WIDE SARGASSO SEA
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
M. Harry Aryanto T.
Student Number: 994214054
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
iv
Life is ours, we live in our ways.
( Met a l l ica :
N ot hi ng El s e M a t t e r s)
Never be afraid to sit a while and think.
v
T hi s und e r g r a d ua t e t he s i s i s d e d i c a t e d t o
M y b e l ov e d m ot he r
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
When we woke up from our deep sleep sometimes, we still wonder about
the reality of our life. We sometimes cannot differentiate dreams from reality.
When we are in real life, we thought that we are in a state of dreaming now,
because we cannot differ the reality and the dream itself. In some cultures, dream
can mean a lot of things. “Assyrians saw dreams as omens. Bad dreams demanded
action, i.e. exorcisms. Other dreams were seen as "advice". Egyptians believed that
the gods revealed themselves in dreams, demanding pious acts, or warning of
impending doom.”(http://www.rider.edu/suler/dreamman.html)
From the ancient document, there are so many interpretations about
dreams. People in different places, time, faith, and cultures saw dreams differently,
for example in the Roman and Greek Ages in the quotation below:
Roman Ideas-Although the Egyptians created one of the earliest documents on dreams, known as the Chester Beatty papyrus, the
Oneirocriticon or The Interpretation of Dreams by the Roman Artemidorus (c. AD 150) is the first comprehensive book on the interpretation of dreams.
GreekIdeas-The Greeks didn't begin seriously considering dreams until 8th century BC. Homer, in his Iliad, describes a scene wherein Agamemnon receives instructions from the messenger of Zeus in a dream. Greeks also believed that dreams carried divine messages, but they could only be interpreted with the aid of a priest similar to those of
the Babylonians and Egyptians.
(http://library.thinkquest.org/11189/nfhistory.htm)
From the quotation above, we can see that from the ancient age a dream
has a meaning and it is like a prophecy to their future life. The interpretation of
dream is the prophecy of one people’s life, not every person can interpret theirs.
Then, some of us still ask a big question in our head, why do we dream?
There is no proven fact on why we dream. There are so many theories about
dream. Sigmund Freud, a famous psychologist who is known with the
psychoanalytic theory, also has a theory about dream. According to him, “dreams
carry our hidden desires.” (http://library.thinkquest.org/11189/nftheories.htm).
Still from the same source, Carl Jung disagreed with Freud’s theory. Jung thinks
dreams carry meaning, although not always a desire. These dreams can be
interpreted by the dreamer.
From the psychological side, dream is a phenomenon. Henry Gleitman in
his book entitled Psychology states, “Like many other phenomena, dream reflect
what we know, what we have experienced, remembered, or thought-activities that
psychologists call cognition” (1991: 8). The quotation above becomes the main
reason why the writer is interested in analyzing the topic about dream. In this
thesis, the writer tries to analyze the contribution of dream toward the character
development of the major character based on human experience or what will
happen in the future by believing dreams.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the preceding paragraphs stated in the background of study, the
1. How are the characteristics of Antoinette described?
2. What are Antoinette’s dreams?
3. How do Antoinette’s dreams contribute to her character development?
C. Objectives of Study
The main objective of the study is to find out the answer to the problem
formulated above. This study aims to discuss further the characteristics of
Antoinette as the main character in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea and her dream.
The first step is to find Antoinette’s characteristics. It is important to find
Antoinette’s characteristics because it can be seen how her characteristics before
her characteristics develop. After Antoinette’s characteristics are found, the next
step as the second problem is to find Antoinette’s dreams that appear in the story
and the interpretation of Antoinette’s dreams. The second step is also important,
because the writer must know Antoinette’s dreams before go to analysis. Finally,
the analysis tried to find the contribution of dreams toward the character
development of Antoinette in the story.
D. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misunderstanding and to help the reader in understanding
the topic above, it is necessary to explain the definition of the important term. The
1. Dream
Henry Gleitman in his book entitled Psychology described dream as a kind of
nocturnal drama to which the only price of admission is falling asleep. It is
usually a series of scenes, sometimes fairly commonplace, sometimes bizarre
and disjointed, in which the dreamer often figures as a participant (1991: 6).
2. Character
According to Holman and Harmon in A Book to Literature, character in a story
can be “a kind of creature, which imitates human being so that they exist as life
like. It means that they have some characteristic that real human being have so
5 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Without the criticisms and reviews, this thesis is not complete. For that
reason, the writer quotes some criticisms and reviews from some scholars that already
analyze Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea or websites that analyze and discuss the novel
or Jean Rhys as the writer of the novel. The first part of this chapter is going to
provide some criticisms and reviews about Jean Rhys as the writer of Wide Sargasso
Sea. Jean Rhys wrote many novels and short stories, but her most famous novel is
Wide Sargasso Sea and as a woman writer, she is also known as a modernist writer,
one of the best modernist writers in her time.
Jean Rhys is the author of many short stories and novels, of which perhaps Wide Sargasso Sea is best known. Rhys is known as a modernist writer, writing throughout the twentieth century, and is often paralleled with Joseph Conrad and T.S. Eliot. Like the modernist authors, Rhys' writing often centres around themes of "isolation, absence of society or community, the sense of things falling apart, dependence and loss" (Carr, 15). She uses poetic language, irony, and a concern for subjectivity and language to develop her themes of anxiety and loss (16). She often uses, like other modernist writers, a cosmopolitan, indeed metropolitan setting for her writing. Wherever the setting, she seems to keep to consistent patterns of imagery. (www.qub.ac.uk/eu/imperial/carib/sargasso.htm)
From another website, a critic discusses Jean Rhys’ works that contain
heroines. This criticism is written by an unknown scholar, but it is very interesting.
This criticism is about heroines in Jean Rhys novels.
definitely true, according to Rhys, but the critics could then not separate her
Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea is an autobiographical novel. In this novel,
Jean Rhys tries to show her struggle against the oppression of her gender. Like
Antoinette, Jean Rhys also has an unhappy marriage. This novel can be categorized as
a feminist work, not just because the writer is a woman but also the novel describes
the problematic situation of women through the character of Antoinette. Sherry
Lewkowicz in her essay entitled The Experience of Womanhood in Jane Eyre and
Wide Sargasso Sea discussed womanhood in the novel.
