Wide Sargasso Sea discusses the difficult stance of racial tensions between people in the Caribbean Islands and Europe. There is a long history of European colonization in Martinique and Jamaica, where Martinique had been a French colony in 1839, and Jamaica was an English colony. The French and English had been rivals in the religious, economic, political, and cultural context in Europe and the islands, causing many problems between the two countries and their colonies. Throughout the story, it is quite clear that because of the history, people from Martinique, Jamaica, France, and England do not get along very well. The story discusses a young girl whose mother is from Martinique and living in Jamaica. More importantly, they are white, which puts them in a targeted situation since they live in Jamaica post-slavery era. This was a mere five years after England’s Emancipation Act was passed in 1833, making them quite vulnerable to the area in which they live.

    Because of the socio-political-economic factors of the time, the young girl, Antoinette, experiences a severe feeling of being the “other,” due to her race. Because of the political circumstances and the freshly new emancipation act, it was a scary and depressing feeling for her to be white when everyone around her was oppressed by white people. This is particularly worrisome since her grandparents were slave owners themselves. Additionally, her father had died due to alcoholism. The racial tension is quite evident in these lines when she states, “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” (Rhys, Par. 7). Her ‘solitary life’ already shows the isolation she lives because she is the other, according to her race. Because of the oppression and newly found type of freedom, Jamaicans were clearly not too keen on the idea of befriending white people. Because of this, she was left to be on her own. Additionally, when describing her own mother who is also an outsider, she says, “Her songs were not like Jamaican songs, and she was not like other women” (Rhys, Par. 18). Because she is from Martinique, she is also heavily disliked amongst the Jamaicans, making her an outsider and ‘not like the other women’ who inhibit all around them.

    Antoinette also feels like an outsider even in her own family. Her mother eventually falls into a deep depression due to her sense of being an ‘outsider,” making it difficult to connect with her family members. Because of her mother’s experience, she is unable to truly empathize and nurture her children. As stated in these lines, her mother was truly bullied because of her nationality, “Standing by the bamboos she had a clear view to the sea, but anyone passing could stare at her. They stared, sometimes they laughed” (Rhys Par. 14). Her mother deeply changed because of these experiences, causing a dis-unity and a sense of “otherness” even within the family unit. All in all, the social, political, and economic climate between the colonizers and those who are colonized is what makes the feeling of “other” prominent within everyone’s lives and personal experiences.

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