The beginning of part two was a little confusing at first, but I quickly figured out that the narrator had switched from Antionette to her new husband. I couldn't understand exactly why or how they got married. Rochester didn't seem too enthusiastic about being married to Antionette. He keeps referring to how she isn't really an English woman, and he has clear doubts about the marriage. Antionette also has her own doubts about Rochester, for a period of time, she refuses to marry him, until he goes to her and talks her back into the marriage.
As Rochester gets further into Antionette's world, he finds himself more and more uncomfortable. Antionette tries to introduce Rochester to Christophine, but he tells her that he doesn't like her because of her language and rough nature. Rochester doesn't actually feel comfortable until he is led to Mr. Mason's old room and is left alone to write a letter to his father. He doesn't like the fact that the privileges that he is so used to having in England are diminishing and being replaced by dislike and distrust from the people that he is encountering.
1 comment:
I think the main reason Rochester doesn't like Christophine is because she clearly doesn't like or trust him, and because she's a pretty intimidating person (and it probably freaks out his English sensibilities to be so directly stared down by a Caribbean black person, when the others smile politely and only laugh behind their hands). It's interesting that he feels comfortable only in the "Englishman" Mason's room--this is a great example of how you have to read Rhys for these little details that say so much.
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