If Antoinette was Alex

In class today, we reflected on the ways in which Antoinette’s womanhood had an impact on the course of her life. One of the key themes of Wide Sargasso Sea is Antoinette’s struggles over a loss of agency over her identity, and in my opinion, part of this is due to her femaleness. I wanted to take this exploration of gender a little bit further and sketch out what I think a few of the most important differences between Antoinette and her theoretical male counterpart, whom I while henceforth refer to as Alex (assuming he would have been given a diminutive version of his father’s name as Antoinette is to Annette).

First, he would have been viewed as an extension of Alexander Cosway rather than Annette, which in my opinion would have held significant ramifications. Antoinette is assumed to take after her mother, and therefore be insane; I don’t think this would have been the case with Alex. Throughout history, the bar for being seen as ‘insane’ has been significantly lower for women than men (see the concept of hysteria), and as such I don’t think that Alex would’ve been seen as trending down the path of madness from the day he was born. Instead, he probably would’ve been seen as a mini-slaveowner and filled with evil, like Alexander. It’s debatable as to which of these reputations is ‘better’, but it’s possible that, because insanity was not expected of him, Alexander would not have gone mad. In class, we discussed the possibility that part of Annette and Antoinette’s downfall was that both they and the people around them expected insanity and treated them thusly; Alexander may not have had this issue. Still, he might have been viewed as more overtly evil, which probably would not have been pleasant either.

Alexander would also have had different relationships within the family. It’s hard to say exactly how this would have played out, but it’s possible that, for example, him and Tia would not have been as close in a society that placed so much importance on gender. He also may have had different relationships with Annette and Christophine; they still would’ve been cold-maternal and warm-maternal, respectively, but they would have engaged differently with a son than a daughter.

Perhaps most importantly, Alex would have had significantly more agency over his life than Antoinette did. Not in all capacities- it’s pretty likely that he still would have felt alienated by both Jamaica and England, and therefore experienced significant psychological strife, but the decision about when to marry and when/if to leave the Caribbean would have been his own. He almost definitely would have also married, but it would have been on his own terms and would not have been to secure a future, since he could’ve worked. He also may not have experienced the same cultural gaps in his marriage, as he could possibly have taken a Caribbean wife (although if he had married an English girl the cultural differences still would have been present). Due to these factors, Alex probably would have never burned down the estate, since the pressures of losing control of his identity would have been much less strong, although still present in terms of his ethnic/cultural identity.

What do you think? How would Alex’s life have been different from Antoinette’s? Would it have been better? Worse? The same? Or some other option? Explicate your beliefs below!