Sargasso Sea maintains a steady absence of faith in woman's ability to transcend the oppression of her gender. Rhys's novel depicts the near impossibility of "success" for a woman in a patriarchal world. This is a strikingly different kind of feminism. Whereas Jane has developed many resources and defenses she can rely on to get her through her tribulations,
Antoinette is virtually defenseless.
(http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/lewkowicz14.ht ml)
Still from the same source, the novel is compared to another feminist story
character of Antoinette that is known as Bertha Mason is the same character as Bertha
Mason in Bronte’s Jane Eyre. The story of Antoinette is the past story of Bertha
Mason although Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre comes earlier than Wide Sargasso Sea.
Wide Sargasso Sea was Jean Rhys' effort to rewrite, or more accurately, to elaborate on and complicate, the history presented by Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel, Jane Eyre. The eponymous protagonist of Jane Eyre develops into a fiercely independent, self-assured, moral, and passionate young woman.
(http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/lewkowicz14.ht ml)
Another strong point about Wide Sargasso Sea that interests the writer was
the connection between Wide Sargasso Sea with Charlotte Bronte’s Jean Eyre. Wide
Sargasso Sea is a unique novel; this novel is a kind of prequel of Charlotte Bronte’s
Jean Eyre. Usually when one novel has a sequel, it is made after the first novel, but
Wide Sargasso Sea as prequel of Jane Eyre was made after the sequel by a different
writer and in a different era. Written in the 19th century, Jean Eyre told a story about
Rochester’s insane wife Bertha mason. The ending of this story did not satisfy Jean
Rhys. She disagreed with Bronte’s presentation of Bertha Mason and set up to written
a colonial story that was about from Bronte’s text. Wide Sargasso Sea derives from
Jane Eyre but this study would not discuss about Jane Eyre and would only focus on
Wide Sargasso Sea.
An essay written from George P. Landow entitled Jean Rhys’ Political
Attitude talks about Jean Rhys sympathy toward the Caribbean blacks.
(http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/caribbean/dominica/rhys/politi cs1.html)
As stated above, Wide Sargasso Sea is kind of prequel of Charlotte Bronte’s
Jean Eyre, in this novel Jean Rhys also reveals the main character’s dream as one of
an interesting part in the story. In both works, dreams provide glimpse of the
unexpressed emotion of the characters. In Dreams in Wide Sargasso Sea, Alan
Gordon discusses about dreams in Wide Sargasso Sea.
In Wide Sargasso Sea, dreams leak into the waking world of the narrators, thus giving the novel a dreamlike tone. In Jean Rhys' postcolonial re-writing of Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, dreams serve many of the same functions that they serve in the original. The dreams of protagonist Antoinette are often clairvoyant like Jane's. Both characters also reveal interior selves when dreaming; Jane's dreams reflect a part of her consciousness that she represses and Antoinette's dreams reflect a part of her consciousness that she has trouble expressing. Indeed, the functional components of Antoinette's dreams often parallel those of Jane's dreams. Jean Rhys was clearly as aware of the various uses of dreams as Charlotte Bronte.
(http://www.postcolonialweb.org/caribbean/dominica/rhys/gordon14.html)
For the writer, Wide Sargasso Sea is interesting especially because of main
character’s dreams that influenced her character development. It is uncommon when
a dream has a big effect on the character development. Besides, dreams here become
interesting because Jean Rhys uses dream as the foreshadows.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
Every narrative work has a character. In An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton
says that the term “character” has two meanings. It can refer to “the individuals who
principles that shapes each of these individuals” (1965: 17). Holman and Harmon in
A Handbook to Literature mention that the term character is used to “designate the
individual’s speech and action. In other words, a character can represent human
being’s actions, behaviors, and attitudes.” (1986: 81)
Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature state that characterization
is the creation of these imaginary persons, so that the characters exist for the reader as
lifelike (1986: 81). They classified characterization in fiction into three fundamental
methods. The first method is the explicit presentation by the author of the character
through direct exposition, either in introductory block or more often piecemeal
throughout the work, illustrated by action. The second is the presentation of the
character in action, with little or no explicit comment by the author, in the expectation
that the reader will be able to deduce the attributes of the actor from actions. The third
method is representation from within a character, without comment on the character
by the author of the impact of the actions and emotions on the character’s inner self.
Murphy’s Understanding Unseen gives more detail techniques of
characterization. It mentions nine techniques of characterization used by an author to
describe the characters of a story (1972: 161-173).
a. Personal Description
An author uses this method particularly to give the description of character face,
b. Character as Seen by Another
Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe a character
through the eyes and opinions of others.
c. Speech
The author gives the readers an insight into the character of one of the person in
the book through what the person says.
d. Past Life
By letting the readers learn about a character’s past life, the author can give the
clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character. This can be done by
direct comment by the author, through the person’s thought, through his
conversation, or through the medium of another person.
e. Conversation of Others
The author can also give the readers clues to a persons’ character through the
conversation of other people and the things they say about her/him.
f. Reaction
The author can give the readers a clue to a person’s character by letting the
readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events.
g. Direct Comment
The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.
h. Thoughts
The author can give the reader direct knowledge of what a person is thinking
reader then is in privileged position; he has, as it were, a secret listening device
plugged into the inmost thoughts of a person in his/her novel.
i. Mannerism
An author can describe a person’s mannerisms, habits, or idiosyncrasies which
may also tell us something about his/her character
2. The Relation between Literature and Psychology
Stanton in Introduction to Fiction implies that literature is a unique
imitation of life.
In life, on the other hand, there are no stereotypes, no mere copies: every person is an individual to those who known him, every love affair is a unique experience to the lover. The serious author takes life as his model. Instead of writing a “typical story” or a “typical war story”, he writes of particular individual in particular situation. The result, paradoxically, is that his story is typical - typical of life (1965:7).
From this statement, it can be derived that there are other fields of
knowledge related to literature and one that is used in this thesis is psychology. There
are some aspects on how psychology can be seen as a “partner” from where readers
can get a deeper understanding of literature. In Theory of Literature, Rene Wellek and
Austin Warren explain that “there are four aspects that can be learned in literature
from psychological point of view” (1956: 81). The four aspects are “the writer, as
type and as individual, the creative process, the psychological types and laws
presented within the works of literature, and the effect of literature upon its reader.”
