How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Section.Subsection [if applicable].Paragraph). Wide Sargasso Sea is divided into three parts. Within those parts, the novel does not number sections and subsections. This guide refers to sections if they are marked by an asterisk or some other symbol in the text. Within those sections, the novel indicates subsections by an extra line break.
Quote #1
"Of course they have their own misfortunes. Still waiting for this compensation the English promised when the Emancipation Act was passed. Some will wait for a long time." (I.1.1.3)
The novel sets the historical mood of the novel by mentioning the Emancipation Act on the very first page. By associating emancipation with "misfortunes," the novel explores how true freedom is impossible given the persistent social, political, and economic inequities on the island. (See "Setting" for a fuller discussion of the historical significance of the Act.)
Quote #2
No more slavery! She had to laugh! "These new ones have Letter of the Law. Same thing. They got magistrate. They got fine. They got jail house and chain gang. They got tread machine to mash up people's feet. New ones worse than old ones – more cunning, that's all." (I.1.3.25)
Christophine's cynicism reflects her own experience with the continuing racial injustice on the island. While blacks are no longer enslaved, they are persecuted in other ways by being treated as inferior citizens under the law. The use of the law is in some ways more hypocritical than slavery, because the law professes to be the expression of an idea of justice, while the institution of slavery didn't have such lofty moral pretensions.
Quote #3
My stepfather talked about a plan to import labourers – coolies he called them – from the East Indies. When Myra had gone out, Aunt Cora said, "I shouldn't discuss that if I were you. Myra is listening." (I.1.7.19)
Mr. Mason's comments here suggest that the ensuing riot could be seen as a form of class-based anger on the part of the black community. By importing laborers, Mr. Mason would be withholding jobs from the black community, further aggravating conditions of economic hardship.
Quote #4
"It's disgraceful," [Aunt Cora] said. "It's shameful. You are handing over everything the child owns to a perfect stranger. Your father would never have allowed it. She should be protected, legally. A settlement can be arranged and it should be arranged." (II.5.2.1)
Just as Christophine criticizes the law for its unfair treatment of blacks, Aunt Cora criticizes the law for its treatment of women as minors, as the subjects of their husbands, and demands legal protection for Antoinette.
Quote #5
"Then I will have the police up, I warn you. There must be some law and order even in this God-forsaken island."
"No police here," she said. "No chain gang, no tread machine, no dark jail either. This is free country and I am free woman."
"Christophine," I said, "you lived in Jamaica for years, and you know Mr. Fraser, the Spanish Town magistrate, well. I wrote to him about you. Would you like to hear what he answered?" (II.6.6.93)
By appealing to the police, Rochester aligns himself with the law (i.e. the political authority on the islands), the same authority that Christophine criticizes – almost word for word – in Quote #2. Rochester's reference to the law has an almost magical effect on Christophine as she immediately shuts up. Christophine's words also indicate why she remains in the British-occupied islands of the Caribbean, rather than in Martinique, the French colony she's originally from. At the time, slavery is still legal in the French empire, and she wouldn't be a "free woman."
Quote #6
"I thought you liked the black people so much," [Antoinette] said, still in that mincing voice, "but that's just a lie like everything else. You like the light brown girls better, don't you? You abused the planters and made up stories about them, but you do the same thing. You send the girl away quicker, and with no money or less money, and that's all the difference."
"Slavery was not a matter of liking or disliking," I said, trying to speak calmly. "It was a question of justice."
"Justice," she said. "I've heard that word. It's a cold word. I tried it out," she said, still speaking in a low voice. "I wrote it down several times and always it looked like a damn cold lie to me. There is no justice." She drank some more rum and went on. "My mother whom you all talk about, what justice did she have? My mother sitting in the rocking-chair speaking about dead horses and dead grooms and a black devil kissing her sad mouth. Like you kissed mine." (II.6.6.26)
In this quote, Antoinette chastises Rochester for his hypocrisy in sleeping with Amélie. Rochester tries to take the high road by talking about slavery as an abstract human rights issue, but Antoinette here voices the uncomfortable truth that the abolition of slavery didn't lead to the abolition of racial inequality on the island. She also compares Rochester and the man who was hired to take care of her mother. You might remember that Antoinette witnessed her mother's caretaker raping her mother (II.6.3). Antoinette is suggesting here that although Rochester is supposed to be the responsible husband who takes care of his wife, he is in fact figuratively raping her by taking her fortune and having sex with her without loving her. Imitating Rochester's English accent – the "mincing voice" – is part of her rhetorical strategy to rub his face in his own duplicity.
Quote #7
After all the house is big and safe, a shelter from the world outside which, say what you like, can be a black and cruel world to a woman. (III.1.2)
This passage from Grace Poole's narrative suggests her feeling of solidarity with Antoinette's fate, a feeling of solidarity that reaches across racial and cultural lines. This passage puts another twist on Brontë's Jane Eyre by implying that Grace Poole both consciously and unconsciously helped Antoinette wreak her revenge on both Richard Mason and Rochester.
Quote #8
"It was when he said 'legally' that you flew at him and when he twisted the knife out of your hand you bit him." (III.4.25)
As we saw in Quote #7, nothing ticks off Antoinette quite so much as when men bring up justice and the law to justify their exploitation of women, whether it's Rochester sleeping with Amélie or Richard signing Antoinette's fortune over to Rochester.
Quote #9
But I looked at the dress on the floor and it was as if the fire had spread across the room. It was beautiful and it reminded me of something I must do. I will remember I thought. I will remember quite soon now. (III.6.10)
The red dress serves as a concrete reminder for Antoinette of her task, which is never explicitly stated, but could be a reference to her vow to show Rochester exactly how much she hates him in Part II (II.6.6.33). The red dress's association with Antoinette's femininity and fire, which recalls the fire at Coulibri, suggests that the red dress is kind of a call to arms for Antoinette, an appeal for her to use the same mode of protest that the blacks used against Mr. Mason earlier in the novel. (See our discussion of Quote #3 above.) This connection is further stressed in the next section when Antoinette dreams of setting fire to Thornfield Hall.