The interactions encountered by both others and yourself results in the psychological and moral development as you mature from your youth. The book Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is considered a coming of age novel as the protagonist, Antoinette Cosway, grows up only to find herself broken and abused as she faces oppression. The moment in the novel that catalyzes many more events that lead to the destruction of her childhood is when her house Coulibri, is set on fire by a mob, which kills her brother and sets her mother into a state of insanity. This enhances Antoinette’s deprivation of love and a sense of belonging, and it drives her into unhealthy relationship where she willingly submits to her husband Rochester and his acts of oppressing
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Rochester makes her move to England. When he moves her from the vibrant, natural, exotic Jamaican environment to a dark, cold, gray England, he locks her up in the attic with no mirrors, which completely takes away her identity since she can no longer physically see herself: “There is no looking-glass here and I don't know what I am like now […] The girl I saw was myself not quite myself. Long ago when I was a child and very lonely I tried to kiss her. But the glass was between us – hard, cold, and misted over with my breath. Now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I?” (137). This form of oppression completely takes her identity away from her, along with her home. Antoinette has lost her family and home, which are a main part of one’s childhood, so she turns to nature to provide her with some love and comfort as she describes the Jamaican nature and wildlife as “better, better than people” (25). The nature is the only thing Antoinette has ever had a deep connection to: “This is our place and everything is on our side” (67). Antoinette describes how the gardens at Coulibri during this time are allowed to grow beautiful and wild from neglect, without anyone to work on them now that slavery has ended. Antoinette feels a strong bond with the garden because, like the garden, she is being left and neglect by her caretakers, while remaining to grow
Rochester makes her move to England. When he moves her from the vibrant, natural, exotic Jamaican environment to a dark, cold, gray England, he locks her up in the attic with no mirrors, which completely takes away her identity since she can no longer physically see herself: “There is no looking-glass here and I don't know what I am like now […] The girl I saw was myself not quite myself. Long ago when I was a child and very lonely I tried to kiss her. But the glass was between us – hard, cold, and misted over with my breath. Now they have taken everything away. What am I doing in this place and who am I?” (137). This form of oppression completely takes her identity away from her, along with her home. Antoinette has lost her family and home, which are a main part of one’s childhood, so she turns to nature to provide her with some love and comfort as she describes the Jamaican nature and wildlife as “better, better than people” (25). The nature is the only thing Antoinette has ever had a deep connection to: “This is our place and everything is on our side” (67). Antoinette describes how the gardens at Coulibri during this time are allowed to grow beautiful and wild from neglect, without anyone to work on them now that slavery has ended. Antoinette feels a strong bond with the garden because, like the garden, she is being left and neglect by her caretakers, while remaining to grow