Elizabeth Palacios

December 3, 2018

Discussion Board

How are traditional gender roles reinforced and/or subverted in the excerpts from Wide Sargasso Sea

 In 1966 Wide Sargasso Sea was published, during this period men are seen as superior to women. During this time society had set an image of how each gender was supposed to behave. Women are expected to be passive, submissive, emotional, powerless, etc. Oppose to men; they have the image of dominant, aggressive, active, powerful. In the text, Wide Sargasso Sea it portrays the traditional gender roles in the area of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

At the beginning of the story, it shows the situation the Cosway family are facing.  After Annette’s husband, a former plantation owner dies, it leads them to poverty. Resulting in using her beauty to remarry a rich man. Annette’s marriage portrays women to use men as their financial source. This excerpt demonstrates the stereotype of a women’s dependences to men for safety financially. 

We can see this through Annette and her new marriage. She countlessly tells him that she wishes to move out of Coulibri because she does not feel safe. Annette is seen as a powerless woman when she pleas her wealthy husband to carry out her wishes. Traditionally, a man is perceived as the boss of the household, carrying out all the decisions. Mr. Mason has just become a member of the house and has dominated the family already. The main part of this is due to his money that changed the family’s financial status. However, a man should listen and give respect to a women’s thought. As Annette is mentioning the reasons to why she wants to move out, Mr. Mason undervalues Annette’s feelings. Mr. Mason is sexist for not paying any mind to a woman perspective. He tells her that there has to be a real reason for them to move, she has to be harmed for the environment to be considered unsafe. Mr. Mason doesn’t believe Annette’s viewpoint when she says that Coulibri is dangerous. Unfortunately, Annette’s worries came true about the ex-slaves attacking the family. 

Later on, the text, when Antionette, the daughter of Annette; is enrolled in a convent school, she is being taught to be an etiquette woman. The nuns train her to be a traditional housewife that serves her husband and children. She looked up to the nuns as admirable role models, for their morals and beliefs. The teachings of the school enforce the traditional gender role, of how a woman is supposed to act a specific way to please her husband and meet social standards.

 Through the behavior of the characters, we can see their views on traditional gender roles, embracing and fulfilling the expectation of their sex. Mr. Mason is the typical dominant man that maintains the family financially and makes the decisions. Annette remarries to get her family out of poverty, demonstrating a powerless woman. Antionette is taught to act as the ideal woman. The story displays the sex roles in an earlier society.

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