Give a critical appreciation of Part One of Wide Sargasso Sea. General analysis of Part one.

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 …

…of the novel, then, can be seen as Antoinette's last moments of sanity. Her traumatic childhood we know, must resurface at some point and may, like her own mother, send her spiralling into delirium. However, it must be acknowledged that through her recollection of her experiences of a childhood with minimal human contact and emotion, Antoinette gains for herself now from the reader, genuine sympathy which was so rarely shown her when she needed it.