How fragile is identity? “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys challenges this question through the eyes of two characters, Antionette Cosway and Edward Rochester. Set in post-emancipation Jamaica, the novel follows the story of young Antionette, a girl born on a decaying plantation. Scorned by locals for her Creole heritage and slave-owning father, Antionette struggles to maintain her sanity in an unjust, patriarchal society. Many readers can identify with the novel's concept of maturity. Yet “The Wide Sargasso Sea” differs from other narratives in that it involves complicated and subjective topics. Rhys writes to make the reader think, to question all aspects of the novel and, at the next level, its very existence. More importantly, the reader must examine the delicate aspects of character that connect a person to sentience. Throughout the book, Rhys describes the fire motif to show how loss of identity can tear a person away from their family, themselves, and reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Antionette's mother, Annette fears harm from the locals, and those fears come true when she loses her son, her home, and her faith in the destructive Coulibri fire, proving that her madness was fueled from the loss of identity. Annette begs Mr. Mason to leave Spanish Town but he doesn't understand the extent of her desperation. On the night of the Coulibri fire, the Cosways rush out of the house leaving behind Annette's parrot, Coco, "everyone looked up and pointed at Coco on the railing of the bleacher with her feathers lit. She made an effort to fly down but her hair cut off his wings and he fell screeching, all in flames” (24).The images in this scene serve to enhance the effect that Rhys expects his reader to get from the text insignificant object destroyed in the fire. However, not only was Coco a pet, loved by Annette, but she represented the fragile balance between reality and madness. Birds are known for their wings and after theirs are clipped, Coco loses them use and is consumed by the fire. Likewise, Annette loses her identity when everything she cares about is destroyed and as a result, she is slowly consumed by her own madness, Antionette waking up under the cure of his aunt Cora. He learns that his mother has been transferred to the countryside and must stay there. Before the inevitable meeting with Annette, Antionette understands all that her young mind can bear: "I remember the feeling of boredom as we drove because I didn't expect to see her. She was part of Coulibri, who was gone, so she was gone , I was sure of it" (28). Coulibri was lost in the fire and was not only part of Antionette, but also part of Annette. It's shocking how much one depends on the material to identify, but the proof is there when Antionette's broken mother doesn't recognize her daughter and forces her away. Although Coulibri is mentioned by name, the fire took away much more than Annette's identity. Pierre was the only child she truly loved and as a result her already deteriorating health was weakened. When her world is ripped away so suddenly, Annette collapses, which ultimately lands her in an asylum. Even though the fire destroyed so much in Coulibri, it had almost no emotional power, Annette was the one who forced Antionette away and really drove herself crazy. Bound by a loveless marriage, Antionette finds herself at thesearching for an absent romance while losing more and more of her. own ethics, meaning that Rochester is the flame that is slowly consuming his identity. Although still troubled by the foreign surroundings in Granbois, Rochester enjoys a candle-lit dinner with Antionette, "great numbers of moths and beetles came into the room, flew into the candles, and fell dead upon the floor." tablecloth" (73). Antionette finds herself drawn to the one thing that will lead to the loss of her identity, and ultimately death. Who is that? Rochester, of course. Rochester is Antionette's flame, and as the moths are burned lives, Antionette's predetermined fate is not far from this. She actually jumps from a burning roof, but not before the shell of her former self descends into madness. The moth's continued return to the flame, despite her nature destructive, represents Antionette's loss of integrity Rochester's persistent addiction predictably upsets Antionette, so she makes the bold decision to drug Rochester with a "love potion" Angry and self-pitying, Rochester sleeps with Amelie and, even after regretting her decision, Antionette rushes into a stalemate. anger, “it was like a dream in the big unfurnished room with the flickering candles and this red-eyed, wild-haired stranger who was my wife screaming obscenities at me” (77). he is projected under flickering flames and red eyes. Red is a recurring color of misery, and the "red-eyed" Antionette is a faithful portrait of the madwoman in the attic. From Rochester's perspective, the flickering flame is a metaphor for Antionette's reality and her violent state of mind. Furthermore, the surrealism of Antionette's entire identity is heightened when Rochester describes his wife as a stranger, not the woman he married. Seen metaphorically by the moth, the flame and the flickering candle, Antionette finds herself drifting further and further away from her reality and ideals. Antionette descends into a foggy existence, where the fire at Thornfield haunts her lost life as well as her new one, proving that her irrecoverable identity is the factor that ends her hold on reality and herself. Locked in the attic, Antionetta is slowly consumed by the madwoman. One night, she wanders around Thornfield carrying a candle, and is shocked when she sees a mirror for the first time in ten years. "That's when I saw her - the ghost. The woman with her hair down. She was surrounded by a golden frame but I knew her. I dropped the candle I was carrying and it caught on the end of a tablecloth and I saw the flames shoot up"( 111). Antionette refers to herself in the third person, because she does not recognize the girl she sees in the mirror. He also labels Bertha Mason as "the ghost", giving the sense that her new self is nothing more than a shell of her old self, stripped of any identity. In shock, Antionette drops the candle, lighting the hall, and is reconnected to Coulibri's original fire. Soon after this episode, Antionette is caught in a dream in which she describes herself setting fire to Thornfield. Once on the roof of the manor, the sky of his dreams is depicted in fiery detail: "It was red and my whole life was in it. I saw the grandfather clock and Aunt Cora's patchwork, all the colors, I seen the orchids and the stephanotis and the jasmine and the burning Tree of Life" (112). The color red is also a concept of meaning, as it is often described alongside fire as a symbol of loss and alongside flora as a symbol of renewal. In this case, Rhys refers to the former, the haze of sky and flames separating Antionette from the identity she once knew. The timeless "tree.