Literature is a creative work in which an author uses his/her imagination to
“imagination” and “human unconsciousness” are widely used and analyzed in
psychology, especially in Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis. Guerin’s A Handbook of
Critical Approach to Literature mentions that Freud’s most substantial contribution
to the development of modern psychology is his theory that stresses itself upon
human unconscious part.
The foundation of Freud’s contribution to modern psychology is his emphasis on the unconscious aspects of the human psyche. A brilliant creative genius, Freud provided convincing evidence, through his many carefully recorded case studies, that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control. He demonstrated that, like the iceberg, the human mind is structured so that its great weight and density lie beneath the surface (below the level of consciousness) (1999: 127).
An author is an individual with his/her unique psychological type.
Unconsciously, this psychological type of the author influences his creative process
of making a story and, thus, it is reflected in the result of his/her work. Nevertheless,
it can also be the author’s anti-type which is implied in his/her work, as Wellek and
Warren in Theory of Literature say that “some writers reveal their type in their
creative work, while others reveal their anti-type, their complement (1956: 84).”
As psychology is a body of knowledge which studies human psyche, the
most related element of literature to psychology is its human or human-like
characters. Referring to Barnet’s explanation about character in Literature for
Composition that “a character is a figure with specific mental and moral qualities, it is
obvious that characters are observable through psychology, in terms that they consist
3. Theory of Dream
In order to get a better understanding about dream, this part will show some
theories of dream. As stated in the previous chapter that the most important topic in
Wide Sargasso Sea that will be analyzed in this thesis is dream, so the theory about
dream is needed to help the writer analyze that topic.
Thomas R. Murray in his book entitled Human Development Theories gives
a description about Carl G. Jung’s theory. Jung’s theory of dream can be found in his
famous theory namely Analytical Psychology.
The human psyche or personality operates on both conscious and unconscious levels. Jung defined conscious as the part of cognition that function under the control of ego. Unconscious is the remaining part not under ego control. Jung derived the evidence to support his collective unconscious proposal from his own to other’s dreams, vision and fantasies-with dreams defined as images that appear during sleep, vision as images appearing spontaneously without conscious intention while the person is awake, and fantasies as people’s purposely generated images when awake (1999: 58).
Jung also gives three categories of variables in dream theory “(a) the sources
of dream content, (b) the nature of symbols, and (c) function of dreams.” Here is the
explanation about those three categories (1999: 59-60).
a. Sources of Dreams Content
Dreams images can originate from three main sources-current environmental
stimuli, memories from the past and recent everyday experience.
b. Function of Dreams
Dreams reflect people’s basic nature, in the sense that dream are impartial,
c. The Nature of Symbol
In this case, Jung agreed with Freud, images are the languages of dream with
grammar unlike that of walking thoughts.
The next theory of dream is from Alfred Adler. This theory is applied in this
thesis because both Adler and Jung have several similarities in their theory.
Montague Ullman in his essay entitled Dreaming, Life Style, and Psychology: a
Comment on Adler’s View of Dream, stated about Adler’s theory of dream.
“Dreaming is a state of consciousness occurring during states of partial arousal.
Under normal circumstances these states of partial arousal are brought about
recur-rently throughout the night as a result of physiological factors impinging upon and
influencing the threshold of the reticular activating system.”
(http://siivola.org/monte/papers_grouped/copyrighted/Dreams/Dreaming_Life_Style_
and_Physiology.htm). Ullman also give Adler’s view of the dream. Adler has five
views.
1. Any explanation concerning the meaning of dreams must not offend common
sense.
2. Dreams are the product of a particular life style and, in turn, build up and enforce
this style.
3. Dreams have to be understood in terms of the individual's orientation to his own
future.
4. The use of the metaphor lends itself to the task of stirring up feelings. If dreams
5. The dreamer engages in a tendentious ordering of experience so as to facilitate
self-deception.
Macrobius From Commentary on the Dream of Scipio in The Norton
Anthology of Theory and Criticism written by Vincent B Leitch. gives some
classification of dream. Macrobius classified dream into five types (2001:198-199).
1. Enigmatic Dream
Enigmatic dream is dream that conceal with strange shapes and veils with
ambiguity the true meaning of the information being offered, and requires an
interpretation for its understanding.
2. Prophetic Vision
We called a dream a prophetic vision if it actually comes true.
3. Oracular Dream
We called a dream oracular in which a parent, or a pious or revered man, or a
priest, or even a god clearly reveals what will or will not transpire, and what
action to take or to avoid.
4. Nightmare
Nightmare may be caused by mental or physical distress, or anxiety about the
future.
5. Apparition Dream
The apparition comes upon one in the moment between wakefulness and slumber,
The last two of that classification of dream, nightmare, and apparition dream are not
worth interpreting since they have no prophetic significance.
C. Theoretical Framework
The theories written above have an important role for the study. The theory
of “character” in Stanton’s Introduction to Fiction and Holman and Harmon’s A
Handbook to Literature, and theory of characterization in Murphy’s Understanding
Unseen and by Holman and Harmon are used to analyze Antoinette’s characteristics
and to get a better understanding of the characteristics of Antoinette.
After her characterization is clearly understood, then it is important to find
Antoinette’s dreams, the interpretation of her dreams. For this step, the writer used
Jung’s theory of dream in Thomas R. Murray’s Human Development Theories and
Adler’s theory of dream in Montague Ullman’s essay entitled Dreaming, Life Style,
and Psychology: a Comment on Adler’s View of Dream. After the character and
dream of Antoinette one clearly understood, the next step was try to find the
contribution of Antoinette’s dreams toward her character development as seen in the
story.
17 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study to be analyzed in this thesis is a novel entitled
Wide Sargasso Sea written by Jean Rhys and was first published by Penguin
Books in 1966. This novel is an autobiographical novel of the writer. Wide
Sargasso Sea is a sensational novel, since this novel won the Royal Society of
Literature Award and the W.H. Smith Award on its first edition. This novel is
consists of 120 pages and is divided into three parts.
This study took Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea as the main object, and the
main character of this novel became the focus to be analyzed especially the main
character’s dreams. The main character in this novel was Antoinette Cosway.
Throughout the story, she experiences three dreams in her lifetime. First, when
she was a child, she dreamed about somebody who closes with her but hates her.
