Wide Sargasso Sea

by Jean Rhys

Wide Sargasso Sea: Dialect 1 key example

Dialect
Explanation and Analysis—Creole:

Rhys uses a variety of dialects in the dialogue of Wide Sargasso Sea. The novel is set on two different islands in the West Indies and features characters from other parts of the region. The English spoken by the Cosway and Mason families, the nuns and girls at the convent, and the husband differs from the English spoken by the Black Caribbean characters. Additionally, the Black characters speak a range of creoles. Although it may seem as though the White and creole characters speak English in one way and the Black characters speak English in another, Rhys is attuned to the linguistic nuances that distinguish the speech of people from respective islands.