earticle

영어

Jean Rhys' fourth novel published in 1939, Good Morning Midnight, is about Sasha, a middle-aged woman returning to Paris for a short holiday. Jean Rhys represents a crisis within the heroine, Sasha, who is on the other side of the privileged classes and the language they speak. Rhys, a West Indies Creole living as an outsider, became acutely sensitive to the exploitation of women and Creole women. In her writing, the marginalized and silenced female protagonists end up in a seemingly miserable situation. However, the miserable reality experienced by them is not all that her novels are about. Her heroines address their anger at the distressing situation and their wish to find a way out. In Good Morning Midnight, Sasha, who has been considered “marginal” or “the other” in the society where she lives, is fully aware of her victimization and tries not to lose her existence. This article aims to explore how Sasha resists the typical images imposed on her and seeks to escape from the darkness. She seems to embody otherness in her own name and nationality and is confined in a prison from which she cannot be freed. She recognizes that her imprisonment has reduced her to being a victim and an "other". However, she is not a blank surface; instead, there is always within her the repressed subtext in which she articulates her insightful awareness of her life and seeks escapes from the impositions. Finally, Sasha finds an exit out of her dire situation by accepting and embracing “the other” within herself with no denial of its otherness.