Second, it took place when she was in her 17, her dreams was about world
according to Antoinette interpretation. The third dream took place when she was
transformed into Bertha Mason. At that time, she dreamed about when she is
wearing a dress and color of her dress changed. The first part of the novel tells
about Antoinette’s childhood as a Creole in oppressive, colonialist society. At this
time, she got her first and second dreams. This part tells about the time when
Antoinette experienced oppression from her community. Her life changed when
when the house was burned down by local people, her little brother died, and then
her mother goes mad and died too. Then, she was sent away to school. When she
left from the age of seventeen, she was a wealthy heiress and her fate sealed. The
second and the third part of this novel tells about Antoinette’s meeting with a
young Englishman, Rochester, who was attracted to her innocent sensuality and
beauty when she was transformed into Bertha Mason. After their marriage, the
rumors began, poisoning her husband against her. Caught between her demands
and her own precarious sense of belonging, Antoinette was driven towards
madness. At the third part when she was transformed into Bertha Mason,
Antoinette got the third dream.
B. Approach of the Study
In order to get a better understanding about the character development of
Antoinette Cosway, the writer will apply the psychological approach. It has been
mentioned in A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature that “the crucial
limitation of psychological approach is that psychological interpretation can
afford many profound clues toward solving a work’s thematic and symbolic
mysteries” (1999: 126). According to the same book, “the psychological approach
can seldom account for the beautiful symmetry of a well-wrought poem or of a
fictional masterpiece” (1999: 126). Thus, basically the psychological approach
can be applied in literature as a tool for reading beneath the lines. Mary
mention that psychological approach is a viewpoint from where readers could
observe certain human recurrent pattern.
Like mythopoeic approach to literature, the psychological involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent pattern. Unlike the mythopoeic approach, it draws on a different body of knowledge-most often on that offered by Sigmund Freud and his followers. This is not to say that all psychological criticism postdates Freud (1971: 14).
From the explanation above, it is understood that psychological approach
is aimed to observe literature specifically by using the theory of psychology, in
which the pattern of human mind is widely studied. The most often theory that is
used in this approach is one proposed by the founding father of psychology,
Sigmund Freud. Here, psychological theory is utilized as the basis of the
observation. In this case, the observation of the study will focus on the dream of
the main character. This is where the psychological approach play its role because
the theory of dream is highly related to the theory of psychological.
Nevertheless, there is still a wide possibility for using other experts’ theories since
this body of knowledge is developed through time.
C. Method of the Study
The library research method was employed to conduct this thesis. The
object of analysis for this thesis was a novel entitled Wide Sargasso Sea. The
reading part took more than three times for the writer to get a better understanding
of the novel itself. The writer also compiled some sources from the internet to
support this analysis. To answer the problem formulation, the writer applied a
psychological approach and there were some steps that the writer took to obtain
In the first step, the writer started to read the novel, Wide Sargasso Sea,
as the main data. While reading the novel, the writer paid more attention to
Antoinette’s dialogues and actions as the main character in the novel. Having read
the novel, the writer also read some criticism about Wide Sargasso Sea. These
activities would provide me with appropriate information about the novel.
The second, related to the first question in the problem formulation, the
writer would analyze the description of Antoinette by applying Murphy’s theory
in Understanding Unseen about character and characterization. Theories of dream
would be applied on the third step in order to revealed Antoinette’s dreams
throughout the story. The last step, to answer the last question in the problem
formulation, the writer would use theories. The purpose was to reveal the
contribution of Antoinette’s dreams toward her character development. After all
steps were finished, the writer presented a conclusion for the study.
21 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
As stated in the first chapter, this analysis deals with three parts.
This thesis will focus on the influence or the contribution of dreams towards
the character development of Antoinette as the main character in Wide
Sargasso Sea. Since the main character in the novel is Antoinette, the first
part of the analysis discuss further about the characterization of Antoinette.
It is important to have an understanding the characterization of Antoinette
because with this method we can know her character changes before and
after she has dreams. Characterization of Antoinette is still divided into two
parts, the first is on her childhood until she is a teenager and the second part
is on her marriage life. This division gives a more specific description about
Antoinette and the changes of Antoinette’s characteristic.
The second part of the analysis deals with Antoinette’s dream.
This part tries to find Antoinette’s dream and find the meaning of those
dreams. Antoinette’s dreams will be found in two different times.
The third part of the analysis deals with the contribution of
Antoinette’ dreams toward her character development. This part discusses
A. The Characterization of Antoinette
1. The Characterization of Antoinette during her Childhood
Antoinette Mason/Cosway spent her childhood in Coulibri estate.
As a little girl, she never experienced beautiful moments during her early
life. Her personality is introvert, and she feels that she lives in a solitude
life. ‘I got used to a solitary life, but my mother still planned and hoped -
perhaps she had to hope every time she passed a looking glass. (p. 3)’. From
the quotation, it is quite clear that one of the reasons why Antoinette feels
that she lives a solitary life is because of her mother. Antoinette feels that
her solitary life is the reflection of her mother’s life in which her mother is
the joke of the community. Another reason why Antoinette feels that she
lives a solitary life is because she feels that no one will believe in what she
says. “I ran away and did not speak of it for I thought if I told no one it
might not be true. (p. 4)”. Antoinette seems to have a prejudice to other
people, she never tries to have a conversation to other people but she just
believes that they do not believe in her
Another strong point of Antoinette’s characteristic is insecurity. Her
feeling insecure does not contain only physical context but also
psychological. As an introvert person, she counts on her parents especially
her mother to protect her. She always feels that she is not secure wherever
she is even though it is in her own house. Her feeling of insecure in her own
house is not only a physical insecurity where one feels insecure from a
insecure is a result of a bad experience in the past. Whenever she feels
uncomfortable usually, she feels insecure.
Once I would have gone back quietly to watch her asleep on the blue sofa-once I made excuses to be near her when she brushed her hair, a soft black cloak to cover me, hide me, keep me safe.
When I was safely home, I sat close to the old wall at the end of
always feels insecure. Here, she clearly states that what she always thinks
about is how she can be in a safe situation, especially how to be safe from a
stranger.
I lay thinking, ‘I am safe. There is the corner of the bedroom door and the friendly furniture. There is the tree of life in the garden and the wall green with moss. The barrier of the cliffs and the high mountains. And the barrier of the sea. I am safe. I am safe from stranger. (p. 10)
As an introvert person, she does not like to have a conversation or
a situation where she has to meet other people instead of her family. She
knows that they do not believes her and this situation will make her feel
insecure. If she has to go somewhere, she will prefer meeting animal or any
other things except people along the way.
ants, rain that soaked me to the skin-once I saw a snake. All better than people.
