Fire is the ultimate destructive and redemptive force in the novel. The fire at Coulibri is an act of retribution and defiance on the part of the nearby black community, but it destroys the life that Antoinette has known as a child. Both Coco the parrot and the moths that fly into the flames of candles throughout Antoinette’s and the husband’s honeymoon foreshadow Antoinette’s own fiery suicide, through which she finally gains freedom at the end of the novel.
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Fire Symbol Timeline in Wide Sargasso Sea
The timeline below shows where the symbol Fire appears in Wide Sargasso Sea. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1
...the servant Mannie notices smoke coming from under Antoinette’s bedroom door-- the mob has set fire to the house.
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...Coco the parrot emerges from an upper window of the house, screeching, his wings on fire. Antoinette begins to cry, remembering that it is considered very bad luck to kill a...
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Part 3
The narration switches to Antoinette’s consciousness. She is watching Grace Poole light the fire in her attic room. She gets up and puts her face very close to the...
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...Poole. She drops her dress on the floor and thinks that it looks like the fire has spread across the room, and it reminds her of something she has to do,...
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...worship.” She becomes angry, and knocks over all of the candles. This sets the curtains aflame. She goes into the hallway and sees what she thinks is a ghost, a woman...
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...all the while calling out to Christophine. Sitting out on the roof and watching the flames, she remembers Aunt Cora and Tia and Coco the parrot calling “Qui est la?” She...
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