This paper’s objective is to explore the ways in which Jean Rhys - in a quite revolutionary way - depicts fashion as a practice with various meanings. Fashion is entangled in a composite relationship with identity and the visual communication inherent in dress practices is much more complex than might first appear. In fact, Rhys raises questions about the political force of fashion enacted by women of different backgrounds. Albeit a fashion addict herself, she remains very critical of fashion’s positive possibilities, rather focusing on its counter-enforcement on female identity as well as making use of it as a means to examine social coherences.
Rhys has written five novels and various short stories. The novels I chose reflect different periods of her writing as well as different cultural, social and historical contexts. Additionally, the protagonists in each novel are of different ages, giving an insight into different situational concerns of women regarding fashion. Rhys’s characters are markedly similar, always outsiders, always close to the edge. Good Morning, Midnight and Voyage in the Dark depict Sasha Jansen and Anna Morgan’s movement in the modern urban space in which ‘good’ clothing is deemed a prerequisite. Wide Sargasso Sea sets a different focus, placing the subject of clothing in a colonial context. Rhys’s wrote her masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea – published twenty-seven years after the publication of the last of her ‘continental’ novels - as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Unhappy about Brontë’s description of Rochester’s mad Creole wife Bertha, Rhys conceptualized the novel as a rereading of the tragic life story of Antoinette “Bertha” Cosway.
The project includes several strands of theoretical thought to illuminate the multifaceted use of fashion in Rhys’s novels. In chapter two, each theoretical concept is outlined and summarized. In chapter three, I link the theories to Rhys’s texts. I start my analysis with two sociological theories, Georg Simmel’s Fashion (1904) and Joanne Finkelstein’s The Fashioned Self (1991). Simmel’s concepts are particularly helpful in relation to the historical context of Rhys’s writing. Finkelstein critically examines aspects which are elemental features for Rhys’s writing on fashion: consumerism, the commodification of the female body, the illusory act of transformation and the resulting ‘surface life.’
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Relationship between Fashion, Identity and Gender
2.1. Georg Simmel’s Sociological Theory of Fashion
2.2. Joanne Finkelstein’s The Fashioned Self
2.3. Central Concepts of Gender Theory
2.4. Notions of Creole Identity
3. Analysis of Fashion in Voyage in the Dark, Good Morning, Midnight and Wide Sargasso Sea
3.1. Fashion in the City in Good Morning, Midnight and Voyage in the Dark
3.2. A Surface Life: Consumerism, Commodification and Transformation in Good Morning, Midnight and Voyage in the Dark
3.3. Aspects of Fashionable Performance in Voyage in the Dark and Good Morning, Midnight
3.4. Fashioning the Creole: Race and Identity in Wide Sargasso Sea and Voyage in the Dark
4. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Core Themes
This bachelor thesis explores how Jean Rhys depicts fashion not merely as clothing, but as a complex social practice intrinsically linked to gender, identity, and colonial history. By analyzing three of her major novels, the work examines how female characters navigate the political force of fashion to construct identities within restrictive patriarchal and colonial frameworks.
- The intersection of fashion, consumerism, and the commodification of the female body.
- The application of sociological theories (Simmel, Finkelstein) to modern urban life and identity.
- The role of gender performativity (Butler) in the context of fashion, masks, and masquerade.
- The representation of Caribbean white Creole identity through the sartorial markers of race and social status.
Excerpt from the Book
A Surface Life: Consumerism, Commodification and Transformation in Good Morning, Midnight and Voyage in the Dark
Rhys’s texts support Finkelstein’s thesis of a hegemony of appearance and illustrate her critique of modern consumer culture. Finkelstein’s theory has two strands. On the one hand, she looks at how the ‘hegemony of appearance’ functions in society; on the other hand, she examines its effects on the individual self. While Finkelstein does not differentiate between different genders, Rhys exclusively takes a female perspective when it comes to self-fashioning. This corresponds with Simone de Beauvoir’s finding that specifically in the formation of female identity, appearance is an important factor: “No one differentiates between the woman herself and her appearance” (qtd. in Samborska 280). It also coincides with Judith Gardiner’s remark that “[w]omen are encouraged to judge their inner selves through their external physical appearance and to equate the two” (190; emphasis added).
