진 리스『광막한 사르가소 바다』의 탈식민주의 연구

A study of post-colonialism in Wide Sargasso Sea: Focusing on characters

The purpose of this study is to analyze the post-colonialism in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, focusing on characters. Using literary materials as resources for English learning can be a genuine tool for the students to learn English not only speaking and writing competence but understanding cultural background knowledge. This novel is a creative response to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre which has been one of the most popular love stories. Bronte and Rhys composed their novel in different centuries and came from different backgrounds. In Jane Eyre, Bronte describes Bertha as a crazy Creole woman. Rochester distorts Bertha for his purpose, which reflects the colonial ideology of nineteenth century of England. Describing Bertha, Bronte defines “others” in madness and shows European superiority and desire for domination. Hence, Rhys gave Bertha a new name, Antoinette, by giving her voice in her novel and showed that her death is not a tragic defeat. Through this analysis, teachers have the opportunity to understand cultural background of the novel in various ways including Post-colonialism. If we add teacher’s efforts to the careful application of the curriculum, teaching culture through English literary works will enhance its effectiveness in foreign language education.