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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Key Examples in Wide Sargasso Sea
Motifs
Explanation and Analysis—Blindness and Deafness:
In Wide Sargasso Sea, characters invoke deafness and blindness as metaphors for an unwillingness to confront the truth. While these conditions sometimes carry a negative connotation, characters at other times identify them as desirable qualities. In one instance, the motif coincides with dramatic irony and foreshadowing.
Related Themes:
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Obeah:
A set of Caribbean spiritual practices, obeah draws on West African religious traditions that came to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade. Practitioners of obeah can both cast spells and carry out healing. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the motif of obeah is charged with ominous mystery. The practice and its ambiguities are especially associated with Antoinette's nurse Christophine.
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Explanation and Analysis—Dead Animals:
Wide Sargasso Sea features a number of references to dead or dying animals. This motif contributes to the hostile, helpless, and uneasy mood that shapes the narrative.
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Explanation and Analysis—White Cockroach:
Characters use the designation "white cockroach" multiple times in Wide Sargasso Sea. Seizing both on race and class, this metaphorical term of abuse is used to emphasize the non-belonging of Antoinette and her family in post-Emancipation Jamaica. Through this motif, Rhys shows the reader how the Cosways are seen by the Black community.
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Explanation and Analysis—Identity Markers:
Throughout the novel, Antoinette struggles to understand her place in the world. Her unmoored sense of self is heightened in moments where other characters force her to wear different clothing or take on a different name than what she identifies with. As a motif, identity markers shed light on Antoinette's disintegrating sense of self at the hands of others.
In the first part, Antoinette's playmate Tia steals her clothing after they have a quarrel at the bathing pool.
Unlock with LitCharts A+I searched for a long time before I could believe that she had taken my dress—not my underclothes, she never wore any—but my dress, starched, ironed, clean that morning. She had left me hers and I put it on at last and walked home in the blazing sun feeling sick, hating her.
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Explanation and Analysis—Dreams:
Over the course of Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette has three prophetic dreams that foreshadow subsequent events in her life and the story. In addition, the unfamiliar surroundings of Jamaica make the husband repeatedly feel as though he is living in a dream or a nightmare. Rhys also folds England into the dream motif, as Antoinette and Christophine suggest at various points that the faraway land isn't real.
Early in the first part, Antoinette recalls her first prophetic dream, which she had when she was a child.
Unlock with LitCharts A+I dreamed that I was walking in the forest. Not alone. Someone who hated me was with me, out of sight. I could hear heavy footsteps coming closer and though I struggled and screamed I could not move.
Related Themes:
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—White Cockroach:
Characters use the designation "white cockroach" multiple times in Wide Sargasso Sea. Seizing both on race and class, this metaphorical term of abuse is used to emphasize the non-belonging of Antoinette and her family in post-Emancipation Jamaica. Through this motif, Rhys shows the reader how the Cosways are seen by the Black community.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Identity Markers:
Throughout the novel, Antoinette struggles to understand her place in the world. Her unmoored sense of self is heightened in moments where other characters force her to wear different clothing or take on a different name than what she identifies with. As a motif, identity markers shed light on Antoinette's disintegrating sense of self at the hands of others.
In the first part, Antoinette's playmate Tia steals her clothing after they have a quarrel at the bathing pool.
Unlock with LitCharts A+I searched for a long time before I could believe that she had taken my dress—not my underclothes, she never wore any—but my dress, starched, ironed, clean that morning. She had left me hers and I put it on at last and walked home in the blazing sun feeling sick, hating her.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Dreams:
Over the course of Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette has three prophetic dreams that foreshadow subsequent events in her life and the story. In addition, the unfamiliar surroundings of Jamaica make the husband repeatedly feel as though he is living in a dream or a nightmare. Rhys also folds England into the dream motif, as Antoinette and Christophine suggest at various points that the faraway land isn't real.
Early in the first part, Antoinette recalls her first prophetic dream, which she had when she was a child.
Unlock with LitCharts A+I dreamed that I was walking in the forest. Not alone. Someone who hated me was with me, out of sight. I could hear heavy footsteps coming closer and though I struggled and screamed I could not move.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Rich Fragrances:
The first and second parts of Wide Sargasso Sea are set in the Caribbean, and Rhys frequently mentions the rich fragrances of the flowers and trees that grow there. Whereas Antoinette is attached to the fragrances of the local flora, the husband finds them overwhelming and off-putting. Through the motif of fragrance, the reader can trace the two characters' conflicting backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
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Explanation and Analysis—Secrets:
Throughout Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys seems to warn the reader against expecting a single, coherent, and easily accessible narrative. Alongside the hazy and conflicting accounts, details, and impressions that narrators and characters provide of past and present, the motif of secrets contributes to the feeling that truth is unattainable.
In the second part, the husband is consumed by the impression that everyone around him is privy to information that will forever remain beyond his reach. As a matter of fact, the husband feels as though the place itself is keeping a secret from him. Rhys uses personification to capture his feeling of being haunted and excluded by the beauty of Granbois.
Unlock with LitCharts A+It was a beautiful place—wild, untouched, above all untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret loveliness. And it kept its secret.
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Explanation and Analysis—Crowing:
The second part opens just after the newly married couple has arrived in the town of Massacre, in Dominica. The gloomy atmosphere of these early scenes does not bode well for the honeymoon or marriage, and is deepened when the husband hears a rooster crowing. This biblical allusion becomes a motif in the novel, foreshadowing subsequent misery and betrayal.
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