Christophine is one of the most versatile characters in terms of roles in the Wide Sargasso Sea. At the beginning of the novel in part one she plays the role of a mother figure for Antionette. Antoinette's mother, Annette, would often ignore her, saying things like "let me alone" whenever Antoinette would try to talk to her. While Annette would walk up and down the terrace and take care of Pierre, Christophine stepped in as a mother figure. Antionette spent most of her time in the kitchen with Christophine and she sang to Antoinette and even taught her some patois songs. She also set her up with her only friend during her childhood at Coulibri. She even was the one who gave Antoinette the pennies that fell out of her pocket. So Christophine's main role, in relation to Antoinette, is the mother figure.
This changes in the second part of the book because of the change of narrator. Instead of being portrayed as a mother figure she is portrayed as more villainous, probably because she is trying to help Antoinette and not Rochester. This shows up several times in Rochester's narration. Towards the start, he is clearly uncomfortable about Antoinette's closeness with Christophine. This is because he distrusts her and views her as a threat. This proves to be true in his point of view later in the novel after she gives Antoinette the love potion. He believes Christophine tried to poison him and that makes her seem even more the villain from his point of view. There is also the scene where Rochester absolutely goes crazy. When Christophine is talking to him about taking Antoinette away he views it as a threat to his power. So in the second part of the story, Christophine plays the role of the villain for Rochester because while he has power, she does too and he views this as a threat.
However, Christophine also shortly plays the role of the wise-woman during the second part when Antoinette comes to her for advice. During this short transaction, Christophine gives out some sage-like advice to Antoinette about her marriage. She suggests that Antoinette just leaves Rochester and goes somewhere else. To the reader, this seems like very wise advise. Overall, it is through the different narrators and the different times in the novel that Christophine's role changes.
I think that this is all very true. This has a similar take away as Dale's post in that very character sees the story from their own perspective and puts their own spin on what is happening. To Antoinette Christophine is someone to look up to but to Rochester she is someone that he finds intimidating, even menacing. Wide Sargasso Sea gives us interesting insight into character perspective.
ReplyDeleteI defintely agree, and I think that the changes do not have anything to do with a change in Christophine's behavior but instead with the perspective that Chrisophine is looked at with. From the point of view of little Antionette Christophine is a mother figure because that is who takes care of her, through time she evolves into a wise advice giver because Antionette grows up. Christophine threatens Rochester which I think is why she is the villain from his perspective
ReplyDeleteI agree that Christophine's portrayal is heavily reliant on who the narrator is. Antoinette sees her as a mother figure and as a mentor, while Rochester sees her as a threat and as an enemy. The only thing that remains constant about her portrayal being that both characters are afraid of her to some extent.
ReplyDeleteChristophine's portrayal is reliant on who is narrating at the time, but her affection for Antoinette is apparent no matter the narrator
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting how in the second part, not only from Rochester's perspective is Christophine considered a threat, but also Antoinette ends up approaching Christophine just to get the potion from her, a symbol of her being (an?) obeah, something which Antoinette admitted to fearing as a child. Additionally, by the end of the book, instead of taking the advice of Christophine as a motherly figure, Antoinette uses Christophine to reach her goals: takes advantage of her caring, as she gets Christophine to give her the potion, and makes her take care of her when she is drunk.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that the change in narrator makes the biggest difference to how Christophine is portrayed, and this direct insight is important to see how each character views her (and everything else). A more complex issue is where Christophine sees herself in all this. While Rochester sees her as a competing power, it seems that she might have power over him that he can't see, specifically to do with her Obeah. Yes, he finds out and uses it to threaten her, but I think that someone who deals with voodoo is more than capable of polishing some English sap off. In terms of Antoinette, she probably sees herself the same way Antoinette sees her: as a mother figure, giving advice, caring for, and protecting her.
ReplyDeleteChristophine’s role really does seem to change with the perspective of the characters. I also agree with Jack that her love and affection for Antoinette is one constant feature that everyone notices. She also seems to be the only one who truly recognizes and rightly distinguishes Annette’s grief after losing Pierre from the ‘madness’ label that everyone else put on her.
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