.

Her culture of mixed relation from two different communities contributed to the way her mother and she were being treated in the families they married to. They were considered to be threats, although of the low-life, f...