Antoinette & Rochester

Reading the second part after the first part was interesting -- I've always kind of liked stories that show you another person's view of the person whose thoughts you were just reading (which is totally Mrs. Dalloway). Rochester's critical and dismissive view of Antoinette is a little uncomfortable after reading about her childhood. Antoinette grew up very lonely, and the only person she really seemed to have a good relationship with was Christophine. She really seems to like having a good relationship with her servants, something Rochester seems to view a little suspiciously (which is the view Rochester has of basically everything in Jamaica). When Antoinette asks Christophine what to do since Rochester obviously doesn't love her, Christophine tells Antoinette to go away. "Go, go where?" Antoinette asks. "To some strange place where I shall never see him? No, I will not, then everyone, not only the servants, will laugh at me." This recalls Rochester's line, when someone tells him that Antoinette doesn't want to get married. "I did not relish going back to England in the role of rejected suitor jilted by this Creole girl. I must certainly know why."

Rochester has a problem where he keeps thinking that everyone is judging him and everyone is in on a secret -- and in a way he's right, and his suspicions are confirmed by the letter. Both Rochester and Antoinette seemed to be sort of trying to create a relationship at first. I don't think they were ever really in love, and honestly I'm not exactly sure they could have made it there, although some of the scenes kind of seemed like they could get there. I feel like the biggest thing is that Rochester had this idea of the nice English girl he was going to fall in love with. Antoinette was close enough to that that Rochester wasn't forced to give up on this idea, but far enough away that Rochester was constantly disappointed. His whole passive aggressive silent treatment really annoyed me, because he was punishing Antoinette for something that wasn't her fault & making both of them miserable in the process. Calling her Bertha felt like the worst punishment for her not telling him about her family but most of all for not being the nice English girl Rochester had in mind, the girl that Rochester saw in her once or twice (like when she tells him to taste the mountain water). I kind of liked Rochester at the beginning, when he was trying to be nice to Antoinette, but now the relationship is just cruel and sad.