The Power and Use of Language

           in Wide Sargasso Sea 

The novel Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys tells the story of Antoinette, who is the daughter of a former slave owner living in Jamaica during the time of Colonialism. One of the aspects in the novel is the power and use of language, because Antoinette is in contact with four different languages or rather two languages and two varieties of each language, namely British English, African American English, French and patois. Her parents are colonizers from England, so she is expected to speak British English in her family. But Antoinette is raised by her nanny Christophine, who is from Martinique and speaks French, as well as the Creole language spoken in Martinique, called patois. Moreover, Christophine knows English, but whenever Christophine speaks English, she has the typical African American accent. I personally think that Jean Rhys has a nice way of mentioning all languages in the novel, because she lets each character speak in his or her language and does not translate what is said in Patois or French. So the reader knows immediately if the person speaking is black or white and which social class he or she belongs to, because each group has its own way of speaking.

Language is not only used to communicate, but is also part of our identity. Antoinette serves as a good example and shows that her identity problem is also expressed in her use of language. In part I the story is told from Antoinette’s perspective as a child and whenever she speaks she mixes the different languages and this shows us that she does not know where she belongs.

The following quote gives in insight into the problematic situation of Antoinette and her husband, which is partly linked to the problem of language and identity.

She kissed Antoinette on the cheek. Then she looked at me, shook her head, and muttered in patois before she went out.

‘Did you hear what the girl was singing?’ Antoinette said.

‘I don’t always understand what they say or sing.’ Or anything else.

‘It was a song about a white cockroach. That’s me. That’s what they call all of us who were here before their own people in Africa sold them to the slave traders. And I have heard English women call us white niggers. So between you I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where I belong and why was I ever born at all.

(Rhys, Jean. 1968 (1966). Wide Sargasso Sea. London. Penguin. p. 76)

Although her husband is from England and is in charge and in power of his workers and servants, he cannot express his power, because of the language barrier. In my opinion one of the reasons why he mistrusts his servants is because he cannot understand what they mutter. Moreover, although he knows some words of French he does not want to use them, since to him English is the language of power. He might also fear to use French because he might make mistakes and because of these feel inferior to his servants.

In addition to the problems of communication and identity language also has an impact on sympathies. If one likes a certain language, accent or dialect one rather likes the person speaking the language on the one hand. On the other hand if one does not likes a person one also tends to dislike his or her language, accent or dialect. Hence language is closely liked to sympathies. We can see this  in the following quote of Antoinette’s husband, who as we know from the novel does notlike Christophine.

‘Don’t you like Christophine?’

‘She is a worthy person no doubt. I can’t say I like her language.’

‘It does not mean anything,’ said Antoinette.

‘And she looks so lazy. She dawdles about.’

(Rhys, Jean. 1968 (1966). Wide Sargasso Sea. London. Penguin. p. 62)