Rochester and Jamaica

Rochester is an Englishman, through and through. He is used to the way the world works in civilized England, which is why he is so uncomfortable in Jamaica. He immediately becomes sick upon his arrival on the island, coming down with fever. He is treated in what seems to be a rather modern, arguably English part of Jamaica, Spanish Town, Once he moves away from this last vestige of civilization, he ventures into a land he doesn’t understand, a land that he doesn’t like. He leaves behind his happiness. I believe it is summed up in the beginning of the first sentence of Part 2: “So it was all over…” (66). Immediately after this, he notes the strangeness, the unfamiliarity he has with his surroundings; he notes the “sad leaning cocoanut palms, the fishing boats drawn up on the shingly beach, the uneven row of whitewashed huts” and the weirdness of Amelie, “a lovely little creature but sly, spiteful, malignant perhaps, like much else in this place” (66).

So much can be read into the first page of Part 2 with Rochester’s descriptions of Jamaica. It is interesting to note his lack of wanting to be there, even though it is his honeymoon. He doesn’t want to be married to Antoinette. He constantly thinks back to England, such as on page 71, where he says Antoinette “might have been any pretty English girl” and when discussing the red earth of Jamaica, says, “It’s red in parts of England too.” Rochester has been pulled out of the place he wants to be, his safe, civilized England, which will undoubtedly present him with problems. As I said in my previous post, there is a constant motif of decay, and I expect Rochester to experience first-hand how this place seems to constantly bring that about. Arguable, he has already experienced decay, falling ill, and being thrown into a frightful little place from his beloved England.