The omnipotence of appearance that is criticized in The Fashioned Self is a strong social force in Rhys’s texts. In Voyage in the Dark, it seems that a woman’s appearance is the only commodity she has in terms of bargaining power although her prospects are scarce anyhow (Atherton 155-156). For the women in Voyage in the Dark, physical attractiveness is essential in order to market themselves and fashion and cosmetics play a major role to present their desired self-image to others. Ironically, women – although more vulnerable to a ‘hegemony of appearance’ – appear to adapt men’s mode of perception. When Anna says about Vincent, “[o]f course I like him. He’s certainly very good-looking” (68), she reveals that she also tends to conflate appearance with character, a condition she actually suffers from. However, Anna is aware that appearance is fashioned and uncovers the force of appearance as fallacy. She notices about Vincent that he “was very good looking. He had blue eyes […] and black hair and a brown face […] – the whole bag of tricks, in fact” (VID 69; emphasis added).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the research focus on fashion in Jean Rhys’s work as an umbrella term for clothing, adornment, and masking, and introduces the key analytical lenses of sociology, gender theory, and postcolonial studies.
2. The Relationship between Fashion, Identity and Gender: Provides the theoretical grounding by summarizing Georg Simmel’s sociological theories on fashion and the city, Joanne Finkelstein’s concepts on the 'fashioned self', Judith Butler’s theories on gender performativity, and definitions of Creole identity.
3. Analysis of Fashion in Voyage in the Dark, Good Morning, Midnight and Wide Sargasso Sea: Applies the previously established theoretical concepts to analyze how Rhys’s characters use fashion to negotiate urban alienation, commodification, gendered performance, and the complexities of being a white Creole in colonial settings.
4. Conclusion: Synthesizes the findings, confirming that fashion in Rhys’s novels functions as a powerful, albeit often illusory, tool for identity construction, resistance, and reflection of the protagonists' fractured social positions.
Keywords
Fashion, Jean Rhys, Gender Performativity, Consumerism, Identity, Creole Identity, Commodification, Modernism, Judith Butler, Georg Simmel, Surface Life, Colonialism, Appearance, Masquerade, Subjectivity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this thesis?
The thesis examines how fashion serves as a critical lens to understand the construction of identity, gender roles, and social status in selected novels by Jean Rhys.
What are the central thematic fields covered?
The work investigates the interplay between consumer culture, the commodification of women, the performative aspects of gender, and the postcolonial experience of white Creole identity.
What is the primary objective or research question?
The primary objective is to analyze how Rhys depicts fashion as a revolutionary yet contradictory practice that mediates female identity and social relations in both metropolitan and colonial spaces.
Which scientific methods are applied?
The author employs a literary and sociological analysis, utilizing theoretical frameworks from Georg Simmel, Joanne Finkelstein, and Judith Butler to interpret the literary texts.
What topics are discussed in the main analysis?
The analysis covers the role of fashion in the city, the surface-level existence caused by consumerism, the performative nature of femininity, and the use of clothing as a racial and social marker in Creole contexts.
Which keywords characterize the work?
Key terms include Fashion, Identity, Gender Performativity, Consumerism, Commodification, and Creole Identity.
How does Rhys characterize the "Rhys woman" regarding fashion?
The Rhys woman is often an outsider who uses fashion not only as a means of social adaptation but as a complex mechanism to attempt self-transformation and protection against trauma, though these efforts are frequently shown to be illusions.
How does the thesis connect fashion to the Creole experience?
It highlights fashion as a key tool used by characters in Wide Sargasso Sea and Voyage in the Dark to negotiate their precarious status within racial hierarchies, often demonstrating their failure to fully assimilate into European society.
- Quote paper
- Josianne Strube (Author), 2018, The Meaning of Fashion in Jean Rhys. An Analysis of Gender and Identity, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/515134
