On The Construction Of Antoinette’s Identity In Third Space In Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys，a star of British modernist, has grown her reputation as one of the bestnovelists in the20thcentury. Her masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea, once published, gains a lotof attention from readers and scholars, which wins Jean Rhys Royal Society of LiteratureAward. Born in the windward island in Dominica and influenced deeply by English andFrench literary education during the process of her growth, Jean Rhys focuses on exploringthe ambivalent identity of those in-between. All protagonists depicted by Rhys are living withlifelong feeling of alienation due to her multi-identities. Among them, Antoinette in WideSargasso Sea is a typical case.With the basis of Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theory and the theoretical framework ofThird Space, this thesis attempts to interpret Antoinette’s ambivalent identity, as well as thefinal construction of her identity in Third Space by close reading of Wide Sargasso Sea withother concepts of Homi Bhabha’s postcolonialism, such as，cultural difference, ambivalence,mimicry, hybridity and so on. Through probing into the process of Antoinette’s identityconstruction, the thesis aims at providing a way to solve identity issues of the marginalized,like Antoinette.The thesis consists of six parts. The first chapter introduces Jean Rhys’s life experience,her literary works and the plot of Wide Sargasso Sea. This chapter points out that it is JeanRhys’s complex experiences and multi-identities that make most of her protagonists living asmarginal individuals. The second chapter presents literature review on Jean Rhys and WideSargasso Sea at home and abroad. Critics attempt to analyze Wide Sargasso Sea from variousperspectives; while few take the construction of identity as its breakthrough point, employingHomi Bhabha’s Third Space to interpret the process of Antoinette’s identity construction. Thethird chapter explains Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial theory, especially his concept of ThirdSpace, which is the basis of the thesis. The fourth and the fifth chapters are the main body ofthe thesis. First, the thesis probes into Antoinette’s identity dilemma in terms of race, religionand culture with the concept of cultural difference, ambivalence and so on. As a white Creole,Antoinette occupies a space between the black Caribbean and the white British, trapped inidentity dilemma. Then the author explores the process of identity construction through thenotions of hybridity and mimicry. In order to form her identity, Antoinette first tries to adhereto the black, and then marry to the white. However, these two efforts culminate in failure. Atlast, Antoinette understands that caught in-between, she cannot fully integrate into the blackgroup or the white community. Thus she has no choice but to jump to death to break thesimple binary opposition. She finally arrives at her Third Space. The sixth chapter is theconclusion, which summarizes the process of Antoinette’s identity-seeking, as well as the successful construction of her identity in Third Space. This thesis concludes that whentroubled by the ambivalent identity, the marginalized should find a positive solution.Meanwhile, they should cherish life and handle identity crises ingeniously.