Conclusions
7
plain
2024-07-15T08:43:30-07:00
The intertextuality between Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre speaks to the way in which the literary canon may evolve and be reinterpreted, but never abolished. Rhys reckons with Brontë's exploitation of historic oppression as a literary device, as well as the limits to her own voice, but she does not change the events of Jane Eyre outside of giving them new context. The ending of Wide Sargasso Seahas been read as Antoinette burning down the story and rejecting her metamorphosis into Bertha, but it can be read in a different light with the context of her childhood home burning. The Cosway mansion in Jamaica is burned to erase a symbol of colonial power from the recently emancipated land, despite to Antoinette representing childhood and safety. Antoinette burns down Thornfield, a representation of Jane Eyre the novel, demonstrating to readers the need to critically examine and possibly reject the comfortable narratives they inherit. Readers, critics and authors must continue applying new thoughts and new techniques to literature and its canon. Novels are not stagnant once written, but alive in the conversation and interpretation they generate.
