Modernity and Social Justice in Post-Colonial Literature

Post colonialism focuses on a historical phase undergone by Third World countries

after colonialism came to an end. Colonialism refers to the cultural and epistemological
conquest of native populations like Asian, African, Australian and South-African people,
which became colonies of European powers during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Europeans settled in non-European spaces, exploiting the native races,
destroying their cultures, and establishing their supremacy in terms of race, knowledge,
technological advancement and political systems.
Earlier the puritans, who migrated from Europe to other parts of the world,
assimilated themselves into nature cultures. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
however the settlers or colonizers tried to retain their identity in new spaces, either by
altering or destroying native cultures and thus often producing new hybrid forms. The
violence perpetrated upon the natives by the European settlers through economic,
political and military modes; the study of non-European cultures by European
academicians and scholars and the slow transformation of native systems are the focus of
attention in post-colonial literature.
Post-colonial literature highlights the issues of colonization, decolonization and
racialism. The tug-of-war between an old identity rooted in native systems of thought and
a new identity enforced by a dominant culture in prominent here. Thus writing back,
re-writing and re-reading become part of the new body of writing. The challenges that

post-colonial writers face include resurrecting their culture and trying to cope with new
hybridized paradigms of thinking.
The works of many intellectual giants that have uninfluenced post-colonialism
include In Other Worlds by Gayathri Spivak, The Empire Writes Back by Bill
Ashcroft, Nation And Narration by Homi Bhabha and Culture and Imperialism by
Edward Said. Edward Saids orientalism enumerated on the typical discourse about the
East as envisaged by the West. Said critiques the Western image of the Eastern other
presented as irrational and different. Gayathri Spivak examines the dialogue between
the male-dominated world and female subjects who are often silenced by institutions that
oppress her. Frantz Fanon railed against emerging national regimes with imperialistic
attitudes. Homi Bhabhas postcolonial theory proposes a dialogic model of nationalities,
ethnicities, and identities evident in hybridity.
Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea is a typical example of a post-colonial
novel that exposes conflicts spanning social identity, cultural identity and national
identity. The novel, written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre is retold from
the perspective of the subaltern protagonist, Antoinette Cosway who becomes the victim
of two competing ideologies the exotic Caribbean life and European modernism. A
potent piece of feminist rewriting, the novel attempts to subvert the traditional notions of
feminist liberalism. The poignant story of the West Indian mad woman and her gradual
descend into madness is realistically narrated in an aesthetic experiment, that exposes the
tyranny of patriarchy.

Modernist and postmodernist devices are also exploited in the novel. The
fragmented identities of the protagonists, the Creole womans voice that is often silenced,
the exploitative nature of the English colonial empire, the plight of the black Caribbeans
and their language, customs and religious beliefs have been brought under scrutiny. A
psychoanalytical reading of the text enables one to delve into the psyche of the main
characters. The unconscious fears that lurk in the collective unconscious of the human
race have been deftly manipulated in the novel to create a touching and realistic story.
The Romantic notions of passion, sublimity and the supernatural have also been evoked
to further the cause of the narrative. The novel also innovates stylistically, adopting
temporal and aesthetic schemes that reflect a racial and cultural pluralism. The tripartite
structures of the novel, the rapid leaps through time and space, the passionate snatches of
dialogue, the different points-of-view highlighted etc are some of the modern aspects of
the novel.
Issues of social justice also pre-dominate the novel. The oppression of slavery and
entrapment pervades Wide Sargasso Sea. The novel set in the West Indies in the early
nineteenth century, depicts the plight of the ex-slaves who worked on the sugar
plantations of wealthy Creoles. The Emancipation Act had freed the slaves by the time
Antoinette was a child but they had not been granted compensation and many of them
deeply resented the way they were treated by the white people. Annette often warns her
second husband, Mr Mason that the slaves harbour murderous thoughts, but he dismisses
her fears lightly, confident in his ability to control the slaves. Her fears prove to be true

one night when the freed slaves protest outside the house and accidently set the house on
fire. As a postcolonial work, the novel aligns its sympathies with the victims of racial
oppression. Enslavement also figures in the relationships depicted in the novel between
Annette and Alexander Cosway, between Antoinette and Mr Rochester. Feminine docility
and dependency on the male member of the family precipitates the demise of both
Annette and Antoinette. The novel also highlights the intricacies of racial complexity
among the people living there whites born in England, white Creoles who were the
descendents of Europeans who lived in the West Indies for one or more generations, the
black ex-slaves and the mixed races. Power structures are often reversed as conditions
change, and the interaction among the racial groups border on hostility. Demands for
social justice for the cause of the under-represented enhance the value of the novel.
In most of these rewritings, the writer decanonizes the master-slave relationships
and illumines the discriminatory nature of such relationships. The non-European is blight
on the English landscape. Bertha, the prototype of the mad Creole is a stereotype of the
tropical colony. The English gentleman, Mr Rochester has to marry Jane - the antipode
to Bertha. Rhys gives the voiceless Bertha in Jane Eyre a voice in Wide Sargasso Sea.
The demonish and beastial image of the mad wife in Brontes novel is thus humanized in
Rhyss novel and the personification of the marginalized, non-European Antoinette
reveals the biases of great European texts. Rhyss Rochester, who is never named, is a
bundle of ambivalent emotions and quite different from the distant, aloof hero in Brntes
novel. Another interesting subversion is the depiction of England and the Caribbean

Islands in the novels. Antoinette recalls her home in the Caribbean as Edenic, and she
detests Thornfield Hall as hell.
Thus Wide Sargasso Sea questions the European approach to native spaces from
a modernist perspective. Within the context of colonialism, slavery, superstition,
patriarchal structures and racial discrimination, the novel raises questions about
individual and social justice by espousing the cause of the downtrodden. Exploitative
geopolitics, transculturation, diasporic phenomenon involving loss of identity that
informs the works of postcolonial novels thus open discussions for deeper research.
Marks Awarded:-4.0/10
The paper was called 19th European Realism, not Postcolonial Literatures.
Nonetheless, thank you for sending in some assignment.