Christophine

Christophine is as much of an observer to Antoinette’s development in Wide Sargasso Sea as readers are. She is with Antoinette through her early years, acting as a protector and guardian for Antoinette when Annette is unable to do so. As Antoinette grows older, Christophine seems to trust her to make decisions for herself, rather than being reliant upon Christophine. However, after Antoinette makes the decision to drug Rochester and becomes distraught, it is then when we see Christophine fully become a motherly figure.

Throughout the beginning of the novel, Christophine slowly distances herself from the Cosway family. Similar to Annette, she is at first an outsider to Jamaica and the world of Coulibri. Both Annette and Christophine come from Martinique. However, they adapt to their new world in different ways. Annette makes every effort to blend in with the local creole population, but she is still dismissed as lesser, especially when Coulibri begins to fall into disrepair. Annette and Antoinette are both openly ostracized by the white and black populations at Coulibri.

Christophine, however, seems to have used her outsider status to her advantage, or at least adapted to it. She is able to cross social boundaries and barriers because she doesn’t fit into any of the typical Jamaican molds. She does not censor herself unnecessarily to fit in, which we can see from Antoinette’s description of her appearance: “Her songs were not Jamaican songs and she was not like other women. She was much blacker—blue-black with a thin face and straight features. She wore a black dress, heavy gold earrings, and a yellow handkerchief—carefully tied with the two high points in the front. She had a quiet voice and a quiet laugh (when she did laugh), and though she could speak good English if she wanted to, and French as well as patois, she took care to talk as they talked” (18-19). Christophine is able to blend in and distinguish herself at once. Furthermore, she is feared because she practices obeah magic. Because of her foreign status, she is able to retain some power. While she might not fit in any of the traditional social groups, Christophine seems to have carved out a place in society for herself.

Perhaps this is why Antoinette gravitates towards her. From a very young age, Antoinette is aware that she does not fully fit in with Creole or British culture. Christophine helps Antoinette try to navigate this bridge between cultures, for example setting up Antoinette with Tia. As Antoinette grows older, Christophine becomes less of a helper and more of a motherly figure. This dynamic dramatically shifts when Antoinette seeks help from Christophine with the love potion. Though Christophine thinks it is a bad idea, she gives the love potion to Antoinette. As a result, Antoinette and Rochester’s marriage fully falls apart.

Christophine’s final conversation with Rochester brings out what we as readers are feeling towards him. Having read all the background information and grown up with Antoinette, we (or at least I) sympathize much more with Antoinette. Christophine channels both her own anger and the reader’s anger towards Rochester, which is perhaps why many of Christophine’s sentences end up ringing in Rochester’s ears. She acts for Antoinette, who is unable to speak for herself, which is a very motherly stance to take. However, Christophine’s efforts are ultimately useless when Rochester sends her away and takes Antoinette to England.

What do you think?

Meursault's Trial

As I was reading about Meursault’s trial, I noticed a strange pattern: all the named witnesses called to testify in the trial seemed to believe Meursault, or at least not fully blame him for his actions on the beach.

Meursault’s friends (or the closest acquaintances he has) very much give Meursault the benefit of the doubt. Celeste seems to understand what has happened with Meursault. He repeatedly states that what happened to Meursault was “bad luck” and that it could happen to anybody (92). He believes that Meursault’s criminal actions were completely out of his control. While Celeste might not fully buy Meursault’s explanation that the sun caused it, he seems to understand Meursault’s circumstances. He accepts that there might not be a simple ideological reason behind Meursault’s actions. Similarly, Salamano provides testimony that portrays Meursault positively (he was nice to his dog) and, when asked a question about Maman and Meursault, he says “You must understand” (95). Salamano assumes that everyone has a baseline understanding of why people do things sometimes. Marie explains that after her testimony, “it wasn’t like that, there was more to it, and that she was being made to say the opposite of what she was thinking, that she knew me and I hadn’t done anything wrong” (94).  She understands that there can be other unexplained forces (she was made to say things). Raymond says that Meursault’s experiences were “just chance” (95).

People who have no reason to be on Meursault’s side make excuses for him. The director home said that Maman complained about Meursault, but no more than one would typically complain about relatives (89). After Meursault verifies the caretaker’s testimony, the caretaker “gave [him] a surprised and somehow grateful look” (90). Perez does not incriminate Meursault because he did not see anything. The prosecution seemed to cherry-pick what the witnesses said about Meursault’s behavior, and even nudged some witnesses to get back on track—trying to incriminate Meursault.

The jury, a group of nameless people, finds Meursault guilty of a crime which he did commit. They see everything each witness says—luck, chance, other mysterious forces—and disregard it. Yet, as the judge points out to Celeste, “we are here to judge this sort of bad luck” (92). Camus gives the reader a moral dilemma: where do the facts of the murder and the “excuses” (luck, chance, etc.) intersect? As readers, we know that there isn’t really a cause for the murder other than forces neither us nor Meursault understands. His friends seem to have faith that he wasn’t to blame for this sequence of events. Where do we stand? Where does Camus suggest we should stand?

Where would an outside Meursault-like character stand on Meursault’s own guilt? Meursault does not believe in fate, chance, religion, or any mysterious outside forces, so he might take the murder at full face value and think that Meursault is guilty. However, he could also accept Meursault’s testimony about the sun and believe that. What do you think?