Better. Better, better than people. (p. 11)
Antoinette also feels insecure when the dark comes. For her,
darkness cannot give her the safe condition. Antoinette will feel comfortable
and secure if she is in bright place and she will feel insecure when she
cannot see the sun. In this condition, she wished to have someone like
Christophine, a black slave who take cares of Antoinette, or a dog that can
protects her when Christophine is not at her side.
I left a light on the chair by my bed and waited for Christophine, for I liked to see her last thing. But she did not come, and as the candle burned down, the safe peaceful feeling left me. I wished I had a big Cuban dog to lie by my bed and protect me, I wished I had not heard a noise by the bamboo clump, or that I were very young again, for then I believed in my stick (p. 17-18).
From Antoinette’s statement above, we can see the reason why
she feels insecure and depends on Christophine. At that time, apparently,
she finds a long narrow piece of wood from which Christophine knocks the
nails out. As a little girl, Antoinette really believes that the piece of wood or
the stick can protect her from anything or from the worst as long as she has
it near her. She really believes that it can protect her because as a child she
also believes that everything is alive including the stick.
When she grows up, she does not have that stick anymore. She
understands that the stick or any other inanimate thing cannot protect her.
Therefore, now she depends on Christophine and a big Cuban dog to protect
The reason why Antoinette always feels insecure is also influenced
by her mother’s statement that the society in Coulibri estate is not secure
and good for her family although here she said that it is not safe for Pierre,
Antoinette’s little brother.
He sighed. ‘I feel very well here. However, we’ll arrange something. Quite soon.’
‘I will not stay at Coulibri any longer,’ my mother said. ‘It is not safe. It is not safe for Pierre.’ (p. 16)
The quotation above reflects how her mother’s statement gives a
big effect to Antoinette. As a little girl, she believes what an adult people
say especially her own mother. Antoinette’s mother saying that the society
is not secure because people do not like a black people whom married with a
white man. In this case, Antoinette’s mother married to Mr. Mason, a rich
white man, for her second husband.
2. The Characterization of Antoinette during her Marriage Time
Jean Rhys puts Antoinette’s characterization in marriage life in
part two. In this part, the narrator is not Antoinette anymore but Rochester,
her husband. Although in this part Rochester is the main narrator, Antoinette
is still the narrator in several parts. As the narrator of this part, the
discussion about the characterization of Antoinette is from the point of view
of Rochester. Although this part is dominated with Rochester, still,
Antoinette becomes the narrator for a small part where Antoinette shows her
It is stated earlier that Antoinette is insecure for some reasons,
such as stranger, laughter. After her marriage with Rochester apparently she
cannot get rid of her fear of those things. This situation confuses Rochester
because he does not really know her well before marriage and he does not
She shook her head. ‘Of nothing, of everything.’ Someone knocked and she said ‘It’s only Christophine.’ ‘The old woman who was your nurse? Are you afraid of her?’ ‘No, how could I be?’
‘If she taller,’I said, ‘one of these strapping women dressed up to nines, I might be afraid of her.’(p.42)
Rochester also tries to ensure Antoinette that there is nothing to be
afraid of, but it seems useless no matter how hard he tries to ensure her.
From the quotation below, we can see that she married to Rochester is not a
guarantee for her to feel secure. It is possible that Rochester can give
security physically, but not in Antoinette’s heart or feeling. No matter she
has him or not, she will feel insecure.
‘You don’t wish to marry me?’ ‘No.’ She spoke in a very low voice. ‘But why?’
‘I’m afraid of what may happen.’
‘But don’t you remember last night I told you that when you are my wife there would not be any more reason to be afraid?’
It seems that when Rochester tells her not to worry or not to be
afraid anymore, Antoinette already tries to be brave or tries his suggestion
but she cannot help it when she has to deal with the reality. As it is stated in
the quotation above, she becomes frightened when she sees Rochester
laughs. Besides, Antoinette has also fear of being happy as implied in the
quotation below.
‘And lose my own? Who’d be so foolish?’
‘I am not used to happiness,’ she said. ‘It makes me afraid.’ ‘Never be afraid. Or if you tell no one.’
‘I understand. But trying does not help me (p.54).’
The quotation above clearly shows that Antoinette also has a
reasonable fear that is happiness. She is afraid that her happiness for what
she has right now is not forever, and that she might lose it all at once or
someone takes it away from her. In other words, Antoinette is afraid of the
condition that she might lose things that make her happy.
A dream for Antoinette is like another world where she can be a
brave person. The only thing that can make her brave of anything is dream.
It is possible that for Antoinette she can be brave in dream because it is only
dream and it is not real, when she wakes up from her dream it will be gone.
‘It was so hot that my night chemise was sticking to me but I went to sleep all the same. And then suddenly I was awake. I saw two enormous rats, as big as cats, on the sill staring at me.’
‘I’m not astonished that you were frightened.’
‘But I was not frightened. That was the strange thing. I stared at them and they did not move. I could see myself in the looking-glass the other side of the room, in my white chemise with a frill round the neck, staring at those rats and the rats quite still, staring at me.’
‘I turned over, pulled up the sheet and went to sleep instantly.’ ‘And is that the story?’
‘No, I woke up again suddenly like the first time and the rats were no there but I felt very frightened. I got out of bed quickly and ran on the veranda. I lay down in this hammock. This one.’ (p.48)
The quotation above shows that Antoinette is confidence when she
has dream. This condition becomes an irony because many times we can see
how frightens she is in real life. That dream shows that Antoinette cannot
differentiate between reality and dream. Dream is a place where she is not
afraid anymore although when she wakes up she is frightened, but the point
here is she has confident in her dream.
From Rochester’s point of view, Antoinette also has a
characteristic that she is an inconsistent person. The fact that she is
inconsistent even in a small thing confuses him.
She was undecided, uncertain about fact-any fact. When I asked her if the snakes we sometimes saw were poisonous, she said, ‘Not those. The fer de lance of course, but there are none here,’ and added, ‘but how can they be sure? Do you think they know? Then, ‘Our snakes are not poisonous. Of course not.’(p.52)
The argument between Antoinette and Rochester above makes him
see Antoinette as an inconsistent person. She easily changes her opinion.
