Wide Sargasso Sea Lesson Plan

Does Antoinette consider herself white? How do you know?

Antoinette and her mother are light-skinned and of European descent, almost certainly what most contemporary Americans would consider 'white.' However, it seems likely that Antoinette considers herself to be another racial category altogether. Refer students to the very first page of the novel, in which Antoinette refers to both 'white people' and 'black people' in a way that implies she considers herself to be neither. Encourage students to look for other examples of this as they progress through the text. Keep in mind that race is not a binary: the socially-constructed divide between 'black' and 'white' people...