Existential struggles of the self and the other: Jean Rhys's Voyage in the Dark and Wide Sargasso Sea as postcolonial novels

Born to a Creole mother and a Welsh father, Jean Rhys, in her novels, Voyage in the Dark and Wide Sargasso Sea, reflects her own background and experiences in those of her characters. As both a white Creole and an English woman, and as the embodiment of postcolonialism, Jean Rhys, reflects her own dilemma and existential struggle in these novels. In her novels, Voyage in the Dark and Wide Sargasso Sea, she reveals the social, cultural and economic paradigms of two different nations and cultures that is to say, England and the West Indies. Her handling of her material identifies her with postcolonialism, which speaks for the `oppressed? and `silenced?, as an aspect that reflects the existential struggles of the Self and the Other. This thesis seeks to analyze Voyage in the Dark and Wide Sargasso Sea as postcolonial novels through the perspective of existentialism. After a brief introduction, the firstchapter of the thesis examines Jean Rhys?s own life alongside basic principles of postcolonialism and existential philosophy. In the second chapter, Voyage in the Dark is analyzed as a postcolonial novel representing existential characters. The third chapter applies the same existential and postcolonial perspectives to Wide Sargasso Sea. In conclusion, the existential struggles of the self and the other reflected in these novels are considered as postcolonial entities.