For this week, you have a choice of two different prompts about Wide Sargasso Se

For this week, you have a choice of two different prompts about Wide Sargasso Sea. The first option asks you to zoom in close to do a close reading of a passage from the perspective of the character of Rochester (although note that he remains unnamed in the book); the second to zoom out and to consider what the title reveals about larger themes and preoccupations of the novel. Choose one to answer!
Option A: For this short response, I’d like you to zoom in on the novel to do a close reading of a short selection from the text that captures Rochester’s impressions and inner thoughts as he experiences the terrain and the countryside near Granbois, in Dominica, Windward Islands, for the first time. He and Antoinette have recently been married and have traveled to Dominica for their honeymoon.
What does the passage below reveal to you about the character of Rochester? What are his reactions to the environment around him? What themes emerge or repeat in this passage? What does this short passage predict or foreshadow about the relationship between Rochester and Antoinette?
The road climbed upward. On one side the wall of green, on the other a steep drop to the ravine below. We pulled up and looked at the hills, the mountains and the blue-green sea. There was a soft warm wind blowing but I understood why the porter had called it a wild place. Not only wild but menacing. Those hills would close in on you.
“What an extreme green,” was all I could say, and thinking of Emile calling to the fisherman and the sound of his voice, I asked about him.
“They take short cuts. They will be in Granbois long before we are.”
Everything is too much, I felt as I rode wearily after her. Too much blue, too much purple, too much green. The flowers too red, the mountains too high, the hills too near. And the woman is a stranger. Her pleading expression annoys me. I have not bought her, she has bought me, or so she thinks. I looked down at the coarse mane of the horse…. Dear Father. The thirty thousand pounds have been paid to me without question or condition. No provision made for her (that must be seen to). I have a modest competence now. I will never be a disgrace to you or to my dear brother the son you love. No begging letter, no mean requests. None of the furtive, shabby maneuvers of a younger son. I have sold my soul or you have sold it, and after all is it such a bad bargain? The girl is thought to be beautiful, she is beautiful. And yet… “ (Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea, 63-64.)
Option B: An effective title gets at the essentials of a story or a work of art, it grabs a reader’s attention, it is memorable, and it gives a reader new or interesting perspectives on the themes of a work. For this response, you’re going to zoom out and think about how the title gives us a way into understanding some of the larger themes running through the book.
According to the NOAA, “the Sargasso Sea is a vast patch of ocean named for a genus of free-floating seaweed called Sargassum. While there are many different types of algae found floating in the ocean all around the world, the Sargasso Sea is unique in that it harbors species of sargassum that are ‘holopelagi’ – this means that the algae not only freely float around the ocean, but it reproduces vegetatively on the high seas. Other seaweeds reproduce and begin life on the floor of the ocean….
While all other seas in the world are defined at least in part by land boundaries, the Sargasso Sea is defined only by ocean currents. It lies within the Northern Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The Gulf Stream establishes the Sargasso Sea’s western boundary, while the Sea is further defined to the north by the North Atlantic Current, to the east by the Canary Current, and to the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current. Since this area is defined by boundary currents, its borders are dynamic, correlating roughly with the Azores High-Pressure Center for any particular season.”
See this map: Wikipedia: Sargasso Sea
Historically, boats carrying enslaved people from Africa to the Caribbean (and later, on to the United States) would pass through the Sargasso Sea during the voyage. See this video, “The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes,” for a visual representation of the routes taken by these ships and of the millions of lives lost, stolen, and subjugated:

Finally, remember that Rochester and Antoinette would have had to pass through the Sargasso Sea on their journey back to England (thus it separates England from the Caribbean).
For option B, please choose one of the following to answer:
Based on the above, and on your reading of the novel, why do you think Rhys chose the title Wide Sargasso Sea? Consider the various rationales you could come up with for the author’s choice and choose one to explain in more detail.
What alternative title would you give the novel? (This title does not have to be in English.) Please translate if necessary and give a rationale for your title, using specific evidence from the novel to support your choice.
As always, please post your name and approx. 1-paragraph response to either Option A or B below.https://pdflake.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Wid…