Tia

In Wide Sargasso Sea, Tia only appears twice however, she is an important character when showing us what the society and social dynamics were during that time period in that particular place. Tia is the daughter of one of Christophine’s friends and is initially introduced because Antoinette needed a friend.

When I first read about Tia, I didn’t like her character very much. The way she taunted Antoinette and then betrayed her absolutely infuriated me. However, after reflecting on Tia as a person rather that her actions, my view of her is now a little more sympathetic. The first main scene with Tia is when her and Antoinette are at the pool. Tia dares Antoinette to perform a somersault and if she can’t do it, then Tia gets to take Antoinette’s pennies. Antoinette does the somersault but comes up from the water choking and coughing. Wanting the pennies, Tia lies and says that Antoinette failed in her somersault, taking the pennies. After this event, Antoinette isn’t disappointed about the loss of her money but more so embarrassed that she couldn’t perform a somersault in Tia’s eyes. In efforts to lighten her embarrassment, Antionette tells Tia that she can always get more money and that her initial amount wasn’t worth very much. To make herself feel better, Tia comes back saying that there are many white wealthy families in Jamaica, but Antoinette and her family are a white poor family. Tia then concludes in saying that black poor families (her family) are better than white poor families. Not knowing what to respond, Antoinette turns her back allowing for Tia to take her dress.

One thing that I had to remind myself was that these girls aren’t very old. I was imagining them being anywhere from 10-12 years old. As a result of their age, their maturity, morality, and independent ideas haven’t had time to grow and develop. With her age being what it is, Tia would do anything to get what she wants, including embarrassing and lying to her friend. Another component of this scene are the various insults that the two girls tell each other. Because they aren’t very old, those names and insults most-likely stemmed from their parents. I wasn’t in favor of either of the girls however I believed Tia started this scene by taking the pennies. Yet each girl acted their age (with their immaturity and lack of moral values) while dealing with some very adult content such as wealth and race. After reflecting on this scene, I realized that Tia wanted the money because she was poor. This made me feel more sympathetic toward her even though I believe that both girls should not have treated each other the way they did.  

The next time Tia appears in the book is when Coulibri is burning and Antoinette runs to her. In class we talked about this moment being the moment that the girls lose their innocence and take “sides”. In efforts to fit in and belong to something, Antoinette hopes to live with Tia. She starts running to her when Tia throws a stone at Antoinette creating a wound in the side of her head. Antoinette then looks up and sees Tia crying. Once again, I initially was very upset at Tia. However, she like many of us, are trying to conform to society, do things that we regret, and might not realize the consequences of our actions, she is capable of human error. After further reflection, I believe that this was a human error for Tia. She threw the stone to try to fit in and didn’t realize what the consequences would entail for her nor Antoinette. When she sees the blood on Antoinette’s face she realizes that she hurt her friend and what was happening around her was real. Embarrassed with regret, she started crying.

I believe that despite her few occurrences, Tia is a very intricate character. Initially I didn’t like her however after further reflection I realized that she isn’t as simple as likes and dislikes. What are your thoughts?


Comments

  1. Ayat JaberNovember 13, 2017 at 8:15 AM

    I agree with you. These girls are dealing with a huge baggage of intense social tension and history on their backs, and they're raised on opposite sides of the battle lines. They just want to fit in, and don't know exactly what they're dealing with yet as friends. When Antoinette tries to run across the line and leave her family who never welcomed her and join her only friend she has left, Tia tries to show the world that shes chosen her side and shes proven herself by throwing the rock and severely injuring Antoinette. But when all is said and done, she sees what she did to her friend and starts crying with guilt. Its a very powerful scene. They're reflections of each other, but you can never enter the mirror for the other side.

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    1. SolomiaNovember 13, 2017 at 3:02 PM

      “Raised on opposite sides of the battle lines” is such a great way to put it. Its so clear that the things the girls say to each other as insults – the jabs about socioeconomic status and racial slurs – are copied from things their parents are saying about the opposite side. It’s kinda sad that adult tensions have to penetrate the world of children, but unfortunately I think this is what ends up happening with any conflict, even today. This conflict also shows that the tensions between the creoles and ex-slaves are passed down – almost all the characters we meet who talk about the old days (for example Amelie) weren’t alive back then, or at least don’t remember those times. They just know which side they are supposed to be on, and play the part.

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  2. Nathalie SteinNovember 15, 2017 at 12:41 PM

    I definitely agree that Tia isn't an easy character to define as 'good' or 'bad'. Like you, I initially did not like Tia, since my sympathies lay with Antoinette, but upon further reflection I realized that her actions (and Antoinette's) were more a response to the intense social pressures that they had grown up surrounded by, but didn't truly understand. In my opinion, the friendship between Tia and Antoinette is just one more casualty of the extreme racial tension on the island, and the scenes between them illustrate this- there definitely seems to be some level of positive feelings between them, or at least not negative ones, until race/class tensions are pulled in. Without these forces, the two of them probably would have stayed friends. As such, I don't think one can necessarily characterize Tia as 'like' or 'dislike', but rather as a mirror of Antoinette (in terms of being a product of community-wide tensions) on the other side of the fence.

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