Antoinette’s argument is confusing. First, she is sure and insistently about
her opinion, and disagrees with her husband’s opinion but suddenly she is
not sure of her own opinion. It shows that Antoinette is selfish because she
does not want her opinion argued and does not accept someone’s opinion,
though she is also not sure about her own opinion. Besides selfish,
little girl, teach him about her song, or if something wrong and she is not beautiful girl said to her mother (No it is not like that. Now listen. It is this way). She’d be silent, or angry for no reason, and chatter to Christophine in patois. (p.55)
Rochester does not know whether he married an adult or a child.
When she is angry with Rochester, she always comes to Christophine like a
child to her mother. Antoinette does not realize that she is now a housewife
not a teenager or child anymore. The positive things that she act as if she is
little girl is that she face the new day with happiness. She will not be sad,
the new day will make her fresh as she has not any problem. She seems do
not has time to think about her problem or her life, for her the important garden and sometimes when I was thirsty I licked raindrops from the jasmine leaves after a shower. (p.83)
As a wife, Antoinette is not good in domestic jobs; Rochester feels
that Antoinette is a careless person. In this case, as a married woman, she
does not know how to manage and control the money that Rochester gives
We did not see a great deal of them. The kitchen and the swarming kitchen life were some way off. As for the money which she handed out so carelessly, not counting it, not knowing how much she gave, or the unfamiliar faces that appeared then disappeared, though never without a large meal eaten and a shot of rum I discovered-sister, cousins, aunts and uncles-if she asked no questions how could I? (p.53-54)
It is probably caused by the fact that from childhood until adult
Antoinette is always taken care by Christophine and it makes her dependent
upon Christophine. In other word, Antoinette is a spoiled person. As seen
from the quotation above, Antoinette does not really care about domestic
jobs, such as, the sanitation of the kitchen and the kitchen itself left
abandoned. She is also careless on managing the money from Rochester.
Antoinette does not know how she manages the money. From the statement
that Rochester sees many unfamiliar faces, it can be seen that Antoinette
gives more attention to her friends or relatives than her marriage life.
The other characteristic of Antoinette that Rochester hates is lazy.
The cause of this one is the same with the previous characteristic that she is
careless. The dependence toward Christophine makes her lazy.
Her little fan was on the table, she took it up laughing, lay back and shut her eyes. ‘I think I won’t get up this morning.’
‘Not get up. Not get up at all?’
‘I’ll get up when I wish to. I’m very lazy you know. Like Christophine. I often stay in bed all day.’ (p. 51)
Her laziness is annoying Rochester. He does not understand how
Antoinette can be like that. Antoinette clearly admits that she is lazy. Here,
she uses Christophine for her reason. She will follow or imitate what
the consequence of being taken care from childhood until marriage by
Christophine, and Rochester does not like this at all.
Bad tempered is another Antoinette’s characteristic that can be
found in her marriage time. For some reasons, her being bad temper is
caused by Rochester’s treatment. Rochester calling Antoinette as Bertha
makes her angry because she is aware that she is not Bertha.
When I turned from the window she was drinking again. ‘Bertha, ‘I said.
‘Bertha is not my name. You are trying to make me into someone else, calling me by another name. I know, that’s obeah too.’ (p.94)
The quotation abvoe shows how Antoinette cannot stand the way
Rochester calls her. This part is the starting point of Antoinette’s bad
temper. In the quotation above, Antoinette says that when Rochester calling
and changing her name into Bertha is obeah. Obeah for the people in
Caribbean society is ‘kinds of cast spelled and used in witchcraft against
their victim and, above all, could change them into zombies, or the living
deads.’ Antoinette accuses Rochester of using obeah to change her into
Bertha. By calling Antoinette Bertha, Antoinette feels that she is only
Rochester’s Zombie. The moment when Rochester calls Antoinette as
Bertha becomes a trigger for Antoinette’s bad temper.
I managed to hold her wrist with one hand and the rum with the other, but when I felt her teeth in my arm I dropped the bottle. The smell filled the room. But I was angry now and she saw it. She smashed another bottle against the wall and stood with the broken glass in her hand and murder in her eyes.
B. Antoinette’s Dreams
Antoinette has three major dreams that appear in Wide Sargasso Sea
and each dream takes place at different time. The first dream appears at her
childhood, the second at her teenage, and the last one during her marriage
with Rochester. Here the writer tries to analyze Antoinette’s dreams and
tries to interpret those dreams.
1. Antoinette’s First Dream
Antoinette’s first dream happens during her childhood on the night
sleep after she plays a whole day with her playmate name Tia. That day,
both of them play in a bathing pool. They bet whether or not Antoinette
could do a somersault under water as if that she can do it. Apparently,
Antoinette can do it although not perfect but Tia takes her money anyway.
As she takes Antoinette’s money, she also steals Antoinette’s dress and left
hers. Finally, Antoinette goes home with Tia’s dress in her hand and hatred
in her heart.
When she is coming home, she sees three visitors in her house two
young ladies and a young gentleman. She runs into her room when she sees
them because she hates strangers. When her mother sees her wearing Tia’s
dress, she asks Christophine to change the dress with muslin dress but it is
torn when she forces it on. In the evening, her mother does not talk to nor
even look at her.
That day is a bad day for young Antoinette. The complete bad
experience that she has been through that day is carried away in her dream.
Regarding the quotation above, the dream states that she is followed by
someone who hates her. The person who follows her is not specifically
described. The ambiguity of the threat in her dream suggests she does not
understand her fears, and reflects her bewilderment and fear of Tia's
rejection of her.
The dream starts with Antoinette walking in the forest. A forest itself
represents a condition instead of a place. It represents a condition or a
situation that she cannot control. She does not realize the situation that will
appear in her future life and this condition becomes her fear and threat for
her life.
