Edward Jenkins's Lutchmee and Dilloo: A Story of West Indian Life was the first attempt to sway public opinion against the system of indentured servitude by transforming the victims into characters the reader could empathize with. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys explores the one-dimensional character, Bertha Mason from Bronte's Jane Eyre. In his version Rhys attempts to develop Antoinette into an individual and to portray her not as the madwoman in the attic, but as a victim of the external forces of a patriarchal society. Both texts invoke the humanity of their female protagonist, intending for the reader to see her as a full human being. Where in one text the writer successfully portrays the protagonist as a human being deserving of sympathy, the other has formal aspects and literary elements that threaten and ultimately fail to achieve the writer's stated goal. In Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys gives new life and identity to Bronte's Bertha Mason as protagonist Antoinette Cosway. The novel opens with Antoinette's narration: “They say when trouble approaches, and so did the whites. But we were not in their ranks. Jamaican ladies had never approved of my mother, 'because she was pretty, just like her,' Christophine said.” In those first sentences, Antoinette addresses questions of identity within two cultures. It distinguishes itself from whites, referring to the fact that in that society there is a hierarchy of power among white creoles. Her rank limits her ability to claim whiteness, as she is the daughter of a now impoverished family. However, by noting Christophine, who serves as the sole maternal figure, it is suggested that Antoinette's beliefs are shaped by those of the black society that she...... middle of paper ......tchmee and Dilloo: A Story of West Indian life. vol. 1. London: W. Mullan & Son, 1877. Internet Archive: Digital library of free books, films, music, and the Wayback Machine. Network. March 29, 2012. .Jenkins, Edward. Lutchmee and Dilloo: A Story of West Indian Life. vol. 2. London: W. Mullan & Son, 1877. Internet Archive: Digital library of free books, films, music, and the Wayback Machine. Network. March 29, 2012. .Jenkins, Edward. Lutchmee and Dilloo: A Story of West Indian Life. vol. 3. London: W. Mullan & Son, 1877. Internet Archive: Digital library of free books, films, music, and the Wayback Machine. Network. March 29, 2012. .Rhys, Jean and Francis Wyndham. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: Norton, 1992. Print.