Miscegenation, an act that was illegal in America until the 1967 ruling of Loving vs. Virginia, is not uncommon in literature and not limited to the human species. We know of Moses marriage to an Ethiopian woman (King James Bible, Numbers12:1); in the Arabian Nights we know of King Shahryar's wife laying with a black servant and, later, King Shahryar's murderous lust; we know of Pasiphaë laying with the Cretan Bull and conceiving the terrible Asterion and the labyrinth; we know of the tragic but sympathetic love of Othello. Jean Rhys' 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea is not without precursors and any charge of racism is of dubious merit.
[...] The reader is alerted to Jean Rhys' equity in presenting both the colonialists and the native inhabitants without racial prejudice. It would not serve any racist views of white superiority to have a black character utter such a stark and brutal statement that implies equality more than superiority. We need not look down upon Jean Rhys for her portrayal of some black inhabitants as ignorant such as Young Bull or superstitious such as Christophine or the tendency to gossip as suggested by Antoinette. [...]
[...] We know of three biracial characters in the novel: We know Amélie is a half caste; Sandi is of mixed heritage and may have been fathered by Alexander Cosway; Daniel Cosway is perhaps Antoinette's half brother. Then we know these supplementary details: Alexander Cosway is mentioned as having fathered many illegitimate children by Daniel. Rochester has sex with Amélie across from his wife's bedroom. Rochester's racism is inconsistent but not brutish. He questions Antoinette on why she kisses and hugs Christophine but after having sex with Amélie, he does not want to touch her. [...]
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