Antoinette and Tia

While reading Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, one very interesting relationship is the one between Antoinette and Tia.  It was because of Christophine’s influence that Antoinette met Tia. I think Christophine really wanted Antoinette to have a friend and to have someone to play with. But I also think that Christophine wanted Antoinette to have a black friend. Though Christophine stayed with the Cosway family after she was set free, I think she knows that the Cosway’s were very racist and evil people. For her, opening up Antoinette to someone different than her might help her to be better (at least with the black people) than her reputation serves her.

While watching Antoinette and Tia's relationship develop, it is hard to say whether or not they are really friends. It seems like they are mutually bad friends to each other. I think the author poses the story to look at first like a little bit of friendly foes. But as it develops we see that the two girls are very influenced by what is going on around them. 

For Tia we can see that she knows about Antoinette's reputation. From the beginning it seems that she knows about Antoinette's family and their history. She knows that their new reputation is something that she can use to show Antoinette that she has no rank over her because of her race. "Old time white people nothing but white nigger now, and black nigger better than white nigger." But Tia simultaneously seems to be also conscious that Antoinette has more than her. The girls get into various quarrels with each other, but Tia is the one who takes the coins and the dress from Antoinette. I think this reflects this very difficult understanding of the relationship. But it also reflects Tia's want to be like Antoinette and have the things she has. Despite the fact that she has already told Antoinette that she isn't "better" like Antoinette seems to believe.

We see the same ideas again later on after the fire. Antoinette is comparing herself to Tia as well. Antoinette was very rude and inconsiderate to her "friend" throughout their relationship. But we see numerous times that Antoinette really relates to Tia, and in some ways wants to be like her. "We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking-glass." Though they live completely different lives, Antoinette sees so much potential and life and opportunity in Tia that she doesn't see for herself. We see here that this friendly rivalry really reflects the way that these girls see each other. They both live difficult lives but in very different ways. Though neither girl is in an ideal position, they both yearn for a life other than their own. They both want things that they don't have, and therefore try to find those things within each other. 

Mersault Cares Nothing of Death

Reading The Stranger, one reoccurring theme is Meursault's attitude throughout the book. He seems to be void of feeling, or a moral compass. In class we have discussed this idea many times. But something we haven't discussed is the possibility that to Meursault, death specifically, doesn't mean anything to him. 

In the opening of the novel, we see Meursault's reaction to his mother’s death. He immediately doesn’t show that much emotion for his mother at the time. “The director then looked down at the tips of his shoes and said that I hadn’t wanted to see Maman, that I hadn’t cried once, and that I had left right after the funeral without paying my last respects at her grave.” Many people in class concluded that this was just a way that Meursault responded to grief. Even Meursault himself said that he was in grieving. Others said that Meursault was lacking of feeling or emotion. In their opinion Meursault was very indifferent to life in general. I believe that his very removed, and emotionless reaction to his mother’s death was not related to his relationship with her, his response to grief, or indifference. I believe it was an example that showed Meursault is not affected in any way by the effects of death.

          Later in the novel, we reach the intense scene between Meursault and the Arab man. “Then I fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness.” After the man is dead, this is the last we hear of him. Now I definitely agree that a big part of this is a reflection of the racism during this time. But I also think it is more than that. Meursault’s focus on this time was being in jail and not being able to do the things he liked to do. We readers are reading this through Meursault’s perspective, and he had absolutely no thoughts or reaction to the actual death of this man.

          Finally, near the end of the novel, Meursault is sentenced to death. He is struck by the manner in which he must be executed. But when the preacher begs him to pray to the lord for forgiveness, we can see that Meursault has no desire for the afterlife. “The chaplain knew the game well too, I could tell right away: his gaze never faltered. And his voice didn't falter, either, when he said, "Have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and nothing remains?" "Yes," I said.” Meursault may not have wanted to die by the guillotine, but death itself wasn’t really concerning to him. He wanted nothing to with the ideas of afterlife whether they concerned heaven or hell. In general, Meursault did not care about dying.

          With the information I’ve read from the Stranger, it seems that Meursault believed in life. His typical daily life though seemingly dull to readers, was good enough for him. But his reaction to death, stayed consistent. No matter his relationship to a death, whether it be his mother, the Arab man, or himself, death was inevitable and therefore, essentially meaningless to him. To him death only represented a house with more space, a crime that put him in the system, and an escape from the rest of life.