What is the setting of the book?

The setting of Wide Sargasso Sea is a very important factor in the novel. The Sargasso Sea evokes both fear and tranquillity. Rachel Carson describes how the Sargasso holds "legendary terrors for sailing ships" but also how its skies are "seldom clouded." In the novel, the Caribbean seems to be both paradisiacal and threatening. The lush growth, the vibrant colors, make Antoinette feel as though she is growing up in the Garden of Eden, but that the Garden has "gone wild." The wildness seems to encroach on the inroads civilization has made. Rochester imagines that the "honeymoon- house" is being invaded by the ever-growing forest. The heat and color of Jamaica and Dominica are also contrasted to the cold grayness of England. The time setting of the novel is another crucial factor. Though Rhys decided to write the "true story" of Charlotte Bronte's character, Bertha Mason, Rhys broke from Bronte by moving the time setting from the late 1700s to the 1840s. This shift allows her to depict a volatile time period. Slavery had recently been abolished in the Caribbean, and the economic repercussions of emancipation changed Caribbean society. This is evident in both the decay of Coulibri, a once-rich plantation, as well as in the riot staged by black workers afraid that they will soon be replaced by East Indian laborers.