Why Didn T Cause Antoinette's Death

While preparing for the debate where I argued that Rochester didn’t cause Antoinette’s death, I realized how convoluted and inescapable both Rochester and Antoinette’s situation was. Antoinette especially seemed to be behind from the start of the novel. She was alone and an outsider in her family and her community, her mother’s unsuccessful marriage was not a very good precedent for her own, her mother had a history of mental issues, and the list goes on. Antoinette’s relationship with Rochester was prearranged and set up to fail by the fault of no one person, riddled with misunderstandings, and a confusing mixture of different cultures not understood by either party. Antoinette deserves the reader’s pity and sympathy because of the unavoidable mental problems caused in her early life and also the sequence of misunderstandings and the cultural distance between her and Rochester that resulted in Antoinette’s lacking
childhood and chaotic adulthood. Now, before we get into the meat of this essay I thought it would be wise to clear up any uneasiness about the definition of pity and sympathy.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has pity and sympathy as synonyms of each other. Although both words similar meanings, the context in which they should be used is different. Pity is defined as “a strong feeling of sadness or sympathy for someone or something” while sympathy is described as “the feeling that you care about and are sorry about someone else's trouble or misfortune.” Feeling pity for someone means feelings sad about their circumstances or difficulties. Sympathy means the act of sharing the painful feelings of another; an understanding why they are in the misfortunate situation they are in. I am positive that any sane person would agree that Antoinette’s situation is a pity. However, I contend that she deserves the reader’s sympathy because no matter what Antoinette could have done to change the course of her life it would have been too little because of her various mental and situational
handicaps. The novel starts off immediately revealing the fact that Antoinette and Annette are outsiders in their community; Jamaica was an English colony but Annette was from Martinique, a French colony. Servants and townspeople make fun of Antoinette and her mother behind their backs and because there is still a large amount of racial tension between former slaves and masters. For example, one time as Antoinette was walking along the road a little girl followed her calling her a “white cockroach” and telling her to go away. The most immediate example of the strife between the races is when the black servants protested outside of Antoinette’s house, set the house on fire, and forced the family to flee. This extreme instance is what lies beneath the not-so-hidden veil of the enormous racial tension and profiling. It is said that it take a town to raise a child, so how could Antoinette be raised well if the town is willing to burn her shelter down? The most damning evidence of the rift for Antoinette is when she sees Tia and runs toward her expecting to be received, only to be violently brought into the reality of their relationship by a jagged rock to the forehead. This is the final straw of the misfortunate situation that Antoinette was thrust into. Antoinette’s only enduring friend in the novel is Christophine who practices a Caribbean black magic and who everyone in town is afraid of. Because of these things, Antoinette spends most of her time alone. This loneliness must have been very hard for Antoinette and it possibly could have effected the way she interacts with herself and with other people in her adult life. What I think effected her more than the loneliness was her relationship with Tia. As Antoinette’s first and only real relationship with a peer, it was important to her strengthening of her interpersonal skills and trust. Antoinette, however, can’t seen to catch a break and her friendship with Tia ends horribly; after a series of insults wherein Tia calls Antoinette’s family poor and a “white nigger.” It must have been devastating for Antoinette to lose her only friend over something so petty, I would find it hard to trust someone else ever again. Not only was the culture and community that Antoinette grew up in not supportive but also her mother and family were often not there for her when she needed it most. From the very beginning of the book Annette is described as uninvolved and inattentive to Antoinette. While Antoinette roams the disorganized gardens Annette paces on their porch or socializes in town, paying little attention to Antoinette. She seems to be totally unfair to Antoinette, especially when Antoinette was crying on the account of Tia abandoning her. Annette chastised her for waking Pierre, paying no attention to the mental state of Antoinette. Then, after the fire where Pierre dies, Annette starts to lose hold of reality which just accelerates the rate of neglect. Antoinette goes to see her but Annette pushes her away and doesn’t recognize her own daughter. Then, while she is in the convent, the rest of her family abandons her. Christophine left to live with her son, Antoinette’s Aunt Cora went to live in England, and Mr. Mason is “traveling the world” in order to escape the mess that is Annette and Antoinette’s lives. Now, with no family and no community, who is left to raise Antoinette? She won’t be in the convent forever and her minimal support system that she had earlier in her childhood is now nonexistent. Marriage in the novel is distorted for Antoinette. The marriage of Annette and Mr. Mason leaves everyone confused; the wedding goers convey scathing gossip about Annette being poor and having idiotic kids which Antoinette overhears, and it is mentioned that Mr. Mason only came to Jamaica to make money. Antoinette doesn't trust her new father because of the culture disconnect and the way he perceives their relationship between the former black slaves and the wealth, ruling white class. All of these things are very similar to Antoinette’s marriage with Rochester. The marriage, arranged by Mr. Mason, is founded on money. The culture disconnect is great; they don’t understand how each other think or how they act. This disconnect is especially evident when they talk about the difference between England and the West Indies, where they argue with is more dreamlike. Their own culture is foreign to the person that they just married. No true feelings of love are shared between Antoinette and Rochester and because of the similarities with Annette’s marriage and knowledge of how that union ended, it does not look good for Antoinette. Between her failed friendship with Tia and Annette’s disaster of a marriage with Mr. Mason, it would take a small miracle for Antoinette to trust anyone and have a healthy relationship. And despite all of this, Antoinette tried her best to make the most of the marriage. At the beginning of their marriage Antoinette tries to impress her husband by dressing up and talking to him, explaining her past and her dreams. They have a period of tranquility where they spend their days in the bathing pool together, talk about Granbois’s past, and watch the sunset every day from the same spot. All seems well but she still senses a disconnect between her and Rochester. She wants their marriage to work so badly that she is willing to ask Christophine for a love potion. Even with the social stigma against Christophine’s dark magic and Christophine’s warning that the potion will only make Rochester desire her, Antoinette is resolute to obtain the potion that she believes will fix her marriage. And even after her persistent efforts, fate and circumstance step in the way of her bright future. Rochester didn't help Antoinette also. At the beginning of their marriage he resists and detests Jamaica and its sights and sounds; he thinks that the colors, sounds, and smells of Jamaica are overwhelming and unruly. He seems to get control over her though sex. He feels only lust for her and he does not respect her because she has such a narrow view of the world. Even though Antoinette had good intentions when she gave him the love potion, Rochester assumes the worst; that she had poisoned him. This is the start of the deterioration of Antoinette, seemingly by no fault of her own. He pushes Antoinette over the edge when the love potion “worked on someone else” and he has sex with the servant Amelie while Antoinette overhears. Given what her entire life has led up to this point, I see it as only human nature to go a little crazy and criticize life for being indescribably unfair for her. Antoinette’s life was very burdensome and inconsistent by any stretch of the imagination. The amount of hardships, deaths, bad relationships, and lies is more than any one person should have to deal with in 10 lifetimes. Her whole life was a string of bad luck and even worse circumstances to be trust involuntarily into. I am honestly surprised that she didn't go crazy sooner, all things considered. I truly do pity her and because I can see why many of the bad things that happened to her were out of her control, I don't believe you can have any other emotion than compassion and sympathy.