Wide Sargasso Sea Part 1

• What is your impression of the settings in Part One, including Coulibri, Spanish Town, and the natural environment.

 Coulibri gives the impression of being a secluded town, which seems to suggest that the characters the inhabit it are alienated and marginalized by the surrounding community. It also seems to be a very hostile area, considering the treatment of the locals towards the Cosways and the eventual burning of the house. Spanish Town gives the impression of being a somewhat more welcoming space, considering that it became Anotionette's refuge following the incident in Coulibri. However, simultaneously, it is a place that is filled with a plethora of dichotomies "This convent was my refuge, a place of sunshine and of death"

• How would you describe Antoinette’s upbringing?

It seems to have been a traumatic upbringing that was similarly filled with dichotomies. Although she initially enjoys her friendship with Tia and has a lot of people in her life there for her, she also experiences the seclusion and racism imposed on them by the locals. She lives in a society where her own family is labelled as a 'them'. She also faces the trauma of her dead brother and her mother's pitfall into madness. Unequivocally, this troubled upbringing will be bound to impact her as she comes of age.

• How would you describe Antoinette’s mother, Annette?

She can be considered to be the foreshadowing for what is to come for Antoinette given the fact that she goes mad and is essentially unlucky in love. The fact that she goes mad reflects the fate of Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre. There is the impression that she generally was absent from Antoinette's upbringing, particularly because following the loss of Pierre she had no way of coming back to normality and appreciating the fact that she still had Antoinette. She also is portrayed as ill-fated– in wealth and poverty, she always seems to have been miserable and alienated.

• What is your reaction to Mr Mason and his actions?

Mr. Mason seems to be a driving force of conflict in the novel. He continues to abide by the rigid racist guidelines that separate whites into a higher hierarchy than former slaves. He also is the one responsible for taking the Cosways away from Coulibri to Spanish Town, hence representing a force of change. I don't see his actions as justified– it is evident that the atmosphere in the West Indies has already begun to change. He could be a symbolic representation of the treatment of the colonies by the British.

• How are the former slaves presented to the reader?

They are portrayed as inferior, lazy and incapable of individual action. This is reflected in the moment when Mr. Mason discards their efforts upon the burning of the house, mentioning that they were too lazy to have burn the house down. This may be a suggestion of the remnants of racism and social separation following the Emancipation. 

• Who is Christophine and why is she important?

Christophine is one of the servants that works with the Cosway family and essentially becomes, somewhat, a replacement for Antoinette's mother when she goes mad following Pierre's dead. She is important as she becomes the next most important influence and mentor of Antoinette following the loss of her mother to madness.