Wide Sargasso Sea, M. Butterfly, The Stranger And Electricidad

The literary pieces Wide Sargasso Sea, M. Butterfly, The Stranger and Electricidad shared quite a few common themes, such as issues regarding gender and conformity. This art piece was meant to illustrate these themes, rather than images related to the pieces themselves. The painting, titled “Homo sum humani a me nihil alienum puto” (“I am a human being, so nothing human is strange to me"), is meant to illustrate these themes through symbols rather than depicting a scene that shows an instance of deviance from conformity or gender roles. The style of the painting itself was influenced by Gekidan Inu Curry (translates to “Theatrical Company Dog Curry”) , an Japanese animation troupe composed of two artists, Doroinu (“Muddy Dog”) and 2shiroinu (“2white dog”), as well as my usual abstract style. The painting focuses mostly on the topics of how society views
gender and deviance from conformity. The girl in the painting is meant to represent any individual, males included. Her face is split into two parts, one that depicts society’s ideal image of a person and the other that depicts the true individual, bound by society’s restraints. It could also symbolize a person’s underlying madness, despair, or thoughts and emotions that deviate from the norm. This relates to all of the literary pieces in some form or another. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette’s descent into madness, or perceived madness, can be due to her position in society due to her gender which renders her bound by Rochester, who may have contributed to her madness through his subsequent actions towards her, such as changing her name to Bertha. This can relate to M. Butterfly as, although the person depicted in the painting is female, this could also depict Rene Gallimard’s inner thoughts and feelings towards the end of the play. Gallimard may have loved Song Liling, a Chinese man. Gallimard, however, restrained and bound himself according to society’s rules, rejecting even the idea that he may be a homosexual, something that is looked down upon by his society. This applies to The Stranger to a lesser extent. Meursault’s philosophy was deviant from that of society’s own ideas and philosophy. Consequently because of this, Meursault was literally bound by being imprisoned for murder and sentenced to death. In regards to Electricidad, the depiction of the split-faced girl may relate to Electricidad’s own struggle against her own thoughts and feelings that do not conform to her society. She holds feelings for her dead father and loathes her mother, yet she attempts to remain normal to her society by attempting to exemplify the cholo way, only to end up reaching the extremes of this behavior. The girl in the painting is bound by her neck, yet the key to freedom hangs on the side that is rejected by society. In a sense, the chain is meant to symbolize the restraints on behavior by society while the key can represent truth or accepting oneself for who they really are. Whether a person accepts or rejects the key is up to the individual. Antoinette chooses not to act, only to remain in her unfortunate position until her death. Gallimard rejects this key, leading him to commit suicide while he was incarcerated at the end of the play. Meursault accepts this key, this truth, moments before his own death. Electricidad rejects the key, however she rejects it not to conform to society like Gallimard but to get revenge for her father, without accepting her underlying feelings for him. The crown on the ideal side of the figure represents society, in a sense, choosing what traits are better or more desirable, crowning them as better to others and by extent making other traits seem inferior. This can be related to Antoinette, from Wide Sargasso Sea, and Jane Eyre, from Jane Eyre. Rochester, present in both novels, represents the British society’s world view. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rochester notes that Antoinette is beautiful, however he tries to imagine her as a British woman and attempts to push British views upon her, even to the point of changing her name. On the other hand, Jane Eyre was the ideal British woman to Rochester, enough so that he would try to marry Jane even though he was still married to “Bertha.” The body of the figure, unlike the face, is not split.
This is meant to illustrate that even though society condemns some individuals as deviant, they are all human beings and should be treated as such instead of being treated as lesser, inferior beings. Meursault is one example of this, as due to his deviant philosophy he was treated as lesser or evil towards the end of the novel, most notably during his court case and imprisonment. Antoinette could also relate to this, as even during the beginning of the novel Antoinette was treated as inferior even by the African-Jamaican people of her home due to her drop from wealth, being a “white cockroach.” This inferiority continues throughout the novel due to her gender and background. The same, non-split body could also symbolize that madness or deviance can exist in the same body as normality. Electricidad and Gallimard are prime examples of this, as they harbor thoughts or feelings that are deviant to their society yet, besides that, they are or can be considered normal members of society. The colors of the background symbolize a spectrum of normality and
deviance.