Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys - Discuss the idea of Belonging. A* A-Level English Literature Essay.

This essay explores the theme of belonging in the novel Wide Sargasso Sea, written by Jean Rhys.

Question: ‘I know that house where I will be cold and not belonging.’ Discuss the idea of ‘belonging’ in Wide Sargasso Sea.
Word Count: 2199

The essay argues that, for the protagonist of Antoinette Cosway, belonging is an unattainable goal.

It explores her futile attempts to belong through various examples including:

• Her relationship with her mother, Anette.
• Her relationship with Tia.
• Her relationship with her husband.

Throughout, the essay explores how her inability to belong is linked to her crisis of identity and the insoluble problems associated with hybridity as a Creole heroine. It explores her failed attempts to assimilate into her home community in the West Indies and into her husband’s society in Europe. Positioned between two cultural identities, this character is thereby coerced into playing the role of the outsider whose partial belonging to multiple locations results in complete and ubiquitous rejection everywhere.

All quotations used from the novel as well as all critical quotations are footnoted in this essay for ease of reference. (Page references refer to the Penguin Classics edition).

This essay will be useful for any student studying Wide Sargasso Sea as part of their KS5 curriculum or writing on it for their NEA. It would be especially useful for those students looking to engage with the ideas/themes of identity and differences.