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Topic: Between & Beyond Boundaries(the Question of “inbetweenness”)
DEFINITIONS:
Boundary:
According to the CED, it is “a real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something”.
In WSS, boundaries may be cultural, colonial, historical, social, gender, and sexual.
To be “in between” usually refers to the state of “not belonging”.
To be “beyond” usually refers to the state of being “outside”.
Both refer to the state of being “different”, “special”, “abnormal”, “unusual”, and “Other”.
In this sense, both implicit the idea of resistence, defiance, rebellion, and subversion. Thus, the terms refer to two opposite/contradictory/different poles.
BRAINSTORMING:
Boundaries in WSS:
We have the colonizer as opposed to the colonized.
We have english culture as opposed to the Caribbean culture
We have woman as opposite to man
We have English woman as opposite to Creole and Caribbean woman
We have religion and God as opposites to nature and Obeah.
We have the wealthy as opposite to the poor.
Focusing on Antoinette:
Antoinette is in between. She is neither English enough for the English nor Caribbean enough for the Caribbeans.
She is a colonizer in the eyes of the Caribbean. She is at the same time the “colonized” woman by her husband according to the English culture. On the other hand, she is not “english” but rather a creole. This makes her as a different woman in the eyes of man but also in the eyes of English and Caribbean women. She is a Christian who lives in an environment full of Obeah and people believing in zombies and vodoo. She is also the poor wealthy woman whose money does not belong to her.
It is obvious that Antoinette is most of the time either in between or beyond the boundaries.
She is the colonized colonizer, the “unwoman” woman, the poor rich, and the sane mad.
We have an other boundary that of language. Antoinette goes beyond the limits of language that obliges women to be a silent passive object. She rather expresses and narrates her story.
Antoinette goes beyond the boundaries of her time to find a self for her identity, for I think her identity is previously determined. But the problem, according to her 19th C context, is what to call this “identity”: is she a woman? Is she a Christian? Is she an English or a Creole? The answer that “they” chose is to name her “mad” or “other”. Whatever they name her, Antoinette decides what herself is: she is in short a “different woman”.
DEFINITIONS:
Boundary:
According to the CED, it is “a real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something”.
In WSS, boundaries may be cultural, colonial, historical, social, gender, and sexual.
To be “in between” usually refers to the state of “not belonging”.
To be “beyond” usually refers to the state of being “outside”.
Both refer to the state of being “different”, “special”, “abnormal”, “unusual”, and “Other”.
In this sense, both implicit the idea of resistence, defiance, rebellion, and subversion. Thus, the terms refer to two opposite/contradictory/different poles.
BRAINSTORMING:
Boundaries in WSS:
We have the colonizer as opposed to the colonized.
We have english culture as opposed to the Caribbean culture
We have woman as opposite to man
We have English woman as opposite to Creole and Caribbean woman
We have religion and God as opposites to nature and Obeah.
We have the wealthy as opposite to the poor.
Focusing on Antoinette:
Antoinette is in between. She is neither English enough for the English nor Caribbean enough for the Caribbeans.
She is a colonizer in the eyes of the Caribbean. She is at the same time the “colonized” woman by her husband according to the English culture. On the other hand, she is not “english” but rather a creole. This makes her as a different woman in the eyes of man but also in the eyes of English and Caribbean women. She is a Christian who lives in an environment full of Obeah and people believing in zombies and vodoo. She is also the poor wealthy woman whose money does not belong to her.
It is obvious that Antoinette is most of the time either in between or beyond the boundaries.
She is the colonized colonizer, the “unwoman” woman, the poor rich, and the sane mad.
We have an other boundary that of language. Antoinette goes beyond the limits of language that obliges women to be a silent passive object. She rather expresses and narrates her story.
Antoinette goes beyond the boundaries of her time to find a self for her identity, for I think her identity is previously determined. But the problem, according to her 19th C context, is what to call this “identity”: is she a woman? Is she a Christian? Is she an English or a Creole? The answer that “they” chose is to name her “mad” or “other”. Whatever they name her, Antoinette decides what herself is: she is in short a “different woman”.