Wide Sargasso Sea Study Guide

1. What important historical event has just taken place when the novel begins?

• The Emancipation Act has freed slaves in the British colonies.
• The island of Jamaica has been granted independence.
• England has declared war on her colonial rival France.
• A hurricane has destroyed the large sugar plantations on which the wealth of the West Indies depends.

2. What is the name of Antoinette's family's estate in the West Indies?

• Thornfield
• Granbois
• Coulibri
• Nelson's Rest

3. On what island is the Cosway family's estate located?

• Jamaica
• Antigua
• Martinique
• Trinidad

4. What is wrong with Pierre?

• His face is horribly disfigured as the result of a fire.
• He is deaf and blind.
• He suffers from seizures.
• He is mentally and physically disabled.

5. Antoinette's mother is talented at which of the following performing arts?

• playing the piano
• dancing
• singing
• playing the harpsichord

6. Why do the other inhabitants of the island refer to Antoinette as a "white cockroach"?

• Because the one dress she owns is very dirty.
• Because she and her family have to scavenge for food.
• Because she is a white girl who spends all of her time with the black servants and their children.
• Because she is a Creole.

7. What happened to Antoinette's father?

• He drank himself to death.
• He was murdered by an angry slave.
• He ran off with one of his mistresses.
• He swam out to see and was never heard from again.

8. What form of sorcery does Christophine practice?

• fortune-telling
• devil worship
• obeah
• wicca

9. What weapon does Antoinette keep near her for protection when she is young?

• a stick
• a hammer
• a rock
• a shingle

10. Why does Antoinette's mother want to venture back inside the burning house?

• to rescue her green parrot
• to save her son from the flames
• to have one last look off the glacis
• to retrieve her jewel case