Wild Sargasso Sea

Wild Sargasso Sea Part 1

After reading Wild Sargasso Sea I found that it was a much easier read in comparison to Jane Eyre. I found it less of a struggle to get into the book, whereas with Jane Eyre it took time. Although the plot and general story line of Jane Eyre were interesting, I found that this particular style of writing was more suited to my tastes. I particularly liked the way that Rhys does not write long descriptive passages of emotion and instead gets straight to the point. I feel that this is what helps to give the book a rather quicker pace and allows the reader to be less bias towards the characters as we are not given such a deep view. However Jean Rhys certainly presents us with a good use of imagery and creates a good sense of place throughout the bulk of part one.
I have also observed that the writing style is modern especially in the way that the sentences are structured. I find it most interesting as the lengths of the sentences are varied as is Rhys’ use of punctuation. For example- “The scent was very sweet and strong. I never went near it.” It is as if she wrote the second sentence as an afterthought. Also I have noticed that Rhys will often follow a long sentence by a short one.
A Passage that I found to be of particular interest to me was the description of the garden. It picks up many of themes of which are key to Jane Eyre such as isolation, mystery and the supernatural. It is seems that much like Jane, Antoinette is using her imagination to create her own world in which she can escape. I particularly found “drop by drop of blood” interesting as it is dramatic and has elements of the gothic and symbolism. It links with the gothic imagery typical of Jane Eyre.
Most interesting to me in this beginning part of the novel were the links that ran with Jane Eyre. Antoinette’s time at the convent school is perhaps the most obvious but also the ideas of social class and themes of religion and the supernatural. Overall I have enjoyed the first part of the novel and found it to be quite an interesting read thus far.