She states that she is with someone who hates her, it is possible that the
person is Tia, because on that day she was cheated by Tia and she takes
Antoinette’s money and clothes, it seems that this fact changes into a big
hatred to Tia. It is like an effect from the experience she encountered in the
afternoon, but if it is analyze further and if we see dream as a unity, we
know that someone who hate her is a man because this person has heavy
footsteps. According to Dream Dictionary in
(http://www.soulfuture.com/dream_dictionary/dream_dictionary_index_d.as
p), forest is represents growth. Hence, walking in the forest means that she
will growth in terms of her life phase. The forest also represents confusion,
marriage is just like a forest that can make people who enter there will be
confuse or blind of direction. Later on, in the novel, it will be understood
that Antoinette gets married to Rochester not based on love but based on
their condition. Hence, heavy footsteps here represent Rochester. Before
they get married, both Rochester and Antoinette are in a condition where
they are afraid that they will not get married for the rest of their life. At that
time, they are old enough to get married but none of them has a girlfriend or
a boyfriend. Therefore, it is obvious that their marriage is not based on love,
and later on the next part of the novel, Antoinette will find out that
Rochester does not love her. For example, he tries to change her personality
by calling her Bertha.
According to Macrobius’ classification of dream, Antoinette’s first
dream can be classified as a prophetic vision dream. Antoinette’s first dream
refers to her unhappy marriage life in her future. Antoinette does not realize
that her dream is the reflection of her future life, she only realize that her
dream is just the reflection of bewilderment and fear of Tia’s rejection. Her
dream is like a clue of her future life that she will be married to someone
who does not love her.
2. Antoinette’s Second Dream
Antoinette’s second dream appears when she lives in school
dormitory on the day when her stepfather visits her at her serene convent
school and tells her that he is arranging for suitors to visit her. She lives
Coulibri estate. Her stepfather sends her to school outside of Coulibri estate
to make her safe.
Again I have left the house at Coulibri. It is still night and I am walking towards the forest. I am wearing a long dress and thin slippers, so I walk with difficulty, following the man who is with me and holding up the skirt of my dress. It is white and beautiful and I don't wish to get it soiled. I follow him, sick with fear but I make no effort to save myself; if anyone were to try to save me, I would refuse. This must happen. Now we have reached the forest. We are under the tall dark trees and there is no wind. "Here?" He turns and looks at me, his face black with hatred, and when I see this I begin to cry. He smiles slyly. "Not here, not yet," he says, and I follow him, weeping. Now I do not try to hold up my dress, it trails in the dirt, my beautiful dress. We are no longer in the forest but in an enclosed garden surrounded by a stone wall and the trees are different trees. I do not know them. There are steps leading upwards. It is too dark to see the wall or the steps, but I know they are there and I think, "It will be when I go up these steps. At the top." I stumble over my dress and cannot get up. I touch a tree and my arms hold on to it. 'Here, here.' But I think I will not go any further. The tree sways and jerks as if it is trying to throw me off. Still I cling and the seconds pass and each one is a thousand years. "Here, in here," a strange voice said, and the tree stopped swaying and jerking. (p.34)
Compared to the first dream, “Walking in the forest with someone
who hates me (p.10)”, in this second dream, the clue of “some one” is more
specific. Her second dream mentioned that “someone” as a “man” who is
“black with hatred.” In her second dream, she wears “a long dress” which
color is white and “thin slippers” that makes her walk difficultly. A long
white dress represents a wedding dress and thin slippers that make her walk
difficultly represents her marriage that will not be easy and she will faces
many troubles in her marriage time. The man who is “black with hatred”
represents Rochester. Her reluctance to join the man represents her
to follow the man in the dream, "I make no effort to save myself; if anyone
were to try to save me, I would refuse. This must happen," foreshadows how
she masochistically and insistently lays herself of marrying Rochester. "We
are no longer in the forest but in an enclosed garden," corresponds to
Antoinette's future relocation to England. The "different trees" are English
trees Antoinette has never encountered in the Caribbean. The "enclosed
garden" and the ascent up the steps prefigure Antoinette's imprisonment in
Rochester's attic.
From that dream, Antoinette can see that the man who is leading her
has a face that is black with hatred. The color black here is not the color of
that man face but the aura of hatred that makes his face darker. In other
words, Antoinette knows since the beginning that Rochester does not really
love her and she knows that it must be happens because it is her destiny. It
can be seen from Antoinette’s statement that even though she is sick with
fear, she follows him anyway and she does not do anything to help her self.
If there is any one that tries to help her, she will refuse it too. Her second
dream is like the continuity of her first dream. In her first dream, she knows
that she is with someone who hates her but he is still out of sight. This time,
in her second dream, she can see the face the person who follows her with
hatred, and now she even follows him. She also says that when she follows
him, she weeps, and she does not try to hold up her beautiful dress that
3Antoinette’s Third Dream
Antoinette’s third dream is in part three of the novel. The dream
itself takes almost half of the part three. The third dream comes the night
after Grace Poole tells Antoinette that she has attacked Richard Mason. In
the first part of her dream, she takes the keys from a sleeping Grace Poole,
gets herself out of the attic, and floats through the house.
In my dream, I waited till she began to snore, then I got up, took the keys and let myself out with a candle in my hand.” (p.121)
Dress appears in her second dream and so does in her third dream.
Her third dream begins with her opening a closet where a red dress is
hanging inside. When she opens it, she firstly recognizes the color, which
she associates with the color of fire and sunset. The color in this third dream
is red. It means that there is a change of something in her life. According to
Dream Dictionary in (http://www.dream-land.info/dream_dictionary.php),
the dress represents personality, red dress in represents strong sexual desire,
sin, rage, and the devil.
As soon as I turned the key, I saw it hanging, the color of fire and sunset (p.119).
The scent that came from the dress was very faint at first, and then it grew stronger. The smell of vetiver and frangipani, of cinnamon and dust and lime trees when they are flowering. The smell of the sun and the smell of the rain.
I was wearing a dress of that color when Sandi came to see me for the last time (p.120).
I took the red dress down and put it against myself. ‘Oh put it away,’ Grace Poole said.
I let the dress fall on the floor, and looked from the fire to the dress and from the dress to the fire (p. 120-121).
The next thing that she recognizes in the dream is the scent that
comes from the dress. That she can identify the scent that comes from that
dress means that she is quite familiar with the scent. The scent that comes
from the dress represents something from her past. The scent brings her
back to her childhood memories. The smell of vetiver and frangipani,
cinnamon, dust, and lime trees when they are flowering; and the smell of the
sun and the rain are the scents that appear in her past time in Coulibri.
Twice a year the octopus orchid flowered – then not an inch of tentacles showed. It was a bell-shaped mass of white, mauve, deep purples, wonderful to see. The scent was very sweet and strong. I never went near it (p.4-5).
