In the first section of Wide Sargasso Sea, we encounter Antoinette as a child. We witness in vivid detail, the events of her childhood, which are in no way typical of any child, of her time or ours. She deals with poverty, racism, and alienation, but from a white Creole perspective. Her own traumatic experiences are what sets her apart from the rest of society, while at the same time, trapping her within it.
Narrated by Antoinette, Part One of Wide Sargasso Sea explores her childhood at Coulibri (their estate) after the death of her father, Alexander Cosway. Antoinette's vague and fragmentary memories focus on glimpses of tropical landscape, descriptions of her mother, and examples of her childhood isolation. Racial tensions and the disapproval of the white Jamaicans are found throughout these memories. …