The red dress becomes the emphasis in the third dream. She really
likes the color. One of the reasons why she likes the color is because it
reminds her of Sandi, her cousin, and the last time they see each other. ‘I
was wearing a dress of that color when Sandi came to see me for the last
time (p.120).’ The red dress brings back many memories for Antoinette such
as her childhood and Sandi.
In the next paragraph, Antoinette takes the red dress down and put it
against her. She wonders whether they do something bad with her dress or
whether they change her red dress. Her question ‘Does it make me look
intemperate and unchaste (p.120)?’ can be addressed to herself because she
can question whether her marriage changes her personality. Deep down in
how could they get the scent?” it means that she still can recognize her
personality before it changed. It seems that Antoinette likes the color
because in her third dream, there are many things that have red color and the
dress is one of them.
At the last, I was in the hall where a lamp was burning. I remember that when I came. A lamp and the dark staircase and the veil over my face. They think I don’t remember but I do. There was a door to the right. I opened it and went in. It was a large room with a red carpet and red curtain. Every thing else was white (p.121-122).
When she passes a lamp in the hall, Antoinette remarks “I remember
that when I came,” thus shifting from her dream to an episodic memory.
When she continues, “There was a door to the right,” it is not clear whether
she is narrating from the dream or the memory. This passage thus reveals
Antoinette’s confusion between dream and memory.
In her dream, she is suddenly in Aunt Cora’s room where she sees
many wax candles and she hates them. She knocks them down and one of
the candles caught the thin curtains.
Suddenly I was in Aunt Cora’s room. I saw the sunlight coming from through the window, the tree outside and the shadow of the leaves on the floor, but I saw the wax candles too and I hated them. So I knocked them all down (p.122).
Later in the dream, Antoinette shifts her descriptions between
Thornfield and Coulibri without shift, “Suddenly I was in Aunt Cora’s
room.” At first, it is describing a view from a window at Coulibri and then a
set of candles at Thornfield, Antoinette again shifts from memory to dream
without distinguishing the dream and reality. “I saw the sunlight coming
floor, but I saw the wax candles too and I hated them.” Again, the narrative
maintains no distinction between the states of consciousness, because in that
dream she states that she is in a conscious state when she sees the candles,
that is why she implies that she does not like the candles.
I laughed when I saw the lovely color spreading so fast, but I did not stay to watch it. I went into the hall again with the tall candle in my hand. It was then that I saw her – the ghost. The woman with streaming hair. She was surrounded by a gilt frame but I knew her (p.122).
Antoinette likes the color of fire and that is why she laughs when she
sees the fire spread out. After that, she runs to the hall but when she is in a
hall, she sees a ghost in a shape of a woman with streaming hair. Antoinette
states that she knows the ghost. It is possible that it reflects the guilty feeling
because she caused the fire.
After she sees the ghost, she runs outside into the yard. In the yard,
she looks into the sky. “It was red and all my life was in it (p.123).” The
house means so much for Antoinette because her whole life is in that house.
All of a sudden, the fractions of her life pass her mind and between the
flashes of her memories, she even thinks about committing suicide by
jumping to a hard stones. She hesitates for a moment; she hears Rochester
calling her, Bertha. She screams and wakes up from her dream.
Antoinette sets fire to a set of curtains and then a tablecloth in her
dream. When she calls Christophine for help, she believes that Christophine
will be the first person that she will ask for help whenever she is in a
difficult situation.
I saw the grandfather clock and Aunt Cora's patchwork, all colours, I saw the orchids and the stephanotis and the jasmine and the tree of life in flames. I saw the chandelier and the red carpet downstairs and the bamboos and the tree ferns, the gold ferns and the silver, and the soft green velvet of the moss on the garden wall. I saw my doll's house and the books and the picture of the Miller's Daughter. I heard the parrot call as he did when he saw a stranger, Qui est la? Qui est la? and the man who hated me was calling too, Bertha! Bertha! The wind caught my hair and it streamed out like wings. It might bear me up, I thought, if I jumped to those hard stones. But when I looked over the edge I saw the pool at Coulibri. Tia was there. She beckoned to me and when I hesitated, she laughed. I heard her say, You frightened? And I heard the man's voice, Bertha! Bertha! All this I saw and heard in a fraction of a second. And the sky so red. Someone screamed and I thought Why did I scream? I called "Tia!" and jumped and woke (p.123)
Antoinette’s third dream also exposes several of her emotions. First,
she evokes nostalgia. Gazing over the ramparts at Thornfield, she sees the
pool at Coulibri. The images of the "the orchids and the stephanotis and the
jasmine" and her doll's house reminds her back to her relatively innocent
and safe childhood in the Caribbean. The fire itself may represent a
transformation from cold, stony, drab England to warm, passionate, colorful
Caribbean. Antoinette's anguish at the corruption of her identity is also
present in the final scene of her dream. Antoinette's inability to recognize
her voice as the source of the scream also reflects her loss of identity. Her
perception of Rochester's calls to "Bertha," an identity he imposed upon
Antoinette, suggest Rochester's role in this loss. While the doll's house is an
image of Antoinette's childhood, it also suggests another identity Rochester
C. The Contribution of Antoinette’s Dreams to Her Character Development
Antoinette’s first dream mentions that she walks in the forest with
someone who hates her, or in other words, ‘someone’ here is a stranger. The
dream of walking with a stranger makes her realize how a stranger makes
her worried and afraid. In reality, it makes her believe that a stranger will be
a threat to her life. That is why she always feels insecure especially from a
stranger.
I lay thinking, I am safe. There is the corner of the bedroom door and the friendly furniture. There is the tree of life in the garden and the wall green with moss. The barrier of the cliffs and the high mountains. And the barrier of the sea. I am safe. I am safe from stranger (p.10).
Antoinette will find the way or place where she will feel secure
especially from a stranger. As an introvert person, a stranger is similar to an
enemy that will threaten her life, although that stranger is not a real threat
for her. Besides, her first dream becomes the first phase of her character
development. Deep down in her unconsciousness she realizes that her life
will never be the same again. It means that her life starts to change
differently such as Tia who never meets her again or Antoinette starts to
find her own world. After her first dream, she starts to realize the changes,
the changes that she will face in her next life.
